Editor Interview - Claire Sullivan, Martha Stewart Living
Claire Sullivan works as the associate editor for Martha Stewart Living in New York City. Martha Stewart Living is a lifestyle magazine published monthly by the Meredith Corporation that highlights food, home decorating, entertaining, crafts/DIY and travel. The quarterly magazine began in 1990, and starting in 1994, it was published monthly. Sullivan has served as an associate editor for eight months. She graduated from Auburn University in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. After interning with Food Network magazine in 2015, she worked as an editorial assistant for Martha Stewart Living for one year and nine months. Following this job, she was promoted to assistant editor and later associate editor in September of 2018.
RM: Your title is quite impressive working for a major publication in New York City! Coming from Auburn University, did you always have your sights set on working in the big city?
CS: When I started school it was never a long term goal of mine to live in New York, but then things just kind of happened. There are so few people from Auburn that end up here, so it definitely seemed a bit daunting at first. For the most part, people stay local, but there is a small but mighty presence of Auburn alums up here!
RM: More than ever today, magazines are having to switch from a print medium to an online format. For me personally, I still love the feeling of holding a physical magazine in my hands. How do you see the industry adapting to this change? Is it necessary to switch to digital? Is there still a place for the glossy magazines?
CS: When I started out in the working world I was kind of open to the idea of doing digital. But now I’m doing print. Granted, we’ve had some pretty major layoffs. It’s definitely not the most uplifting place to be all the time…I’ve ended up doing a hundred different jobs since I’ve started.
If you can hold onto that passion for print it will serve you well. If you go into an interview for a print publication and you emphasize how much you love print that will go such a long way. People are wanting to hire someone who’s passionate about their specific publication.
I mean obviously anyone would do digital if that’s what it came down to, but if you want to do print then go after that. If you’re interviewing for a print publication, I’d emphasize how much you love the physical copy itself. I honestly believe it just feels so much more special and personal.
RM: How did your degree from Auburn prepare you for the working world? What did you not know that you wish you had known going into your career?
CS: When I was at Auburn, I felt like my courses were more focused on the journalistic and reporting side of things. I was going to city hall meetings to report on those topics, and I always knew that wasn’t where I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to focus more on the creative side, and for that I had to go out on my own and make that future happen for myself.
I think I landed where I did today because I took initiative to get where I wanted to go. I knew what I wanted to do, so I had to just kind of carve it out for myself and make it happen. You just learn how to be scrappy and find opportunities even when they might not be readily presenting themselves to you.
RM: What does your job look like now? Do you find that your job shifts with the changing industry? What advice would you give someone wanting to enter the magazine sphere today?
CS: I’m kind of an anomaly in the sense that I’ve been at Martha Stewart since I graduated. I’ve stayed now for almost three years. I haven’t gotten bored at all because my job changes almost every six months since the staffing is always shifting.
When I first started out I was like, food, I know I want to write about food. That was my passion. I started doing it, and it was cool, but you’re not in the test kitchen necessarily. So, it wasn’t as fun because I was writing about the food, but I had to call the test kitchen to have them describe the food to me when I would much rather just have my hands on it myself. So that interest kind of faded. But, you know, given that I work for a lifestyle magazine there’s so much to cover within that realm.
I do a lot of beauty coverage now, and some home stuff too which is really fun. My advice would be to have a multitude of passions that you can write for instead of just one singular interest. If you’re able to write on a lot of different topics, that will just lend itself to so many more doors opening for you.
RM: You spoke earlier about the large number of layoffs that occur in the magazine industry. I’ve noticed that many magazine writers and editors freelance for multiple publications. Do you see this as a way to combat the unstable working conditions? Is freelancing necessary in the ever-changing world of magazines?
CS: Most of the people that I work with have worked at so many other magazines. Usually, it’s like after a year and a half you just bounce on to the next one and the next one.
So a lot of times you’ll land somewhere that you didn’t really anticipate landing. So if ultimately, you want to be in a fashion editorial realm, taking a position at a lifestyle magazine wouldn’t be a sidestep.
What I do think is important is just keeping up with whatever independent work you have going on. So if a job does come up you can show your interest. Especially with print, the positions are so short-staffed. There are just fewer and fewer positions, so it’s good to have an open mind.
I’m actually starting to freelance now. I hadn’t been before. So when I started out working, Martha Stewart had two magazines, Living and Weddings. I was working half and half between both, but then Weddings pretty much folded. (Weddings puts out one issue a year, and we fired most of the staff). So, I then shifted over to Living. Now I’m starting to freelance some wedding stuff for a couple other websites.
Most people that I work with will do a little bit of freelancing on the side. I feel like once you get to a certain advanced position and you can start predicting your schedule more it’s easier to take on some freelance projects. When I was first starting out there was a whole batch of us that were around the same age, but none of them really started freelancing until recently. It’s definitely not a requirement by any means when you’re first starting out.
RM: What advice do you have for someone wanting to gain an internship with one of the big magazine publications out of New York City? Where is the best place to start?
CS: In terms of wherever you want to be, the biggest thing to look into is publishing companies. I would look for job openings on their websites. Now that all of the companies have consolidated, there are only three. Conde Nast, Hearst, and then Meredith (where I work).
Until I interned I was completely oblivious to that. Look on those websites to see the job portal and job postings. When I interned I got a taste of how the internships really shake out. It’s usually an editorial assistant position if it’s going to be for print. That’s the name you’ll look for.
With digital, it might be a little more diverse like social media assistant. You want to look for the word assistant somewhere. The step up from editorial assistant is assistant editor. Editorial assistants are typically hired right out of college, and the assistant editors typically need a little more experience.
Also, the Ed2010 website is a great resource. They’re really good about posting things, and they’re super hands-on with all the publishing companies out here in New York.
RM: How did you go about getting your internship with Food Network magazine?
CS: I went to a J-Day panel, and the managing editor of Food Network magazine came and spoke. She’s an Auburn alum, and she came and spoke about her job, and as she was speaking I just realized that was my dream job.
So I just talked to her afterwards, and she put me in touch with the editor who was hiring for their spring interns at the time. (This was the fall of my junior year). So I applied that fall and got the internship for that coming spring. So I had to move up here to New York City, and granted this internship was completely not paid, so it was incredibly expensive. But it ended up being totally worth it.
It doesn’t have to be a semester-long internship; even a summer one can set you up. The thing is, once you have your foot in the door, (or even your toe in the door), people are so willing to connect and get coffee. It’s easy to bounce around. The expectation is that you shift through magazine jobs pretty frequently. It’s very fluid. Even if it is a digital position that you’re not too fired up about, it’s probably worth taking if it’s at one of the bigger publishing companies, because you’ll end up bouncing around to where you want to end up.
In terms of full-time positions, they hire so immediately. They’ll be looking for someone to start tomorrow. It can be a little tricky, especially being in Alabama when you can’t just fly up for an interview.
RM: I’ve seen from your LinkedIn profile that you’ve hired multiple editorial interns. What are some things you’ve seen applicants do really well that has worked for them, and what things have you seen that I should avoid when applying for these internships?
CS: The thing I would say stands out is just having a really strong website. It should be a website where someone can just log on and see your clips and a brief intro of who you are. I’ve seen ones where people have like pictures of them and their cats, and that just isn’t what you want to see. I mean sure, if you want to write about pets then go for it, but make it professional.
From my experience, just having that stuff ready to go at any given moment makes you really stand out. You want to have a perfect resume and a great website to support it so hiring managers can really see who you are and what you’re about. When they’re hiring for an intern they’re not necessarily going to expect that, but it can really be the cherry on top and end up being a selling point.
With cover letters, you want to have an inherent interest in whatever you’re applying to and show that in your cover letter. So, always do your research to know what you’re talking about and show you’ve studied the brand ahead of time.
One thing I look for in interns is professionalism and not being too causal. I think the way that you hold yourself and interact, even over email, can show that you’re serious and that it’s important to you.
In terms of looking at resumes, I would say a good amount of varied experience stands out. I like to see a good mix of web and print and social media experience. I didn’t interview too many of our interns in person. I did a lot of phone interviews, and I would say to definitely send a thank you note or email afterward.
To read more about Claire and view her work, visit her website: clairepsullivan.com