Sick of Seventeen and Cosmopolitan magazines? Junior Joanna Buffum, along with the rest of the Her Campus staff, have just added another option to the pool—an online magazine aimed specifically at college females.
After working as an intern for a blog, Zagat Buzz, Buffum was hired as a staff writer by Her Campus, an exclusively female and college-oriented online magazine.
Buffum is not a newcomer to the world of print and online media. She worked this summer at both Zagat Survey and OK! magazine.
"My experience at Zagat was very Web site oriented, and I learned how to personally update the Web site and write for the restaurant blog, and that helped me realize how important the Internet is going to be by the time I enter the real world," Buffum said. "That's [one] reason why Her Campus attracted me so much."
Buffum was introduced to the president and publisher of Her Campus, Harvard senior Windsor Hangar, while working at OK!.
"[Hangar] approached me about being interested in journalism and explained how she and her friends were planning on starting an online magazine written exclusively by college women this September," said Buffum.
According to Buffum, Hangar and her two friends, fellow Harvard students Stephanie Kaplan and Annie Wang, "felt that a magazine-like resource for college women was absent from the national-level media scene."
"Magazines like Seventeen are targeted at too young an audience, and magazines like [Cosmopolitan] always have work-related content that college students cannot relate to," said Buffum.
With that in mind, Hangar, Kaplan and Wang set their idea for Her Campus into action.
Their plan gained momentum quickly. According to the magazine's Web site, "Her Campus was a winner in Harvard College's business plan competition, the i3 Innovation Challenge in March 2009, where it received the first-ever Harvard Student Agencies Investment Award."
It was after their big win that the three founders began to look for writers.
At their meeting over the summer, Buffum said that Hanger, "gave me her card, which made me realize how official it was, and told me if I was interested that I should apply."
However, the application process was not easy, she said.
"I had to send in my résumé and a writing sample, preferably a published clipping—which I did not have—so I wrote a potential article for the Web site, and then for the second round I had to pitch an article idea for each section of the magazine: Style, Health, Love, DormLife, Career and World," Buffum said.
In the end, Buffum was hired by the magazine, which launched on September 16 of this year.
"I am one of nineteen contributing writers from schools all across the country, and I write for all of the sections of the magazine. There is a new article added every day to keep the Web site current and entertaining for its returning readers, and each of us contributes weekly to the new Writer's Blog, so everyone is very involved," she said.
With the tagline "a collegiette's guide to life," the Web site has a wealth of information for college women including advice on fitness, dating, roommate relationships and fashion.
"One really popular section," according to Buffum, "is called 'Text Translations with Jess and Katie' with two girls from UPenn who 'interpret' ambiguous texts from boys—received usually late night on the weekends after some drinking—that girls send in."
It is not just this section, however, that has drawn a lot of attention.
"The feedback has been amazing," she said. "The Her Campus page on Facebook currently has 1,029 fans, and within the first week of launching the site had 34,000 hits from 15,000 different users."
With so many readers, the magazine hopes to expand its coverage in the future by tailoring its articles to specific schools. The Web site explains that "Her Campus will individualize it's content college-by-college by establishing 'My Campus' branches, beginning at Harvard, and eventually expanding to 1000+ colleges and universities nationwide."
"It is really exciting to watch that development, and since so many improvements have happened already it's amazing to think about where it will be in a year," Buffum said of the expansion.
"New things keep getting added to make the site more interesting, like a weekly playlist, a fashion blog, a Writer's Blog and daily polls related to the article of the day," she added.
Although Buffum, an English major, will be studying abroad in Copenhagen next semester, she hopes to continue writing for the magazine.
"I just really like the Her Campus community... and it's just great to be part of something that is so fresh and new," she said.
"I think Her Campus is paving the way for the media's future by combining local and national content that all college women can relate to," Buffum said.
College women who are interested in writing for the magazine now have the opportunity to do so. In order increase the scope of their coverage, the magazine is now accepting applications for staff positions. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on November 15.
Those interested in applying can e-mail stephanie@hercampus.com with a résumé and two writing samples.
Visit the Web site at www.hercampus.com.