Small town girl. Big city dreams. Caitlin Scott understands the definition of hard work to it’s core and is a living example that it pays off. During her time at the University of Iowa, she had three internships, was involved with Ed on Campus, and somehow balanced a social life with keeping in touch with contacts in New York.
During her sophomore year she interned at Bop and Tiger Beat (which is still around!) where she spent most of her time blogging for their sites and creating content. She then went to Better Homes & Gardens in Des Moines where she focused on SEO driven stories and updated their archives to reflect that. Scott commented that she spent a majority of her time writing and researching about pets, sounds like a fun internship to me.
The summer before senior year is what really gave her the mentorship and challenge, that she would later continue to foster into her post graduate career. Caitlin Scott got the internship that a lot of girls would kill for, an internship with Cosmopolitan. There, she was able to first handily witness the start of the digital revolution.
By the end of summer she had been offered to continue working for Cosmo remotely while she was at Iowa.
“I remember I would be sitting in lecture and posting to the Cosmo Tumblr wall that thousands of people would be seeing. It was pretty funny, like what was my life? I was just a college kid.”
She said she was able to learn how to grow an audience (which is a huge skill to be able to have in your back pocket) and able to still in keep touch with the team in NYC. Come winter break, she was offered an internship with Cosmo again to work with the digital team.
“If it weren’t for Ed, I wouldn’t have been able to go. I filled out a winter internship grant application so I could afford housing in New York. When I had left in the summer, the team was around ten people; in the winter it had doubled.”
Five months later, Caitlin graduated and bought a ticket to New York in hopes of landing a job. It was a few days before she was suppose to head back home that she got a temp job at Parents and from there it was history. She worked on social media for Cosmo on the weekend where she was constantly networking and keeping her foot in the door. She finally got offered a full time position there and worked her way up to Social Media Manager.
Currently, she works at Love Stories TV where she focuses on audience development.
Ed had the chance to sit down with Caitlin and do a Q&A:
Ed on Campus: What is one class at Iowa that you think really helped you in your career?
Caitlin Scott: I remember taking a website class where we learned basic coding and you basically designed your own website. I’m not sure if they still offer the course but I definitely think it taught me some valuable skills.
Ed: What is your advice for students once they end an internship, but are hoping to continue to foster a relationship with the company?
CS:It is always great to keep touch and give updates. However, I remember one girl who sent us a link to vine that had so many hits and she thought it would relate to Cosmo’s audience. I thought that was really cool because it was something that wasn’t on our radar but this girl had seen it and thought of us. We ended covering it.
Ed: How should I be promoting and engaging with followers on social?
CS: Social is always changing and so are it’s features. I think if you use both sides of your brain: creativity and strategics then you are off to a good start. You don’t want to create content that can be found anywhere else and you want it to speak to your values.
Ed: Finally, we have to know what is your favorite part about living in New York City?
CS: Sometimes, I don’t ever want to leave. It’s always exciting; there is food, entertainment, art, places, and the people here are so diverse. It’s refreshing. I think is an experience you can’t get anywhere else.