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A first-hand overview of magazine publishing was given to Josh Sullivan '03 and Katherine Rewinkel '03 through externships with Nora Isaacs '94, managing editor of the Berkeley, Calif.-based Yoga Journal.
“Josh and Katherine experienced a day in the life of a magazine,” says Isaacs. “They met with many different departments and got a chance to test the waters and get a greater understanding of magazine publishing. They were very enthusiastic and brought a great freshness to the office. Externships are great because they really give students a chance to take an active role in the working world.”
Yoga Journal was founded in 1975 by members of the California Yoga Teachers Association. Published seven times a year, circulation for the magazine is 250,000, and estimated readership numbers 700,000.
According to Sullivan, his externship came at an opportune time during the magazine's production schedule. “The staff was in their last few working days before the magazine went to press; the floor was bustling with excitement, anxiety, energy, and intensity,” he says. “Nora explained the entire journalism industry to me in great detail, all the while maintaining a productive workday. She integrated me into her system of drafting, revision, recommendation, and re-revision, allowing me to first learn the individual components of a media publication and then to witness the editors' role to bring all the pieces together.”
Sullivan also learned about the role of art and pictorial editors as well as that of freelance writers and photographers.
“With a double major in economics and business and English, I was looking for an externship that was going to give me a brief, yet detailed glance at an industry which incorporates both areas of study,” he says. “Obviously, any business involves economic relevance, but journalism was an area in which I always saw the two correlate in a provoking way.”
Though Sullivan is unsure of his future career plans, the externship builds on his previous experience, which ranges from, in his words, “a management position to a mutual fund analyst to a research assistant.Each experience I have builds on the last one, not in a repetitive manner, but as a diverse accumulation of interaction,” he says. “I find great comfort interacting with different networks of individuals, making friends in assorted fields and establishing myself as a young Renaissance man, taking advantage of my youth while I still have the opportunity to explore.”
Sullivan feels that Lafayette encourages students to sample a diverse number of disciplines and fosters the creation of strong social skills.
“The small community and encouragement to participate from professors are the two keys that do not just prepare students for a particular field, but help them handle interpersonal situations,” Sullivan says. “I give tours on campus to prospective students and I always tell them, it is not the material learned in class for 12 hours a week that you will find most beneficial here. In life, one must be an efficient communicator and a smooth operator under pressure. Employers look for young men and women with boldness and confidence and who present themselves with an air of grace. The environment that Lafayette cultivates produces just this type of person. The faculty here cares about us, and we replicate that concern once we depart through the gates.”
Nora Isaacs ’94 (seated) works with Katherine Rewinkel ’03 during a January 2002 externship.