My Work Experience

As part of Catch 22, they offer us the opportunity to gain a one month internship placement based at one of their industry partners. I think this is a fantastic opportunity, as they have so many partners to choose from.

Their industry partners range from Trinity Mirror, which publishes many of the national 'Red Top' papers (including The Mirror, and The People), to William Reed's B2B media company, which publishes anything from The Grocer, to Meat Trades Journal.

The two partners that I am particularly interested in working for are Condé Nast and the National Magazine Company (NatMag), both very similar publishing houses.



Condé Nast are best known for their fashion and lifestyle publications. Their flagship magazines are Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Tatler. It had an average total circulation of over 13 million issues a month, and an estimated readership five times larger than that.

Its biggest competitors in the business are NatMag. Vogues publisher, Stephen Quinn recently got into some trouble with the Audit Bureau of Circulations, after his strong criticisms of Harper's Bazaar.

NatMag is a British magazine publishing company, based in London. They currently publish 20 magazines, reaching 14.9 million adults every year. Their most popular publications are Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Company and the Harper's Bazaar.



I was recently told that I have been put forward to work on the Harper's Bazaar, which is really exciting. Fashion is something that I would love to get into, and I think I would be ideal for the job.

I am always keeping myself up-to-date with the current trends, and I think I have a strong sense of what looks good, and what doesn't. I regularly read fashion related magazine, and am always about, checking out the looks people are rocking.

I like the variety of things that the Harper's Bazaar looks at, as it doesn't just focus on clothes. The only flaw being the target audience of the magazine, as it is aimed at mature, upper-class females, so I may find it quite difficult to relate to them.

I think this is why I am also very interested in some of NatMag's other publications, Company and Cosmopolitan in particular, they are targeted at a much wider audience, and cover a much wider variety of topics.



In an ideal world, I think I would probably choose Vogue and Company as the magazines I would most like to work at for my internship. But time will tell.

The journey so far...

When I decided to leave Kington University last year I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life. Journalism has always been a passion of mine, I love writing, but the thought of having to agonizingly drag myself through another year of that place was something not worth thinking about. The course wasn't what I expected it to be, and the people on it were absolutely horrible. I was so worried what everyone was going to say, but I went with my gut, and it seems to have paid off.

I was talking to a friend who was in a similar situation to me about what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to write, and I knew I wanted to continue studying Journalism, I just didn't feel ready to go back to university. She told me about Catch 22, a social enterprise aimed at 18-30 years olds who were interested in Journalism and wanted to get into it, but couldn't due to their lack of experience.



This was perfect for me. I applied straight away and when I got the call telling me that I had made it on the course, I had never been happier. Well, that's probably an exaggeration, but I was really proud of myself, which is rare. Pessimism is my bf4l.

The first session was a little overwhelming, a lot of the people on the course already have a vast amount of experience behind them, and knew where they wanted to be. I felt like a complete newbie, a total beginner, but the course has really helped me! It does cater for everyone, and covers the basics, which really helped me! You work on a portfolio too, so you do feel like you are coming out of it with something. And they also offer internships with their partners after you finish the 12 week course.

Since I started Catch 22 in April, I really do feel like l have learned a lot. I have tried my hand at news reporting, court reporting, sub editing and now, blog writing. I am also working towards getting my first feature published. Woo! The course has introduced me to so many new things, new styles, and new ways of doing things, which I plan to portray through this lovely blog...

If you love me, and want to see my beautiful feature in it's complete form, click here for a list of places that you can get the magazine. It's a quarterly magazine, and is absolutely free. So you guys have no excuse!

I'll leave you with the music video I reviewed as part of the interview process for Catch 22, Marina and the Diamonds new song, I am not a robot. Enjoy :)