As we continue our Influencer Interview series, today’s spotlight is on Carolyn Twersky, an amazing writer who is currently an Assistant Editor at Seventeen Magazine. Previously she was at The Cut and Art News, and was able to land her role from intern, to fellowship, to now a full time position at Seventeen Magazine. Twersky developed her passion for writing and realized this is what she wanted to do as a career when she was only fifteen years old and it’s been history since then!
In this interview, we dive into getting to know Twersky beyond her writing talent and more on herself, some of her favorite brands currently such as hand bags and shoes, a memorable moment from her current industry, her vision for her future and life, as well as fashion she’s looking to try! Read on for more and you can visit Carolyn’s official page on Seventeen Mag right here for all of her topics ranging from health, celebrities, and pop culture trends.
This was also our first interview conducted via Zoom which was very exciting so if you enjoy this conversation style interview compared to our previous ones, comment down below and let us know on our instagram @glamourandguide!
Disclaimer: Some responses were either cut down or edited from the Zoom for the purpose of the interview.
- Can you tell us a little bit about yourself. (Where you’re from, your career, etc.)
- C: “I’m originally from a small town in Connecticut and when it comes to my career I realized I wanted to be a journalist when I was 15 and I always think I’m so lucky that doesn’t really happen that often that you know what you want to do when you’re so young. And also that 10 years later it’s still the thing you’re interested in. So I’ve been writing since I was about 15 years old and I went to Northwestern University in Chicago and the journalism school there. And I absolutely loved it! And then I graduated in 2018 and I moved to New York where I’ve been for the past 3 years.”
- Since our blog is called Glamour and Guide, what are your favorite go-to brands at the moment— whether it’s clothes, jewelry, shoes, etc.?
- C: “My boyfriend got me Parade underwear for Christmas which I asked him for because I’ve seen them all around Instagram and they look so comfortable. They’re amazing. I’m so obsessed with them. I’m actually ordering a bunch for my friends for Valentine’s Day because they’re doing cute Valentine’s Day sets and they also donate part of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood so I thought that was a fun gift for friends. I love Telfar the market bag. I got one a year ago and I’m so obsessed with it. I wear it every single day but I’ve noticed that more and more people have been commenting on it and it’s getting more popular. I was at CVS the other day and the pharmacist was like oh my gosh I tried to get one. So I love him and I love the brand, I want to get like 12 more bags. But I don’t need the bag in the same 8 colors as much as I’d like to. So definitely Telfar! And I found this boot brand recently it’s called Alohas and they have the coolest boots. They have dual tone boots so they’re split down the middle black and white and they’re so cool. I got a pair from my parents for the holidays as well.”
- As an assistant editor at Seventeen Magazine, can you tell about your journey with how you got to this position? Did previous internship experience help you get here today?
- C: “I actually interned at Seventeen before I worked there. So going into my junior year of college I applied to an intern and I got it. It was totally random and I just applied, interviewed, got in, and I didn’t know anyone. So I worked there for the summer and absolutely loved it. I made a lot of connections with the editors, and the managing directors. Then when I was leaving college, I was graduating and I still didn’t have a job so I talked to my old coworkers at Seventeen and she mentioned they were hiring fellows. Actually, Hearst in general which is the company that owns Seventeen they don’t do internships anymore but I have no idea when they stopped. Must have been between 2015 and 2018 so they only do fellowships now and you have to have a bachelors degree so I was like great I’m graduating, I’m going to have a bachelor’s degree so I’ll just apply! I interned there already, they already knew me, and I interviewed with my old boss so that one really helped that I worked there and I worked there as a fellow from June 2018 until the end of the year. In January I got hired full time as an Assistant Editor so it was really great timing. There have been great fellows since me who when their six months ended, there just wasn’t a spot open. I just got really lucky that when my spot was open, I was able to fill it in on the team. Then I started as an assistant editor in 2019!”
- How do you handle some of your most stressful days? What makes you feel most at peace?
- C: “I think I’m really lucky because I really love what I do and I love writing. Something that’s really important that I’ve found out about myself in the past year, is that I want to be excited everyday to wake up and go to work. I don’t want to experience the Sunday Scaries as people say. I do feel that on Sunday night. I’m not like ugh I have to go write today. I’m like okay I have to wake up at 8. So, I do have days where I hate everything, but for the most part I do find excitement and peace in writing. I also find it really fun so I’m very lucky in that way. But when I am stressed, I take a few minutes to myself. It’s a lot easier now because we are working from home. So, I can just do a quick workout, clear my mind, meditate, and then get back into it. But I have definitely found that when I am stressed, working through it isn’t the answer. I need to take 10-15 minutes to reset.”
Source: @carolyntwersky on Instagram
- From your LinkedIn, I was just doing research and noticed you also have so much experience with writing, editing, and journalism. Have you always had a love for writing and did this stem from when you were a child to now as an adult?
- C: “I always loved writing growing up. It was definitely my favorite subject. I was definitely much more into humanities than sciences. I never knew growing up what I could do as a writer for a job. I was like okay I guess I’ll write books? This is when I was like 10 and didn’t know much about the world. But that didn’t seem sustainable to me. I found out about journalism and the New York Times was always around our house growing up. There were always magazines and I started reading those and realized that was writing too. Then when I was 15, I was like okay this is what I want to do. I want to go to school for this but I need experience. I’m from a really small town where our high school didn’t have a newspaper. So I couldn’t get that normal high school experience of writing for your school newspaper. I went to the town newspaper which was very small and asked if I could cover high school events for them. And I started doing that and it gave me the experience to then when I applied to college, I was able to show that here is some writing I have done outside of my classes. Then when I was at Northwestern, I had really great internships. I interned at Seventeen for a summer. I also interned at Art news which is an Art Magazine in the city. It was really fun and different. I thought maybe I want to go to into Art Journalism. Also, as part of the program at Medill which is the journalism school at Northwestern, you have to do a journalism residency. You take one one quarter and do an internship. So, I went to New York Magazine and The Cut my senior year. I moved from Chicago to New York and did that for a quarter and it was absolutely incredible and so great.“
- Who is your inspiration or someone you look up to whether it’s in your family, a friend, a media celebrity, etc.?
- C: “I definitely have journalism crushes in the media but they come and go so much I feel like. I don’t think there’s one person I have idolized my entire career. But I would say in general inspiration, my parents are huge inspiration to me. I’m very close with them and they’re both very hard working. My grandma is the coolest person I know. I’m very close with her and she inspires me everyday. She’s the most well read intelligent person I know. She was a teacher but these days she will sit on the couch and read The New York Times cover to cover everyday. So she knows everything about everything and I think that’s so awesome. She’s so opinionated. I definitely look up to her a lot.”
- Do you have a style in fashion that you haven’t worn yet but you would love to try? Something out of your comfort zone?
- C: “I feel there’s been so many trends lately I haven’t even been able to explore because I never leave my house. When I do it’s for a quick dinner or something like that. I feel that I just want to dress period and go out. I feel big sleeves are really in right now and I’ve always loved that. I really love what everyone is doing with their hair. The classic ‘oh I’m in a pandemic I’m going to dye my hair.’ I’ve always been very scared to dye my hair so I don’t know if I ever would, but I love the white blonde streaks in the front. I don’t think I’d ever do it but I think it’s really awesome. It’s so cool and I’m like ugh I would never do it but I love it so much. I wish that I could do it.”
- What is your most memorable moment in the industry that you’re in right now?
- C: “Definitely when a big story I’ve worked on for a while gets published. I did my first digital cover for Seventeen and it went up in December. I wrote like 14 different stories for it. It took so much time and when that went up it was really incredible. But then I think what sticks out to me the most is when I was at The Cut. I was covering some New York Fashion Week Shows and they gave me one show to cover completely on my own and that was incredible. It was for the brand Chromat. I’ve been to a bunch of shows and I’ve been able to go to some for Seventeen as well. We don’t cover Fashion Week but we do get invited to some shows so I just go if I can because they’re really fun. So for Chromat, it’s a bathing suit brand and it’s really incredible. It’s super accessible and diverse. Their models are unlike any other in the industry which is really incredible. I was able to go backstage to talk to the designer, to see the fittings, to see everyone getting ready and doing their hair and makeup. It was amazing. Afterward, I went backstage again and Whoopi Goldberg had been at the show and she was talking to the designer and I was able to interview her and get a photo of her for the story I was working on. So that was a really awesome day in general and I was an Assistant Editor which means something different in every brand. It meant something different at The Cut. So I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to do things like that but being there and getting to do that was really cool.”
- What is your vision for yourself, your life, and your future?
- C: “Sometimes I feel really young and sometimes I feel really old. I’m 24 but like I said I’m at the point where I wake up everyday and I’m really excited to go to work. And as a 24 year old, that’s a really great place to be in. I love my job and I see growth at Seventeen so I’m definitely not looking to leave or change anything right now. I do see myself just being a features writer in general. That’s my favorite thing that I do at Seventeen. I take a lot of news stories going on such as political ones and find angles that work for our brand. For the Georgia Runoffs. I talked about the 23,000 17 year olds who are turning 18 to vote between the general election and the runoffs. Just getting more opportunities and maybe it will take me to another brand I don’t know. Eventually I do want to write a book on the side just like everyone I feel wants to do. But who knows when I’ll get around to doing that. I’ve heard it’s really hard to write thousands of words everyday. Such as when you’re done with work and then to just sit down and write for pleasure. I’m just kind of wiped out at that point but wherever I am 10-20 years from now, I just hope that I’m happy and as fulfilled as I am right now.”
If you loved this interview with Carolyn and would like to see more, check out her Instagram down below: @carolyntwersky
Thank you so much for reading!
Feel free to leave to leave requests in the comments or on any of our social media. Use our #glamourandguide to tag us in your posts. New posts on our blog daily!
Disclaimer: All photos not mine are given credit to their owner/source. Photos which are mine will be included in a caption.
Join the official Glamour and Guide Facebook Group here for behind the scenes content, upcoming posts, meet other bloggers, and more!
Glamour & Guide 