With an already strong Penn State alumni presence, O, The Oprah Magazine boasts an even stronger blue-and-white contingent as five College of Communications students are interning with the publication this summer in Manhattan.
The magazine, which was founded by Oprah Winfrey and is part of the Hearst Corp., is a monthly magazine targeting women of all ages. Penn State is well-represented, most notably with senior vice president and publisher Jayne Jamison (1978 advertising/public relations). Associate editor Arianna Davis (2009 journalism) and style assistant Manouska Jeantus (2013 health and human development) also are Penn State alumnae.
Seniors Christine Dua (journalism), Janelle Kelly (advertising/public relations), Elizabeth Malara (broadcast journalism), Janae Tobia (broadcast journalism) and Olivia Vellone (advertising/public relations) each secured internships in a variety of roles at the magazine.
“The fact that none of us knew each other, it just shows how Penn State is a huge school but it’s also such a small world,” said Kelly. “We all get along. It’s nice, because now we have four extra friends to add onto our list when we go back to school.”
An Alexandria, Virginia, native, Dua is an editorial intern, helping editors from a variety of departments. Her tasks include transcribing interviews, researching information for articles and compiling a daily news update that goes out to O Magazine staff. Her favorite part so far was transcribing an interview with the magazine's namesake that appeared at the end of an issue.
“I actually got first-hand experience listening to what she was saying and how the editor interacts with the interviewee,” said Dua. “So, it was really interesting how the editor specifically works in an interview. That was a great tip. This will come in handy when I got back to school and I have to interview my sources for my article. It was great just to hear her and of course, it’s Oprah. A month later, when you see it published, you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, I actually wrote that.’ "
Kelly, a native of Orlando, Florida, and Malara, who hails from Sayreville, New Jersey, are each serving as style interns. They work primarily with the “O List,” which is a list of products categorized in a theme in each issue. The two check in the products, figure out how they work and get them to the editors to look at. They also do run-throughs, where they set up the room with the products so the editors can check all of them out and decide what the readers will like. In addition, Kelly and Malara take the products to photo shoots.
“It’s kind of a cool thing because we get to interact directly with editors, which I think is something a lot of interns don’t get to do,” said Malara. “When you sit in on a run-through and you’re taking notes on something so you can reflect their opinions later on when they have questions about something. You kind of get to hear the inside scoop about print journalism which I think is really cool.”
Tobia works as a public relations and social media intern. The Saddle Brook, New Jersey, native works under Adam Glassman, the creative director of the magazine. She drafts PR, Twitter and Instagram posts for him based on products that come out in the magazine. Tobia has plenty of experience in that type of thing, as she interned under PJ Mullen at B94.5 while at Penn State, tweeting through his account during the show.
“It’s important to understand who’s reading and who is connected with you,” said Tobia. “What I do with PJ, I can’t do with Adam. It’s a totally different game. That’s something that I’m learning that whatever position I’m in, I need to make sure I’m appealing to the demographic that’s interested in what I’m working with.”
Vellone, who is from Altoona, Pennsylvania, is participating in her first advertising sales internship. So far, she has been helping out sales assistants with everything she can to get the sales calls ready. In her time, she has had the opportunity to go on multiple sales calls, including one to the NFL.
“I’ve learned a lot about client relations,” said Vellone. “It’s really interesting seeing how the reps go out and how they win the business, because it is so competitive, especially some of these advertisers, they’re huge.”