Mathilde's Final Blog

Harper’s Bazaar:

Even if I’m not a fashionista per se, I was excited to visit such a prestigious fashion magazine. First of all, the building is simply amazing; it’s bright and has unique architecture. I’m sure that the beauty of the place is a motivating element by itself.

I found Carole and Lindsay very nice, passionate and receptive to us. I enjoyed all the strategic aspects of Carole’s job and her will to constantly reinvent the magazine through different vehicles such as the store, the events, the blog, etc.

I especially liked her explanation about the nature of the Bazaar store and the fact that it is clear that the purpose of it, surprisingly, is not primarily to sell products but to be more of a branding platform.

I liked Carole’s honestly about the magazine industry and its ups and downs. I always hear particularly alarmist comments on how the press magazine industry is dying. However, it was really powerful to listen to the explanation coming from someone that has so many different experiences with numerous magazines. 

I enjoyed the way she was talking about her magazine and explaining that Bazaar wasn’t a brand compared to Elle, for example. She knows the market so well and it seems that she always knew what to do and where to go for each specific magazine at which she’s worked during her career; for example, developing an Elle product line but not doing the same for Bazaar.

Even if Carole specified that we don’t have to be a passionate about fashion to work on the sales side of the magazine, I still feel that you need to at least be really interested in the fashion world, about what is trendy, new and “en vogue”.

I really liked the strategic aspect of her job but not the products to which it’s applied. Consequently, I don’t really think about applying for an internship here.

The Evolving Industry Class

In my opinion, the Evolving Industry Class is the best one to get us ready for the working world. Being available to physically meet professionals, to hear about their vision of the industry and their work, and to understand what make their company unique and potentially appealing to us as graduate students is really powerful.

Interacting with real communication professionals also helped me to easily visualize myself among them.  Even if I found some visits more suitable for me than some other, I always, at some points during the visit, connected with the host’s speech, whether about the working culture, their vision about the industry, their mission towards their clients or their way to build strategies.

I also liked the oral format of the class, even if I’m not the most comfortable person when it comes to engaging in a class discussion. I feel that throughout the semester, this constraint became an opportunity for me, and step-by-step I gained comfort and enjoyed sharing my thoughts with the class.  I also enjoyed hearing different point of views about the lectures and felt it helped me open my mind and think deeper and more critically.

I particularly enjoyed the TTIY presentations. I realized that it taught me a lot about the strategy and the actions of 14 different brands. I thought about applying for an internship after listening to some presentations as the brand, its positioning and type of actions reasoned with me. I think it was a great way to learn deeply and in a very efficient way.