Spring Break
The Daily OrangeEditors hook writers up with job tips
By Christine Bald
Posted: 2/26/06, 10:55 PM EST Section: Pulp
Dating is extinct.
Well, at least according to Andrea Lavinthal and Jessica Rozler, Syracuse University graduates and authors of "The Hookup Handbook: A Single Girl's Guide to Living it Up." The alumnae journeyed back to SU and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications on Friday for the first time since graduating in 2001 to speak to a group of aspiring authors and editors.
As women poured into the Newhouse II classroom, Lavinthal, associate beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, and Rozler, editorial assistant at Allworth Publishing, cracked jokes about sororities ("This feels like rush, welcome to Greek Week!") and recalled warm Newhouse memories ("Oh graphics lab ..."), setting the stage for the "super-informal" advice session on everything from book publishing to job hunting.
"I always knew I wanted to work in a beauty department, but I loved writing," Lavinthal said to the eager crowd of magazine majors. "When I realized there were jobs for people to write about beauty products, I became obsessed."
The fixation ultimately paid off, but Lavinthal took the road less traveled.
After receiving a call from her interviewer informing her that Cosmopolitan was dropping her desired position, Lavinthal phoned back and begged to work for free. Unable to turn down free labor, the magazine welcomed her aboard. A year later, she earned a full-time paid position on the Cosmo staff and her name on the masthead.
"It sounds corny, but I think Newhouse helped. When I graduated, I was more in the game than other people," Lavinthal said. "When I got to Cosmo, I wasn't that nervous. I knew what I was doing."
Rozler had also hit speed bumps on the road to success. Upon graduating with a degree in magazine journalism, she landed a job at Men's Health magazine, but found working her way up the masthead as a woman on a predominantly male staff a difficult, if not impossible task.
"It's not because they didn't think I was qualified," she said. "It's because that, as a woman, I couldn't speak to their target audience as well as a guy."
Well, at least according to Andrea Lavinthal and Jessica Rozler, Syracuse University graduates and authors of "The Hookup Handbook: A Single Girl's Guide to Living it Up." The alumnae journeyed back to SU and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications on Friday for the first time since graduating in 2001 to speak to a group of aspiring authors and editors.
As women poured into the Newhouse II classroom, Lavinthal, associate beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, and Rozler, editorial assistant at Allworth Publishing, cracked jokes about sororities ("This feels like rush, welcome to Greek Week!") and recalled warm Newhouse memories ("Oh graphics lab ..."), setting the stage for the "super-informal" advice session on everything from book publishing to job hunting.
"I always knew I wanted to work in a beauty department, but I loved writing," Lavinthal said to the eager crowd of magazine majors. "When I realized there were jobs for people to write about beauty products, I became obsessed."
The fixation ultimately paid off, but Lavinthal took the road less traveled.
After receiving a call from her interviewer informing her that Cosmopolitan was dropping her desired position, Lavinthal phoned back and begged to work for free. Unable to turn down free labor, the magazine welcomed her aboard. A year later, she earned a full-time paid position on the Cosmo staff and her name on the masthead.
"It sounds corny, but I think Newhouse helped. When I graduated, I was more in the game than other people," Lavinthal said. "When I got to Cosmo, I wasn't that nervous. I knew what I was doing."
Rozler had also hit speed bumps on the road to success. Upon graduating with a degree in magazine journalism, she landed a job at Men's Health magazine, but found working her way up the masthead as a woman on a predominantly male staff a difficult, if not impossible task.
"It's not because they didn't think I was qualified," she said. "It's because that, as a woman, I couldn't speak to their target audience as well as a guy."
