Mirage Magazine takes an annual trip to New York City every spring to meet with magazine teams, network and ask questions. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we were unable to make the trek to NYC this year. When we informed the NYC publications that we wouldn’t be able to meet, SELF Magazine stepped up and offered to meet with Mirage virtually.
Written by Kasey Lettrich, Mirage Magazine
Last Monday, we met with SELF’s Editorial Assistant Sarah Madaus and the Senior Editor of Emerging Platforms, Hannah Pasternak via Zoom. They were so generous and answered any questions we had about this weird time and the media industry.
Mirage Magazine member Kayse Ellis asked the question we all wanted the answer to: what to do this summer since internships are falling through. The pair from SELF reassured all of us that employers will understand what was happening in the summer of 2020 and won’t hold that against us. They gave us great suggestions about blogging and using social media to brand yourself. What better time than now to create a blog and make yourself known.
Adam Payne, who serves on Mirage’s editorial team, asked for some tips when applying for jobs right out of college. Pasternak answered immediately saying, “triple check your emails.” Pay attention to all the little things because bad grammar in an email means your application will be pushed off the table. Madaus added to that saying, “be teachable.” Go into whatever job you receive, eager to learn more and grow. Madaus pushed us to go above and beyond in everything we do in our applications and “expect you’re begging for it (the job).” She also mentioned her thoughts during her first job that pushed her to keep working hard by quoting “The Devil Wears Prada”saying, “A million girls would kill for this job.”
Another Mirage member, Hunter Neel, asked about graphic design specifically and how to make it in the magazine field as a designer. The pair shared with him how important aesthetic is to a publication. If you can prove that you can create work within a brand’s aesthetic with a solid portfolio, you’ve got it.
Pasternak and Madaus shared a lot of wisdom with our eager-to-learn team. Personally, I learned a lot about how to move forward in completing the current issue of Mirage Magazine from home. We all learned from each other’s questions and the detailed answers that the SELF Magazine pair shared with us.
“Journalism isn’t dying; it’s evolving,” Madaus said. Pasternak followed that up by sharing that these jobs are always changing which should give us hope. When Pasternak was in college, her position didn’t even exist yet and now she wouldn’t change her position for anything.
The Mirage Magazine team and I were so grateful for the opportunity to meet with them during this uncertain time and they gave us so much hope for the future of journalism, and of the publication we’ve all been working so hard on.
Kasey Lettrich is the president of Mirage Magazine. Mirage plans to publish the next issue of its publication, Taboo, this May. Follow the organization @miragemagwvu for more details.
Top image: Mirage Magazine meets virtual with members of SELF Magazine editorial team. Photo: Courtesy of Mirage Magazine