From Rachael Ray Magazine to West Elm

On the first day of her first "real-world" job at Rachael Ray Every Day, journalism alumna Grace Rasmus ('15) was handed the keys to the magazine's official Instagram account. Before she knew it, she was styling and shooting food content, producing videos, and managing digital strategy, while still writing and editing across their online and print publications. Going into 2019, she brought her social media savvy to a new role at West Elm, where she writes about home decor, style tips, and other design topics for the blog, Front + Main. We spoke with Grace to learn more about her editorial internships, how she has maneuvered post-grad life so successfully, and what she's learned in the early stages of her career.

Can you tell us about your experiences as a journalism student and what interested you most as a writer?

I was always very interested in magazine journalism and feature writing. I grew up in New York and my dad was a magazine editor, so I had big media world dreams from a pretty early age. I took on as many internships as I possibly could across multiple genres and mediums to figure out what I wanted to focus on. I was an editorial intern at The Jane Dough (women’s humor website), offMetro (travel website), Macworld UK (tech website), Saveur (food magazine), and The Improper Bostonian (lifestyle magazine). I also wrote for The Quad at BU and had multiple non-writing jobs, including working the front desk at COM Career Services!

Taking on all those genres actually didn’t give me much clarity — I really liked most of them, but I didn’t get that aha-moment about what I wanted to specialize in yet. At the end of the day, I just wanted to write and edit! Luckily, my first job at Rachael Ray Every Day was a great blend of food and lifestyle, and I got to work on both print and digital, so being a generalist kind of paid off for me.

How did you land the role at Rachael Ray Every Day, and what about it did you enjoy the most?

I met the executive editor of Rachael Ray Every Day at a writers’ conference soon after graduation, and we hit it off because I had interned at Saveur, another food magazine she used to work for. She knew I was looking for a job, and a few weeks later, she messaged me on LinkedIn because two editorial assistants had just given notice at the same time and they needed someone to come in ASAP. I started working as a temp the next week and was hired full-time a couple of months later! I started out assisting the editor-in-chief while writing and editing for the print magazine, and eventually I was running the magazine’s website and social media as the associate digital editor, while still writing for the print magazine too.

As you might imagine, working at a food magazine can be really fun. Lots of taste tests, awesome events, and wacky PR mailers kept things interesting. Based on my Instagram, I think many of my friends thought I just spent my whole day eating and goofing off with my coworkers. (It’s actually very hard work — Instagram doesn’t tell the full story, but I digress!) Besides the food perks, my favorite part of the job was the writing and editing process, both as a junior staffer getting notes from the executive-level editors, and then later on the other side line-editing copy and giving notes to our interns.

What led you to pivot to a career in social media?

On my very first day at Rachael Ray Every Day, they were like, “OK, you’re going to run the Instagram now! Here’s the password; go for it.” This was back in 2015 – I feel like they wouldn’t pass the reigns so freely in 2019, but that’s what happened! I immediately fell in love with Instagram as a creative outlet for both food photography and coming up with witty captions. It was fun to get to know our audience and change strategies as the platform evolved over the years (remember when there was no such thing as Instagram Stories!?). I started running all the other social channels and the website about six months in, so it was always a big part of my job at Rachael Ray Every Day.

My job at West Elm is different in many ways, especially going from a media company to a brand, but I wouldn’t call it a true pivot. I work on the social media team at West Elm, but most of my job actually involves writing and editing for the blog, Front + Main. Again, this is the generalist in me, but I love being able to do both day-to-day social media and writing and editing blog posts, while also pulling the lens back to help shape overall organic social strategy and editorial direction. I draw on my past experience in the media world all the time and figure out the best way to apply my editorial ideas to a brand with revenue goals. We take a very organic approach to our audience in terms of inspiration, achievable projects, and helpful how-tos, so it doesn’t really feel like advertising and it’s been a very natural transition. I also still do some freelance food writing on the side, so it’s nice that I get to keep that part of my career going too.

Any advice you'd like to give to current students?

Meet as many people as you can! Reach out to people who have jobs you might want and take them out for coffee — I might’ve been too shy to do this as a student, but I can tell you from the other side it is NOT awkward and it’s totally normal. They’ll be flattered, especially if they’re young, and they will have so much great info to share. (But you need to be prepared with questions; don’t waste their time because media folks are very busy!) I also love the blog askamanager.com for general career advice and I think everyone should read it, especially if you’re job hunting.