Students Visit Vogue House To Hear From The Condé Nast Team

Students in the board room at Vogue House

Key members of Condé Nast staff give insight into their roles, highlighting the sheer breadth and variety of career opportunities at Condé Nast. Students were lucky to hear from editors and executives across the brands; Alyson Lowe, Alexander Ron, Honey Sweet Elias, Pete Winterbottom, Lucy Morgan, Hannah Robertson, and Robyn Brady in the board room at the iconic Vogue House. MA Fashion Journalism & Editorial Direction student, Trista Bowser reports.

 

Condé Nast Masthead Talk

 

The Condé Nast College students were hosted in the boardroom at Vogue House for this special event, where students  gain a unique insight into the roles behind the “masthead” – the name for the list of who-does-what at the brand. The “Bringing The Masthead To Life” event at Vogue House saw seven different industry professionals ranging from creatives to marketing. Here’s a recap of the wisdom and insight that they shared.

 

The Speakers at Vogue House…

Alyson Lowe in the board room at Vogue House

Alyson Lowe – Associate Director of Audience Development

 

Experienced journalist Alyson Lowe has gone from Engagement Manager to the Associate Director of Audience Development at Vogue in six years.

 

What does an Associate Director of Audience Development do? Every day is different. Alyson Lowe’s responsibilities include identifying and growing the audience, understanding Vogue’s consumer data to work on their social strategy, and working with the commercial team to brainstorm new ideas.

 

Key advice: Work hard and be open to new opportunities.

Alex Ron in the board room at Vogue House

Alexander Ron – Digital Editor for Condé Nast Johansens

 

Condé Nast College BA (Hons) graduate, Alex Ron has worked his way up to Digital Editor of Condé Nast Johansens in just a year and a half. When he first started in this role, he was in charge of growing the audience and engagement on Instagram. It started with under 10K followers, but has grown to 17.4K followers in a year. 

 

As Digital Editor, he is in charge of managing the website and any posts that are created on that platform.  Partnering with luxury hotels and resorts are a huge part of his job. Alex has to come up with a variety of branding and marketing packages to determine how much Condé Nast Johansens will promote them.

 

Key Advice: Get as much experience as you can so that when you do find your dream job you can go into the interview with confidence.

Honey Sweet Elias in the board room at Vogue House

Honey Sweet Elias – Fashion Assistant for British Vogue

 

Honey Elias is Fashion Assistant at British Vogue. She assists Editor-in-Chief Edward Enniful and Contributing Fashion Director Kate Phelan. She has always been interested in fashion and she comes from a very creative family, who always encouraged her to follow her dreams.

 

The role is so varied and there is no typical day, but she spends a lot of time speaking to PRs and calling in pieces for the fashion editors she assists. She stressed the importance of building relationships across the industry, particularly key PRs. You need to be incredibly well organised and the best thing about the role is working with talented creatives.

 

Key Advice: If you are passionate about something, go do it. Jump in head-first and show that you know what you are doing, and do a good job. 

Pete Winterbottom in the board room at Vogue House

Pete Winterbottom – Global Creative Director for Condé Nast Traveller

 

Pete Winterbottom has been with Condé Nast Traveller for 21 years, joining after holding Art Director after roles at The Sunday Times and Marie Claire. Five years ago, he became the Global Creative Director for the brand.

 

He works closely with Divia Thani, Global Editorial Director, manages his impressive team of art directors, designers and creatives, and is responsible for developing the global creative strategy. He has a very hands-on approach, and is happiest working on page layouts. He is passionate about the brand, and keen to encourage our students to visit his art room to see how the pages are put together.

 

Key Advice: Be passionate, work hard and start to build your network if you want to succeed!

Lucy Morgan in the board room at Vogue House

Lucy Morgan – Purpose Editor & Deputy Website Editor for GLAMOUR

 

Lucy Morgan  has written for Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Red, and she is now the Purpose Editor & Deputy Website Editor for GLAMOUR.

 

Lucy has had an unorthodox career journey, but always knew she wanted to be a writer. She had no contacts in fashion and had little success when she applied for roles. However, Lucy saw a post from Cosmopolitan on Instagram asking for models with pink hair, so using her initiative, she dyed her hair and headed to London. She met the team and this led her to a role at Cosmo!

 

She is responsible for creating engaging copy and loves being part of the GLAMOUR team and writing in such a fast paced environment.

 

Key Advice: Get yourself out there and do what it takes to do so, even if it is dying your hair a different colour.

Hannah Robertson in the board room at Vogue House

Hannah Robertson – Marketing Manager

 

Hannah has been with Condé Nast for four years and has worked her way up from Marketing Assistant to Marketing Manager. Working closely with the Condé Nast brands, she works hard to enhance the experience of customers and  collaborates with the marketing teams from around the world to create global campaigns and hold various events to showcase the brands.  

 

She enjoys focusing on marketing Vogue merchandise and promotes brand flagship events like Vogue Forces of Fashion and GQ Heroes.

 

Key Advice: Do what you love and don’t be afraid to take on new challenges, you will have to be agile in a constantly evolving marketing environment.

Robyn Brady in the board room at Vogue House

Robyn Brady – Marketing and Membership Associate for Vogue Business

 

A recent Condé Nast College BA (Hons) graduate, Robyn Brady now has her dream job as the Marketing and Membership Associate at Vogue Business. While she was at Condé Nast College she was inspired by Ciara Byrne, VP of New Business Innovation at Condé Nast who came to speak and decided she wanted to work at Vogue Business. 

 

She realised she didn’t have enough experience so she worked in a number of relevant roles and kept in touch with the team stressing how much she loved to work there. When a position came up they emailed her to ask her to apply and she got her dream job Customer Support Executive and now as Membership and Marketing Associate

 

Key Advice:  Never give up on your dream job!

 

By Trista Bowser, MA Fashion Journalism & Editorial Direction student