So my time here at NextStepU Magazine is wrapping up. It’s hard to believe that four months have flown by so fast! NextStepU has given me something that I truly needed: a dream. I’ve always known that in the future I want to be writing, but whether for sports or the media I wasn’t sure. After my first week here I had already set a goal for my dream job: become the next Anna Wintour (editor in chief of Vogue). It may be quite a stretch, but if you don’t have goals like this, then you won’t continue to push yourself to aspire to more.
Being at NextStepU has given me a great base of knowledge about magazines; what steps go into producing them and how each piece fits together to get the finished product. It was also cool to be here when the transition from mostly print to mostly online content was happening. This is a common issue plaguing the magazine and print industry today, so watching a company successfully move primarily to online content puts my mind to rest about my future in this industry!
I also loved being able to share my sports knowledge with everyone here at NextStepU. As a sport management minor on the varsity soccer team I’m constantly around people who play sports competitively. I had forgotten that some people have never played sports, especially collegiate sports, so it’s nice to feel like an expert in this field. I’ve also loved being able to help Next Steppers as they prepare for college and decide if they too want to play sports there!
Here at NextStepU I’ve had the chance to meet some great people! The entire office is compiled of “rock solid awesome” individuals who all welcomed me with open arms. I will sincerely miss the little nook of people that I have sat with every Monday and Wednesday. I will most notably miss: Laura’s abbreviations and our college girl chats, teaching Bill how to become a “lax bro”, Ethan’s array of useless knowledge and Lisa’s bright smiling face every day!
I’ve learned so much here at NextStepU — and who knows maybe I’ll be back one day! For now, I am starting my summer en route to the Big Apple! I’ve secured a position for an internship at Maxim Magazine, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t think of myself as the young Carrie Bradshaw!
So here are my last pieces of advice for the Next Steppers: be confident in your skills, work hard in college to be sure you know what you want to do in the future, network with everyone that you meet, complete as many internships as you can, and most of all, have fun!
This is the next step to the best times of your life!
