Cait Munro Lifestyle Editor at Refinery 29

Refinery29 is one of the biggest media company focused on young women (and one of my favorite daily online destination). You told us also is one of the companies you’re interested most in and want to know what’s like working there so I interviewed Cait Munro, Lifestyle Editor at Refinery29 who told us how she started her career, what she does today, what a day in her life looks like and much more! Enjoy it

• What did you study?

I double majored in Art History and Film & Media Studies at the University of Rochester.

• What was your first job?

My first first part-time job was as a sales associate at Urban Outfitters when I was like 17! My first salaried job was doing social media management for a website that covered art and culture. I also felt super, super cool for getting hired there, because getting a “real” job after college honestly felt like the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. I was never all that passionate about posting tweets, but being there did allow me to realize that it was possible to have a career writing about art and fashion and culture and all of these other things that I love so much. From there, I was offered a job writing and doing editorial assistant stuff at an upstart art news website that was helmed by one of the editors I had worked with, and that’s where I learned a lot of the skills I use all the time now, like reporting, conducting interviews, crafting good headlines, etc.

• How did you get into the fashion industry?

I think of myself more as a part of the digital media industry versus being in the fashion industry —  I have written about fashion and was briefly the fashion editor at Bullett before it shut down last year (RIP!). The fashion world is funny — in my experience, it’s hard to get people to give you a chance if you didn’t come up through the standard internship pipeline and therefore have a bunch of connections. In the New York fashion world, it’s a really big deal to have interned a bunch of places during and after college, and I just had a very different kind of career path — I didn’t go to school in the city, I didn’t intern anywhere prestigious when I was in school, and I didn’t even know what I wanted to do until after I graduated — and that’s made it difficult at points. There have definitely been times that I’ve wished I could have figured some of this out sooner. Fashion is really my first love, and I’ll always follow it and always enjoy writing about and discussing it, but I’m glad I’ve discovered that there are so many other subjects I’m passionate about as well, because for me, those spheres have been much easier to break into.

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• Tell us about your role as lifestyle editor. What do you do?

At Refinery29, lifestyle means mostly food, travel, and home content, so I work primarily around those buckets and then sometimes do features for other parts of the site. Mostly, I do a lot of writing and editing on a daily basis, with some meetings and phone calls and research included as well. The whole editorial team here is really collaborative, which I love, so I spend a good amount of time on Slack doing stuff like figuring out the best headline for a story or talking about what’s trending. I also attend events, conduct interviews, and spend time both in and outside of my work day dreaming up story and package ideas. It’s hard to turn my brain off at the end of the day sometimes, which can be good, because sometimes the best ideas come to you in the shower or while riding the subway.

• What does a day in your life look like?

I usually wake up around 7:30 a.m., because most of us try to be in the office by 9:30 a.m.. I’m not a morning person. Like, I really, really hate any time before about 11 a.m. I also like taking my time getting ready, which means doing my makeup and hair while listening to NPR. I love the idea of getting pretty and getting informed at the same time. It makes me feel like the ultimate modern woman. It takes me about 40 minutes to get to work on the subway, and once I’m at my desk with my iced coffee and granola bar (yep, a Sad Desk Breakfast if there ever was one), I like to take a look at social media and a few other websites to get a sense of what people are talking about that day and whether there’s anything going on that we should definitely write about. I go through my inbox and delete all the spam (editors get so much spam) and respond to anything pressing. Usually I’m working on multiple feature-length stories at once, so I might have a couple of phone calls throughout the day with experts or sources, or I could be working on fixing a draft of something based on another editor’s comments. One thing I love about Refinery29 is that I get to work with a few different editors, all of whom are insanely talented and people who I really respect and trust. It sounds basic, but writing can be really personal and sometimes we’re articulating viewpoints that might not be popular with everyone, so it’s crucial to feel like the people editing your work and signing off on it have your back. I always like to leave the office to pick up lunch, partially because taking a quick breather helps me stay sane and partially because I will never have my shit together enough to bring my own lunch from home. My schedule really depends on the day, but for the most part, I’m glued to my laptop. Such is the life of an internet writer!

• Do you have any special morning routine?

Mostly my morning is devoted to getting out the door. I snooze my alarm often — shocking, I know — so by the time I actually drag myself out of bed, I have like 50 minutes to get ready, which sounds like a lot but somehow isn’t. So it’s makeup, hair, outfit, NPR, and that’s it. I have really tried to be one of those people who wakes up early and reads and has breakfast and hot water with lemon or whatever, but I just can’t do it! Maybe one day. I guess it’s something to strive for.

• What is your advice to girls who want to work at fashion magazines?

This may sound cliche, but I think at some point, you have to decide if — and why — you really want it. Writing and editing is not a straight-line career trajectory like being a lawyer or a doctor. No matter how talented you are, there are probably going to be some ups and downs. Personally, I’m very grateful to have landed at Refinery29, and I also realize that a lot of what allowed me to get here was going through some darker times in my career. I don’t think I would be as creative or as committed to what I’m doing if there hadn’t been some struggle to do it.

• What do you love the most about your job?

I think the coolest thing about my job is the access that it allows me. I don’t just mean events and press trips, although those can be pretty incredible, but I love that if I see someone doing something cool or boundary-breaking, I can pitch a story on them and have an excuse to meet and talk to them. Reading comments and engaging with audience feedback can be a double-edged sword, but when someone reaches out to me via email or on social media to tell me they really liked or related to something I wrote, that’s a great feeling. And, of course, if my co-workers tell me they enjoyed something I’ve written, I kind of die inside, because I think everyone I work with is absolutely brilliant.

• What’s the best thing about working in fashion?

I think being in an industry that’s populated by creative, open-minded, and forward-thinking people is such a wonderful privilege, and it’s one that’s especially apparent at Refinery29. I don’t feel like I have to bring a different ‘self’ to the office every day. I love that on a 90 degree day in New York City, I don’t have to think twice about wearing a little sundress to the office, even if it’s low-cut or backless or something. It’s so refreshing, especially after having jobs in more traditional or male-dominated environments where there was an expectation that you’d dress or behave or talk differently at work than you would IRL.

• What do you do after work?

When I was just starting out as a writer and working primarily in the art world, I was out at least three nights a week at openings, dinners, and other events. A big part of my job was to cover that stuff for the website I was working at and I was also just super enchanted with the fact that I suddenly had access to this whole glamorous world. I was also pretty broke and realized I needed to make the most of things like open bars and passed appetizers whenever possible. These days though, I’m much more likely to just go home after work and binge watch stuff on Netflix with my boyfriend. I’m something of an introvert, and I’ve realized that I need a lot of chill time to feel sane and be productive during the week. I’m also, as we’ve established, obsessed with sleep and very much need a full eight hours, so being out until 10 p.m. on a Wednesday just isn’t usually my jam anymore. I do still sometimes go to work-related events during the week, but I’m much more choosy about what I decide to do. I also love an occasional dinner with friends or a quick happy hour. It’s nice to feel like you did something other than go to work on a given day, but it’s also really nice to go home, order takeout, watch TV, and pass out early. It’s all about balance.