This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to work as an editorial assistant for the leading eyewear trade magazine, 20/20 Magazine.
My duties were that of most assistants: I performed housekeeping tasks, kept the fashion closet neat, tracked and logged all sample eyewear frames, and even got to write some awesome pieces for the print and online version of the magazine.
My experience was amazing; I learned a lot about myself as a writer and what I want in a future career. But, that did not come without a little bit of a learning curve.
Table of Contents
The Curve
Writing has always been a strong suit for me, and I pride myself on my way of merging my personality and unique voice into every piece. Not being my 100% quirky self came as a difficulty for me in the beginning, and still continues to be something I have to be cautious of.
20/20 Magazine is a trade magazine with a strong fashion and medical focus. Each issue is divided into a medical section as well as a fashion-based editorial section with different features on products, businesses, and human interest pieces. Overall, the magazine is mostly comprised of advertisements– both ads directly from companies and advertorials written by the editorial team.
After receiving many critiques on my advertorials in the beginning, it was hard for me to understand what I was doing wrong and why my carefree and bubbly voice wasn’t right for this specific section of the magazine. The truth is, writing an advertorial can be easy if you have an understanding of how to do it, what the publication’s voice is, and how the company wants their product to come across.
After a summer of finding that professional voice, I feel like I have acquired an invaluable skill that will open many doors in the future!
The Best of the Best
My favorite part?
The photoshoots!!
I absolutely crave creativity and that is why assisting on photoshoots was my favorite, favorite part of the job.
Between watching the models, photographers, makeup artists, stylists, and 20/20’s creative director work, I was completely in awe. Fashion takes on a life of its own and holds a special place in the art world, and seeing the eyewear come to life on the magazine pages is an experience all on its own.
The Takeaway
What I got from this internship is a feeling of great admiration.
I am thankful for the experience I gained, as well as the creative minds I was lucky enough to work alongside, and feel more confident moving forward onto new opportunities.
I am also thankful because it gave me an idea of who I am as a writer, who I want to be as a writer and what I want to do with my writing skills. My favorite times were those spent out of the office at photoshoots around the city surrounded by creativity and life!
I am looking forward to the possibility of working with fast-paced fashion publications, as well as creativity-saturated outlets, in the future.
I want to hear from you in the comments below!
Did you have a great summer internship? What did you learn? Did you like it or not?