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Topic: Essence Magazine...Anyone have info?
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| Author | Message |
| Somi | Posted – 11/8/2004 6:20:13 PM | show profile Hi guys...Anyone know anything about Essence Magazine, the business side? I am interviewing for a Planning position and I wanted to know about the culture, people, etc... S. |
| traveler | Posted – 11/9/2004 2:27:06 PM | show profile All I know of Essence magazine is they suck! Never send Essence Magazine a pitch for a story. Why? They will never respond to your pitch but will have one of their on staff writers, write something identical to what you pitched. I hear the women there are catty. One of the women who works at Essence (Asha Bendele) married and had a child by a man she met in prison (they should do a cover story on that) and then she and one of her friends argued over the man because her friend was trying to get with Asha's husband/baby daddy. |
| missit | Posted – 11/10/2004 10:43:20 AM | show profile Wow, no cattiness in that last remark. I only know folk on the creative side, not the business side and I've never worked at Essence, but the people are pretty down to earth and likeable. A select few at the magazine have been a great help to me in this business and continue to be. Three years ago when I was just starting out, I wrote a pitch letter to asha bandele, and she called me back to tell me it was one of the best pitch letters she'd ever gotten. It didn't result in me placing an article at Essence for other reasons, but it did result in a great professional relationship with folks at the magazine that I treasure. It's a helpful environment and the people there have been working together for years (not a lot of turnover from what I can tell--if you don't count the EIC position) and are rather close, so sometimes it can seem like it's a disfunctional family, but the best kind of disfunction. I don't think this helps you Somi a great deal, but I did want to add something else to the picture of Essence the above poster painted. Good Luck. |
| Somi | Posted – 11/10/2004 11:49:52 AM | show profile Thanks for the info Thanks for the info guys! It seems like a very cool place to work, but I've been wrong before... I think it will be interesting to work in a mostly black work environment. I'm AA and have only worked for more mainstream companies. There is some stereotype I keep hearing about working for ''Black folks'' and ''Women'', but I figure it can't be any worse or better than working for ''The Man''. Thanks again... S. |
| hipmama | Posted – 11/10/2004 3:06:02 PM | show profile | email poster I'm also AA and have been in this industry for 17 years. Essence was fairly stable for a while, and in fact has had quite a bit of turnover in the last 4 years or so...it's just that the majority of the staff left and then came back together. As for the baby daddy/prison thing, catty as it may seem, it's true. It is no secret to us veterans--we've know about it for a while. Would I work there? Absolutely not. Do I recommend anyone work there if they want to leave someday and work at, say, TeenVogue? Absolutely not. I won't get into any nasty flamefests over this, but suffice it to say that Essence has had a very poor track record as an editorial workplace...and I know several folks who have worked there--and a few that do today. I don't know how helpful this is, Somi, but Essence can be a real dead end on the creative side. I doubt, however, that it's the same on the business side. |
| cjscribe | Posted – 11/10/2004 4:14:31 PM | show profile On the business side... Somi, I hear that the alliance with Time Inc. has made the business side stornger. They got rid of some of the dead wood and things are running smoother than ever. As for the editorial side, it sounds rather insular with veterans in constant rotation -- some people leave and come back again and again. From the folks I know who've worked there, depending on your background it can be hard to get a mainstream gig after doing time there (maybe that's why so many return). As with any job, get what you can from it (experience, contacts) and keep it (your career) moving. |
| Somi | Posted – 11/10/2004 4:23:33 PM | show profile Hipmama - Thanks! One thing that distrubs me is that ultimately the flow and order of the business side rests on the strength of the editorial team and product. From your comments, seems like a pretty dysfunctional place. Have you ever know anyone on the circ side? I wonder if it's the same type of turnover. Also, have you worked with the white people on staff there? How do they interact with the rest of the staff. I know this seems like a strange question, but my boss there would be a white woman. |
| Somi | Posted – 11/10/2004 4:25:33 PM | show profile Danke, cjscribe! Why is it so hard to get a mainatream gig afterward? |
| anon1234 | Posted – 11/10/2004 4:37:28 PM | show profile Good Luck I remember reading about Rosemary Bray's experience getting a writing job at Essence. If only it was that easy now!!! (She started crying during a panel discussion and that led to a home invitation of one of the top editors at the time, can't remember which one and that led to a job interview...) The Planning department at Essence is totally different than the editorial side ... but from what I heard on other posts and from other people .... I would agree that the staff is like a big dysfunctional family. Once you're in and you FIT in then its great for you. I know someone who worked there in a non-editorial job and a close relative died and they asked her to come back and not take more time off (she was in the Midwest) ... and then they fired her that day. So you can draw your own opinions about that! As for me, I interviewed with Essence for a low-ranking editorial job a few years back. They seemed to like me but told me they could not pay me well and that I was overqualified. Fine, I said. The interview was really honest and the interviewer even mentioned someone by name who they were considering despite the fact that they had almost no journalism experience. They were supposed to get back to me on September 12, 2001. Obviously other things were going on in NYC at te time. A few days later, I called and it wasn't until a few weeks later that they told me (after many calls on my part) they had hired someone the week of September 11 which seems kind of unlikely. I later found out on the masthead that they had hired the non-experienced person so .... that's life. I don't know that I would agree that Essence (editorial, planning etc.) is a dead-end ... but it may make it harder for you to get back to non-AA publications (unless you maintain varied freelance clips for those on the editorial side.) Good Luck! |
| Somi | Posted – 11/10/2004 4:50:22 PM | show profile | email poster Anon... Someone once told me that the easier a job is to get the worse the place will be to work. My second interview is on Monday...I'll keep yall posted on the developements. In the meantime...if anyone has any more insights, stories, info on Essence please do post or e-mail me direct. I want to know as much info as I can. S. |
| voxo | Posted – 11/10/2004 7:41:54 PM | show profile Somi, there is a distribution manager there whom I have met several times over the last five years. (But note, I don't have anything to do with magazines.) Anyway, her name is Barbara Parrott, and she's quite a sharp lady who has been there for some time now. If had any interest in this type of career I'd be happy to learn from her, as seems to she really knows her stuff. |
| cjscribe | Posted – 11/12/2004 11:26:46 AM | show profile Editorially speaking... From what friends tell me, it can be hard to move on to mainstream pubs because sometimes white editors feel that you are limited in some way -- either you just know ''black'' subject matter, or Essence is substandard in some way and hasn't enabled one to hone necessary publishing skills. That may be different now that they are in the Time Inc. loop though. Put more simply, if you are competing with someone with more mainstream experience, chances are editors will go with that person because they may be more familiar with that mainstream pub. I don't think many editors in the position of hiring people have ever picked up an Essence magazine. They're not scanning the masthead to learn who the talented people are. You know, that way editors will sometimes raid other magazines for talent. And with the exception of some of the newer editors/writers who are there, it seems the staff doesn't network within the industry much. Seldom are those editors on any panels or anything, unless it's black specific. Just sounds very insular over there. However, I know people who've left and landed at mainstream pubs. I think they were really good networkers. |
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