Jordan The Intern Abroad
Aside from spending the first year of my life in Florida, and the occasional family visit in Illinois and Indiana, I have never left the Mitten. That is, until the summer of 2014 when I traveled across the Atlantic to live and work in Ireland. For three months, I not only worked as an Editorial Assistant for one of Ireland's largest magazines but I also explored almost every geographical wonder on that mind blowing beautiful island.
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Editorial Assistant at FOOD&WINE Magazine in Dublin, Ireland
"Jordan was a great addition to the FOOD&WINE team during her time here. She was punctual, willing to work across a number of different areas of the publication and had a very positive attitude in general. Where she excelled was in her proofing and editing of material - she has a very keen eye for detail when it comes to editing copy. If Jordan is interested in working within the field of media or publishing, I would advise her to find an area that she has a real passion for and continue to work on her feature writing, which is where she has a natural talent." - Miriam Atkins, F&W Editor.
I interned at Harmonia's FOOD&WINE Magazine as an Editorial Assistant from June 9th until August 14th, 2014. I worked directly with F&W's editor, deputy editor, and sales manager Miriam Atkins, Orla Murphy, and Jill Geoghegan to produce the August and September issues .
Harmonia is the largest magazine company in Ireland printing over five million magazines each year. The company owns and publishes a range of established consumer titles including FOOD&WINE, Irish Tatler, Woman's Way, U magazine, UFashion, and Ireland of the Welcomes. Harmonia also have won PPAI publisher of the year four years running - 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011.
In 2013, F&W was awarded the Consumer Magazine of the year.
F&W is known for its seasonal recipes that are both aspirational and easy. However, they also feature reviews of restaurant, wine, beer and spirits, and the latest kitchen equipment. They even include newly published cookbook summarizes and home entertainment tips.
During my internship I learned so much about the Irish culture, especially their foodie world, but also about the magazine publishing industry:
I interned at Harmonia's FOOD&WINE Magazine as an Editorial Assistant from June 9th until August 14th, 2014. I worked directly with F&W's editor, deputy editor, and sales manager Miriam Atkins, Orla Murphy, and Jill Geoghegan to produce the August and September issues .
Harmonia is the largest magazine company in Ireland printing over five million magazines each year. The company owns and publishes a range of established consumer titles including FOOD&WINE, Irish Tatler, Woman's Way, U magazine, UFashion, and Ireland of the Welcomes. Harmonia also have won PPAI publisher of the year four years running - 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011.
In 2013, F&W was awarded the Consumer Magazine of the year.
F&W is known for its seasonal recipes that are both aspirational and easy. However, they also feature reviews of restaurant, wine, beer and spirits, and the latest kitchen equipment. They even include newly published cookbook summarizes and home entertainment tips.
During my internship I learned so much about the Irish culture, especially their foodie world, but also about the magazine publishing industry:
EditingI was the first and second-to-last set of eyes to copy edit and sub the entire August and September issues. Both Ms. Atkins and Ms. Murphy were impressed with my edits. In fact, Ms. Atkins told me in my final interview that I had a very keen eye for detail and she recommended I look into continuing it as a freelancing career.
Event PlanningEach year, F&W hosts their Restaurant of the Year Awards. I was lucky enough to be a part of the F&W team while this award was happening. I worked in their excel template to tally reader votes. After the reader votes were tallied, and their several categories had a narrowed down list of possible winners, I was given two counties to call each establishment to confirm their information. After all the information was verified, the editor and assistant editor imported the data into voting sheets for the annual finalist voting ceremony.
WritingI wrote for the cookbook, cocktail, and restaurant review page for both issues. I was honored to write the feature piece in the September "Back to Basics with Lamb". It was an unexpected challenge to write for F&W. I had to accommodate for both the difference in geographical culture as well as the foodie audience I was unfamiliar with. I am the furthest thing from a foodie. I burned a pot of peas so badly that the pot is still charred to this day. I do not drink alcohol but I was requested to create my own for the cocktail page. I have never opened a cookbook, yet I was requested to write 12 summaries for the book review page. I have never eaten lamb in my life, but I wrote a feature article that discussed the intricacies of the meat and how it can be cooked in detail. Yet, despite my lack of familiarities with these subjects, I was able to craft articles that fit the voice of F&W. My experience writing for F&W taught me that my voice as a writer is special and that I should never lose it. However, I also need to be able to adapt it to the reader. There were numerous times when the editor or deputy editor would come to be to ask about a reference or term they didn't understand. I had to go back each time and try to incorporate Irish-American slang terms and concepts. It was both frustrating and so much fun.
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Event HostingI attended the annual finalist voting ceremony. This ceremony is where renowned foodies, restaurateurs, the F&W staff, and the chairwoman of Harmonia Norah Casey all get together and choose the winner for each category of the Restaurant of the Year Award. Categories included: Overall Restaurant of the Year, Top Chef, Top Suez Chef, Top Sommelier, Most Authentic, Best Oriental Cuisine, and more. I aided in the set up of the room, collected and organized the final ballets secretly into manilla envelopes to be counted later, catered to the needs of each guest, and helped clean up after the event.
PhotographyI attended a couple photo shoots during my time with F&W. For both, I accompanied Ms. Atkins to Harry Weir's photography studio. The first photo shoot was for sweets where I took over Ms. Murphy's duties and went over recipes with the chef as she cooked. I made many minute changes to the original recipe's amounts, ingredients, and technical terms. The recipes I edited would accompany the pictures of the food she was making as we talked. Listening to Miriam and Harry discuss photo and content placement as well as choosing the cover photo, was mind blowing as well because it was just the smallest changes made or broke the photo. It is all about angles and perspective.
My second photo shoot was just as amazing as the first. This shoot was with a different lady chef, one who was renowned for her lamb catering, and it was then that I tried lamb for the very first time. It was delicious and went a long way towards helping me write my feature article for the September issue. It was also this shoot that I witnessed Ms. Atkins working with Harry to plan the Christmas issue cover image and color theme. This showed me two important lessons: planning and organization are key traits needed by a good editor because the publishing world is a competitive one. If Ms. Atkins used another photographer besides Harry, she jeopardized losing him to another magazine. Also their Christmas colors and featured cake had to be just so, which was why it required so much planning. They couldn't chance it being the same color or cake as their competitor's. Nor could they risk repeating a theme as far back as 6 years past. |
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Exploring all of Ireland (and Stonehenge)
I absolutely made the most of my time in Ireland. I threw myself into the culture not only at work but also on a daily basis. I lived in a dorm apartment at the University College Dublin (UCD), had my fair share of random conversations with locals, went shopping at Tesco for groceries and Pennys for dirt cheap clothes, traveled by bus and the Luas, enjoyed Irish cuisine at local pubs, listened to live Irish bands while being fascinated by the fast moving feet of Irish dancers, had front row seats to the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, was told in detail the brutal history of the Ireland straight from the mouths of the people who lived it, and walked the cobbled streets of Dublin until I knew them like a native.
I covered almost the entirety of Ireland in my wanderings. According to the ladies I worked with at F&W, I saw more of Ireland in my three months than most Irishmen do in a lifetime. I stood upon the hexagonal basalt columns of Giant's Causeway in the north and danced in the rain on the sandy shore of Inch Beach in the Dingle Peninsula in the far south. I took my life in my hands as I stood at the very edge of the Cliffs of Moher in west and rode my first horse through the Wicklow Mountains in the east. I witnessed the eeriness of Stonehenge while clutching my boyfriend's hand and marveled at a world wonder older than the pyramids as I stood within the inner chamber of Newgrange with my mom, sister, aunt, and uncle.
I saw every wonder of Ireland and so much more during my time abroad. However, no amount of words, photos, or videos could truly capture the wonder, amazement, and beauty of my 3 months living, working, and exploring Ireland.
I covered almost the entirety of Ireland in my wanderings. According to the ladies I worked with at F&W, I saw more of Ireland in my three months than most Irishmen do in a lifetime. I stood upon the hexagonal basalt columns of Giant's Causeway in the north and danced in the rain on the sandy shore of Inch Beach in the Dingle Peninsula in the far south. I took my life in my hands as I stood at the very edge of the Cliffs of Moher in west and rode my first horse through the Wicklow Mountains in the east. I witnessed the eeriness of Stonehenge while clutching my boyfriend's hand and marveled at a world wonder older than the pyramids as I stood within the inner chamber of Newgrange with my mom, sister, aunt, and uncle.
I saw every wonder of Ireland and so much more during my time abroad. However, no amount of words, photos, or videos could truly capture the wonder, amazement, and beauty of my 3 months living, working, and exploring Ireland.