Read between the bylines

Get to know the hustle of some of Manila’s top publications through the eyes of their editorial assistants.

September is usually designated as the month of fashion, publishing and imagining what it would be like to be Andy Sachs. And contrary to the popular belief presented in The

Devil Wears Prada about editorial assistants, the job is actually quite rewarding and allows you to make your own mark in the publishing industry. It is true, however, that being at the entry level means bearing a lot of the grunt work. But hey, everybody’s gotta start somewhere, right? A lot of the big names we know today started from the bottom, too, so that says a lot about where this title can take you.

This week, new Young STAR editorial assistants Neal Corpus and Gaby Gloria rounded out the current crop of editorial assistants from both print and digital to talk about the good, the bad and (maybe) the ugly. We get a peek at what it’s like in a day of their lives and discuss the growing influence of digital media and the resilience of print magazines in today’s Internet Age. We also discover that not all bosses are Miranda Priestlys, and that sometimes, the job of an EA involves getting animals for a shoot. They’ve got a long way to go, but with this new batch of creatives, the future of publishing looks pretty promising.

On what got her into publishing:

Actually I loved fashion first — I wanted to be a fashion designer, but then I realized I’m not good at drawing and I can’t really sew. (So I said) “Sige, I’ll write na lang.” So parang halfway. On working with her idols:

I like being able to work with people I used to only read about. My bosses, for one. Apart from that, the photographers, writers, stylists, even the talents, the artistas. It’s quite interesting to know that just a few years ago you were just seeing these people here and there, admiring them from afar. But now you actually get to see how they work and see who they are. That can be so inspiring. ‘Cause parang, I’m here, I’m an EA. I’m at the entry level of this industry but then you see all these people and you figure out that, “Oh, if I start out from here, I can be like that too.” It inspires you to work hard. On what makes print special:

I think, more than anything, it’s an exercise in care, an exercise in being pulido, and mastering little details. It’s a training in meticulousness. That’s what I find compelling about print.