I love giving new talent a bit of publicity to showcase their work - that kind of representation can motivate an aspiring reader.
Naomi May - Fashion Writer at Evening Standard
When I was younger, I wanted to be…
Well, when I was about five or six, my Mum asked me what I wanted to be, and I think I said either a duck or a princess at first (laughs). No, I always wanted to be a writer, I was a bit of a precocious only child. I was quite a prolific writer when I was younger - I had a diary to scribble everything in and I loved it. I’m a strong believer that everyone should have a diary or journal, it’ll change your life.
When I was 18…
I moved to London to study journalism at City University, which is like the Oxbridge of journalism and has a brilliant reputation in the industry. I worked so hard to earn my spot on my course and did so many internships whilst working through the summers – I even went to New York. Most of my friends went to red-brick universities with a fantastic social life, so I kind of missed out on being a reckless eighteen year old.
My first job…
As a fresh graduate, I needed to pay for rent and holidays etc., but there wasn’t a lot of journo jobs around when I finished university, so I interviewed at a PR agency. I got the job and stayed for six months, but it was horrendous, completely not me. I don’t even think it’s on my CV! But, PR jobs paid good money so I thought that I would figure it out along the way. I ended up getting a PR and comms internship at Alexander McQueen too, but that was still awful. I was rubbish at it and hated every second spent on paperwork and Excel sheets. For a while I was in a post-graduation fog of feeling directionless – I wanted to write! After working so hard at uni and getting all these fantastic writing internships, it really knocked my self-esteem when it didn’t lead to anything. I struggled with that a lot, and I took a bit of time off work during that low point.
My breakthrough moment…
My newsletter, Female Spectrum*. I don’t know what it was – one day I just started it, I just wanted to write. It started as a little monthly newsletter with fifteen subscribers that were all my mates (laughs). It was amazing to write a newsletter focused on female enterprises and artists that really championed their success. It lifted me out of that dark hole.
My typical day looks like…
I start writing from around 8:30-9am, but the content and time frame depends on if the work is for print or the online website. Our team has a weekly meeting and we communicate regularly on Slack, but I miss the human interaction! When I began working from home, I started working out too. The routine has honestly made a huge difference to my mental health.
The hardest part of my job…
It can be isolating. I need my own space and some quiet to write when I’m working from home. At the moment, it’s hard to be consistently inspired and thinking of ideas when you aren’t able to feed off normal human interaction like going for lunch with friends or chatting at a desk.
The best part about my job…
Interviewing young, exciting designers, especially if they are part of the queer community like myself or are POC. I love giving new talent a bit of publicity to showcase their work, and that kind of representation can motivate an aspiring reader to design their own original work too.
The best piece of advice I’ve received…
Stay curious. Curiosity is the best quality for a writer because it’s impossible to know absolutely everything. Studying journalism engineers your brain to be a good interviewer and dig deep, to make someone think out loud. A university lecturer also told me that you shouldn’t stay at one company for too long; it’s healthy to move around and try new things!
A quality I value in a colleague is…
Compassion, even outside of the pandemic. Everyone’s lives are dominated by technology right now so it’s hard to have a chat or a coffee, but I appreciate it when people check in. It’s hard to understand what anyone is going through at the moment based off an email. Compassion should be prioritised in any industry.
My favourite social media app…
Twitter is amazing! I’m liberal and it’s quite interesting to see how people respond to news cycles and topics on your Twitter feed. My girlfriend says it so good that it shouldn’t be free, but Twitter can be a bit of an echo chamber if you’re liberal and then everyone you follow is liberal. Instagram is also useful, but a little damaging if you’re on it for too long, so I usually limit myself to a thirty minute splurge of scrolling.
My go-to resource for news…
I love The Cut, all day, everyday!
If I wasn’t in my current sector, I’d be in…
Scriptwriting, in film and television possibly. I’m currently writing my first book that explores the relationship between a mother and her daughter who comes out to her. I think a portrayal of that dynamic would be amazing to see on TV/film.