Published December 31, 2019

The NYU Intern Wears Prada

Zachary Hull

Internships Student Voices

I helped break the internet simply by being an NYU student. True story.

One of the most amazing resources offered at NYU is Handshake, an online database which gives students access to hundreds of job and internship opportunities. The best part about it is that the offerings are only available to NYU students! Through this database I was able to get my first internship as an Editorial Intern at PAPER Magazine.

BREAK THE INTERNET

In 2014 PAPER published a controversial cover of Kim Kardashian that sparked their aptly named trend of ‘Breaking the Internet’. Constantly pushing boundaries, the company has maintained its position as one of the leading influencers of pop-culture journalism. While mindlessly scrolling through Handshake I stumbled across the position at PAPER and I quickly applied. I was afraid that another NYU student might snatch the opportunity before I had the chance, so I was moving fast. I quickly heard back from the head of the editorial team and after interviewing I had scored the spot as the new Intern.

Is there some reason that my coffee isn't here? Has she died or something?

I was very nervous when starting my internship. For so long I had the image of Andy Sachs in “The Devil Wears Prada” engraved in my mind, and I thought that soon enough I would be sent running around NYC doing all of my bosses chores. Even getting her a Starbucks latte. Scolding! And what if I wouldn’t tell the difference between two different types of blue? From a pile of “stuff”. But one thing was for sure, my fantasy. I was going to make sure I had my moment walking to my first day, blasting “Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall. And I wasn’t going to eat an everything bagel! (Sorry for all the references to “The Devil Wears Prada”)

Freedom to Write

One of my favorite parts of the internship was the freedom to write for their online publication. On my first day of work I wrote an entire piece about Ariana Grande and Emojis! Everyday I would scroll through social media, trying to find new things to write about. I had so much fun doing this, because I was able to write about things in pop-culture that captured my attention. This included an entire article about Jude Law filming as the pope, wearing a speedo.

By all means, move at a glacial pace.

Eventually I started working on their ‘Stan Stories’ series. I worked with my favorite writer there, the celebrity culture editor, and together we brainstormed ideas for the series. For these pieces, I would interview celebrity fan and update accounts on Twitter to learn more about the culture surrounding fandoms. These pieces needed a lot of research, and required a lot of brainstorming. However, they were completely worth it. Through this series, I was able to create relationships with supervisors at PAPER, as well as the owners of these Twitter accounts. I’ve been able to use these connections when pursuing my own research for class!

That's All.

My time as an intern at PAPER was amazing, and I wouldn’t have ended up there without NYU’s help and resources. As an undecided student at the time, the internship helped me solidify my interest in content creation and media. When I left PAPER on my last day, it was bittersweet because I was excited to pursue new things but sad to leave behind such an amazing experience. But of course I had to reference “Devil Wears Prada” one last time! Just as the elevator was closing, I looked into an imaginary camera, and in the words of Miranda Priestly I said “That’s all.”

Zachary Hull

Zachary is currently a Senior in the Steinhardt school studying Media, Culture, & Communication. He comes from a farming background and grew up working on his family owned apple orchard in southern New York – YEE HAW! Zachary spent his first two years at NYU as an Undecided student in the College of Arts and Science, before discovering his passion for representation within media and content creation. He has a strong interest in pop-culture and has interned at PAPER Magazine, writing for their ‘Stan Stories’ series about the culture of fandoms as well as pieces on numerous pop-culture updates. He has also worked in Marketing for Private Health Care Practice and Social Media for his family’s orchard and distillery businesses.