[mks_dropcap style=”letter” size=”48″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]A[/mks_dropcap]fter two and a half years of arduous efforts, following the Honors program, and being the first Audiovisuals Chief for Medium, Gilda Bruno tells us her experience as an intern at DAZED Media. The fashion and culture publisher has a print publication alongside its several online platforms. DAZED publishes news stories and articles about everything art and culture related. As an intern, Gilda has been assigned numerous responsibilities, which have helped her develop her journalistic skills and learn about the editorial process of a worldwide leading publication.
Back to the Beginning
Despite not being able to find an internship vacancy online, Gilda decided to go ahead and shoot an e-mail to DAZED, asking if they were hiring. This led to a phone interview to figure where she would fit in best according to her aptitudes and interests. In the blink of an eye, Gilda was saying bye and moving from Amsterdam to London to start her internship placement in January 2020. Looking back on this, Gilda says she’d encourage everyone who is looking for an internship to e-mail the companies they’d like to work in and ask, it may just be your lucky day!
“It felt like just walking into a movie where you literally don’t know anybody and everyone is so young and talented.”
Gilda describes her first day and first week as very intense, both emotionally and professionally speaking. She describes herself walking in awe into a massive office space with hundreds of MacBooks and everybody typing like crazy, looking extremely busy and focused. Despite having to adjust to the work rhythm and her routine, Gilda reminisces on her first week as a big learning leap for her. Within a week, she remembers feeling more comfortable and confident in what she was doing and had begun to grasp the practical skills and editorial guidelines of DAZED.
Routine and Responsibilities
As her first task of the day when getting to the office (before home office times), Gilda would search for news and stories to cover. Then, she’d have to pitch the news piece to her editor and, if approved, get on to write about it. Having to do this within an hour was intimidating at first. However, as Gilda reflects on her learning process and getting used to the pace, she says it now comes to her naturally.
Her responsibilities include transcribing interviews to make it easier for the assigned writers to discern the content as well as doing research on interviewees to know the angle that would make the interview more interesting. Additionally, Gilda has some creative freedom by having the opportunity to pitch stories or artists she would like to interview to her editor. When doing this, she has to pitch the piece from her İnegöl escort own angle and highlight why these are in sync with DAZED.
DAZED 100
As part of the team, the most recent project Gilda has been involved in has been the selection of 100 emerging personalities in different fields such as arts, music, activism and fashion. One of these 100 people is selected as a winner and gets a cash reward that can be invested in their projects or a cause they stand for. Gilda expresses how important and cool she believes featuring these personalities is, as they are selected based on their political engagement and positive influence on global youth culture.
Each person from the editorial team had to come up with a few names to contribute to an endless spreadsheet that would go through a screening process by the Fashion Editor. Gilda, along with other team members, was responsible for creating the list and a keynote that was presented to Converse, the brand which is collaborating with this year’s DAZED 100 initiative.
What Skills From Communication Science Have Been Useful for This Step in Your Professional Life?
Gilda considers her university background to be extremely helpful. She feels like her research skills have helped her with finding good sources for her articles as well as being able to screen rapidly through information to find the most important elements to include in an article Kestel escort or news story. Working under pressure while completing her bachelor’s has also helped her form the habit of being effective when searching for information.
When reflecting on our course’s curriculum, Gilda believes it has taught her how to present information in a way that will optimally benefit the reader. Being aware of one’s target audience when writing essays and working on projects is something Gilda thinks our program is successful at, given that this is crucial for journalistic and creative writing.
What Would You Like to Say to Our Fellow Students Who Would Like to Pursue a Career in Journalism?
“Think about why you want to write and gain as much experience as you can, even within your own environment. I think that the experience I had at Medium for the past three years has been very important for me to get Mudanya escort started on building my own journalistic skills. […] Have your own style and your own angle while still remaining objective when necessary.”
Cover: Taken by Sala Alnoami, courtesy of Gilda Bruno
