Cafme takes NYC

On Wednesday, March 20, 15 of us jetted off to New York City! We stayed in the awesome App State Lofts, right by Madison Square Park. We had some free time to explore the city Wednesday before meeting back up for a Southern dinner at Brother Jimmy's.

We were up bright and early the next day to start our magazine tours. First up was People Magazine in the Time Inc. building. We were lucky enough to sit in on their staff meeting and then chatted with Editorial Manager Andy Abrahams and Deputy Managing Editor Peter Castro. We also visited their iPad simulator room and got a demo of the People Magazine app.

That afternoon we headed to Glamour to meet up with Andrea Bartz, senior editor, who gave us some great advice about everything magazine and NYC-related.

 The next day was filled with more tours as we chatted with the Men's Health Social Media Editor Chris Rackliffe about the role of social media in the magazine world and what he does on a day-to-day basis. Associate editor Clint Carter joined us later to talk about the editorial aspect of Men's Health.
Our last stop was at Every Day with Rachael Ray, where executive editor and UNC alumna, Dana Bowen, talked to us along with Senior Food Editor Nina Elder and Editorial Assistant Morgan Gibson. After getting a ton of great advice from those three lovely ladies, we went downstairs to see their test kitchen. We got a chance to learn more about how food magazines work and even try some yummy cookies!

That night most of us headed back to Chapel Hill, but I already can't wait for next year's trip!

Meeting Recap for Feb. 27: Skype with Sarah Bruning--Associate Features Editor

Last week we skyped with the lovely Sarah Bruning. She had lots of industry wisdom to share with us--read on for a recap!

Sarah began college on the pre-med track, but her sophomore year she started a magazine with a few of her friends and realized that was what she loved. She worked on layouts and edited the 32-page USC edition of the magazine. Through her work with this campus magazine, Sarah was introduced to Teen Magazine, which has since folded but was based in California. She interned and freelanced for them through her last years at USC. After graduation, Sarah went back to Teen as a temporary editorial assistant to help out on their prom issue.
Sarah was determined to move to New York, though, and eventually got a job offer on a Friday to start a job in New York the following Monday (because her resumé listed a New York address!) Sarah made it work, however and worked at the small travel publication for three and a half years before moving to Time Out New York, which is where she is now. Sarah says starting out at a small publication helped her advance her career because she was thrust into leadership roles more quickly than she would have been at another publication--after just a year and a half Sarah was named the managing editor!
Sarah has been at Time Out for three years now. As the associate features editor, Sarah works with freelancers and interns and makes sure that all the fact checking changes get entered. She also blogs twice a week and writes SEO copy for her features, working with SEO managers and the web masters.

Sarah's Tips:

• Keep your eyes and ears open, always be listening and taking things in
• Know the publication you're applying for inside and out
• Show an active interest in journalism on campus, get internships or at a minimum start a blog
• Write the hiring managers names whenever possible (not "To Whom it May Concern")
• Attention to detail is very important
• Show enthusiasm--be engaged in conversation, and be excited to be there (but not too excited)
• Make your cover letter the body
• Being versatile helps--develop a portfolio that would speak to national magazines
• Networking is one of the most important things you can do: keep in touch, build a relationship, don't be shy, introduce yourself and talk about your interests