Rachel Wilkerson Miller shares her career path from ELLE Magazine intern to BuzzFeed & VICE editor

Girl Gazers, today you are meeting Rachel Wilkerson Miller (@the_rewm), the deputy editor at VICE Life, who published not one, but TWO books! Her post-grad career journey began at ELLE Magazine as an accessories assistant. Flash forward five years, Rachel landed a leadership role at BuzzFeed, and now she’s killing it at VICE. In today’s episode, we explore Rachel’s non-linear career path, find out what it takes to be a deputy editor at a major company, how to freelance and work for your dream editorial publication & SO. MUCH. MORE.

 

Rachel kicks our candid conversation off by walking us through her day-to-day responsibilities as an editor, why a healthy work environment is so important, how she injects vulnerability into her personal essays and how she manages her endless to-do list (8:10).

 

Aspiring journalists, listen in on Rachel’s top tips for freelancing and pitching stories to your dream publication and networking on Twitter (18:05).

 

We dive into the most helpful journalism skills we learned in college and embark on Rachel’s post-grad career path. First, Rachel reflects on her internship at ELLE Magazine and how she turned it into a full-time job (24:30). 

 

As we make our way through her career journey, we take a pit stop at BuzzFeed to unpack her four and a half years there (34:40). In addition to writing an editing, Rachel hired and managed a team. She spills her secrets to standing out as a job applicant as well as the benefits of pursuing a passion project, especially during COVID times (39:10). 

 

When Rachel isn’t working at an impressive online magazine, she’s blogging, writing a book or sending out a weekly newsletter. How does she do it all (45:15)?! 

 

Before we chat about her two books, Rachel reveals her frustrating and shocking experience of getting laid off from BuzzFeed at the end of Jan. 2019 (47:25). 

 

Between then and now, Rachel has become a two-time author of the books “Dot Journaling—A Practical Guide” and “The Art of Showing Up" (51:10). 

 

We close our honest conversation with one last piece of advice from this career queen: “Figure out what you want to do and find a way to do it for YOURSELF. Don’t wait for anyone to give you permission. Whether that gets you a job directly or not is kind of not the point. It keeps you fresh; it keeps you curious; it keeps your mind working.” (57:10).

 

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