Emma Hassemer spent summer 2018 living in New York for the first time and interning for Hearst Communications. The senior in journalism and mass communication with a minor in apparel, merchandising and design is back in Ames for her final year and one more semester as Trend magazine’s co-editor-in-chief.
Where did you intern this summer?
I was an editorial intern at Redbook magazine and an assistant stylist at Good Housekeeping.
What types of things did you do at each of those publications?
For Redbook, for the editorial side, I did a lot of researching and writing. My favorite thing to do for them was their “Fashion Under $100” pieces that they have in the magazine. It’s all these articles of clothing, and I got to write little blurbs. I just love fun, crisp, clean writing like that. Then for the fashion side of things, I styled different segments for “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America.” And then I did the basic intern things … like if garments needed to be returned, I would do that.
How did you get your foot in the door at Hearst?
It was such a long process. Ann Thye, an AMD adviser here, has so many connections at Hearst. I met with her and she gave me all these contacts, and I would just look them up on LinkedIn, contact them and cross my fingers for a reply back. Finally, a photographer for Cosmopolitan magazine read my LinkedIn message and told me she would pass along my résumé and cover letter to all the editors. About two hours later I got an email from my supervisor at Redbook. I then had an interview with her and I had to pass a writing test.
How did you make yourself stand out in the interview process?
Something they were impressed with was that I had a blog. Also, I’ve been a part of Trend since my first semester of my freshman year, and I had that background working on a magazine, writing for a magazine and basically putting that all together.
Had you ever lived in New York before?
No, I’ve never lived in New York before, but it was a totally wild experience. I’ve been to New York before, years ago, and I did the touristy things, but living there is such a completely different … I can’t even explain to you. I lived in Manhattan, and it was very, very busy. It was dirty and hot—New York heat is something I wish upon no one. But it was still so fun and a crazy experience.
What were the best and worst things about the internship?
Honestly, I can’t think of one thing I would change about my internship. It went so well, and everyone there was so nice and welcoming. Being able to work in one of the fashion capitals of the U.S. and the world and writing about not only fashion, but also health, beauty and lifestyle—that’s always been a passion of mine. Being able to actually apply that to a real-life job, it was awesome.
How did you initially get involved with Trend and later become one of the publication’s editors-in-chief?
I started off on their social media team. After social media, I went to public relations. After public relations, I was on their fashion editorial committee. After that, I decided to apply for the executive team, and I applied for an editor position, and I got beauty editor. Then after that I did story styling director. And then, I was like, “You know what? Let’s just go all the way,” and I applied for editor-in-chief. This is my second and last semester as EIC and also my last semester at Trend. The new positions switch every two semesters in December.
What types of things do you do as co-editor-in-chief?
Oh gosh, everything. We have eight fashion committees that Sarah Paul (co-editor-in-chief) and I oversee. We have teams for public relations, editorial, advertising, events, online, photo and design. There are about 50 executive directors who are in charge of the committee members. We go to all of the fashion committee’s photoshoots, plan the cover shoot, choose the overall theme of the semester’s magazine and basically aid in all of the committee’s duties. We work as a team. Printing is something we handle that is so overlooked. It’s very difficult. We do so much, but it’s so fun because I’ve been a part of so many different committees, so taking something from each of those committees and applying them to EIC has been so beneficial.
How would a student get involved if interested?
Meetings are Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at 0117 MacKay Hall.
Interview by Tara Larson; edited for length and clarity. Larson is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Humboldt, Iowa. She currently works as an editorial apprentice at Meredith Corporation and on the Greenlee communication team as a communications assistant. After she graduates, she plans to pursue a career in magazine publishing or public relations.