Meet your hostess
Jessica Daynor got her start as a fashion intern at Marie Claire. After the internship, she was offered a job but turned it down — “New York is one of my favorite places in the world, but I knew I’d be broke, overworked, and not really doing what I loved,” she says. Now, she’s the managing editor of DRAFT magazine, a bi-monthly beer publication.
When she’s not writing or editing, Jessica can be found traveling, renovating her house, cooking, watching bad TV, or reading one of the 20+ magazines that she gets each month!
How did you find out about Ed?
I was on a wine-tasting press trip in Sonoma. Relationships are usually a bit forced on these trips, but this time, I really hit it off with three other editors. One of them mentioned something about Ed, and at the time, I was clueless. “You don’t go on Ed2010.com?!” she exclaimed. I figured it was something I ought to check out, and I’m glad I did: I applied for (and got!) a 60-Minute Mentor a few months later, and I’ve been an Ed addict ever since.
What is your Ed chapter like?
Good things come in small packages: We’re a group of 12 men and women. Some work full-time, some freelance, and they’re from magazines that cover everything from travel to medical sales. Everyone’s laid back, and we’re always looking for new faces in the group.
How do you get the happy hour-goers chatting?
We all have our work in common, so it’s easy to get conversation flowing. Usually, someone’s in the middle of a headache-inducing, can’t-leave-your-desk-before-midnight deadline, and we try to cheer them up with deadline stories of our own. Of course, we chat about, movies, TV and travel, too.
Have you thrown any Ed events recently?
The Phoenix chapter is one of Ed’s newest chapters, so while we have a few happy hours under our belt, we’re looking forward to expanding the group and hosting lots of events this fall and spring. Recently, we held a “masthead swap” happy hour—everyone brought a copy of their title’s masthead so Ed can keep up-to-date on the local revolving door.
Are there any big events you’re currently preparing for right now?
We’re gearing up for a September happy hour, where we’ll brainstorm ideas for a “How to break into magazines” summit at Arizona State University this fall. ASU doesn’t have an Ed chapter (yet!), and I get so many e-mails from local students trying to break into the business. To help get everyone on the same page, we’ll cover how to get an internship, how to ace the interview, what classes to take, and so much more.
What are some of the big magazines/publications in your area?
Phoenix is full of magazines big and small: DRAFT is actually the state’s largest magazine, but Desert Living, 944, Arizona Foothills, Arizona Highways and McMurry’s titles are all sizable. Most of our happy hour-goers are from DRAFT, 944, Arizona Foothills (and some of its publisher’s other titles), Sunshine Media (a trade publisher) and other publishers, plus a good amount of freelancers.
Contact Jessica at phoenix@ed2010.com
