The Editorial Residency: My Mom Made Me Do It
Written by Lindsay Combs. Photography by Maggie Heath-Bourne and Chelsie Walter.
I still don’t know if I was qualified to be one of the editorial residents this past spring, but I am beyond thankful that Kiersten and Chelsie thought I was. I learned more about myself and my passions than I ever thought I would, and got to meet some badass women along the way.
I found out about the position through my mom, who had been sending me every single Women of Cincy Instagram post she saw for about two and a half months. I should probably mention that I was already following Women of Cincy, so I got double the intake and decided that was a sign for me to take a chance and apply. So, I sat down and revamped my entire resume, wrote and rewrote a cover letter, and called my dad to make sure he reviewed everything twice before I finally sent in my application at 2:27 p.m. on November 30.
I learned how crucial it is to have women in the workplace, and that Cincinnati is full of even more incredible women than I could have imagined… and I have quite the imagination.
Based on that, you can probably tell I had never applied for an internship before. But I got an interview. When I arrived at Union Hall, I panicked as I parked and realized all I had for parking was a $5 bill. Eventually I found enough change to put 28 minutes in the meter. When I walked out of the interview, I was too stressed about whether or not my car got towed to be stressed about how the interview went. That was probably a good thing.
Fast forward a month, and I’m walking into Union Hall for the second time. This time for my first day. I was beyond intimidated by Ellen and Lauren. I remember thinking, Okay, these two are way cooler than me. I am definitely not qualified to be here. Did they accidentally bring on the wrong Lindsay? Eventually, I got over the intimidation factor. From that point on, Wednesday mornings became my favorite. I got to spend three hours with four incredible women working on projects that highlighted more incredible women in my favorite city. While we were all there to get work done, we laughed and bonded and got to know each other.
While I did a lot of working, I also did a lot of learning. I learned how crucial communication between employees and supervisors is, how to edit a piece without losing the voice of the writer, how to navigate websites and communication channels. I found out how much I loved editing and seeing all the different styles of writing on our team. I learned a lot about myself, as well. I learned that when you have a passion for something, you need to run for it. When other people have faith in you, use that to push yourself more. I learned how crucial it is to have women in the workplace, and that Cincinnati is full of even more incredible women than I could have imagined… and I have quite the imagination. This experience for me has been much more than just your typical internship. There were some bumps along the way, as there always are. But this team and this journey has shown me how powerful a network of women can be.