CF: Did you have any internships or jobs in college? What were they like?

CW: I did! When I decided that I was going to do fashion, I spent a summer interning at Glam Media in Brisbane and learning the ins and outs of online publishing and optimization. After that, I spent a summer in NYC interning at Teen Vogue and Radar Magazine (RIP!), which really was the moment I decided I needed to move out East as soon as I graduated. There, I learned how to think like a reader–and not just a writer, which is easy to do when you’re just operating your own blog–and I was so surreal to interact with an industry that I’d been fantasizing about for a decade.

After that, I interned at Chictopia, and eventually headed up the blog there, Everybody is Ugly. At Chictopia, it was all about working with the people, for the people. I’m so glad I got to see the publishing industry from so many different perspectives (corporate and start-up, established and indie, print and online, editorial and marketing), so I could make a informed decision into picking a career path.

CF: How did you get your start working in the fashion industry?

CW: Chictopia really kicked things off for me. Helen Zhu gave me incredible authority to write on subjects that interested me, and interact with the community. Having such free reign to do what I wanted was such a luxury, especially on a platform with an extremely vocal audience, and gave me incredible insight onto on how to package my stories and shape my voice.

When I graduated, I immediately moved to NYC to look for a job (bless my parents for supporting me during those few months of unemployment). Refinery29 was my favorite website at the time. When they posted a job opening, I applied to it with the mindset that it would never happen. However, Christene, the Editor-In-Chief of the site, really took a leap of faith with me, felt that I could come in with a fresh perspective, and gave me the job. Four years, a few promotions, and thousands of articles later, I’m still working at my dream job.