Essentials Guest Editor Interview

A couple of months after applying to the Essentials “You are Amazing” competition, I had concluded that I surely was not amazing enough to be on the front cover of the magazine. Then I got an email from Darren, the Essentials Editor saying they received my application for the “You are Amazing” competition and would like to interview me for a new competition. This was the Essentials Guest Editor Competition which was only going to be open for one week and they had wanted some of the top candidates from the “You are Amazing” competition to also be included as candidates.

Instantly I went to the Essentials web page to find out what being a Guest Editor would involve. Basically 7 Real ladies were being selected to guest edit certain sections of the essentials magazine...so it could be food, fashion, beauty, shopping etc. I got a bit anxious as I started to realise what was involved in this competition. I mean the competition I had applied for was just ‘beauty’....this one was now beauty and brains. I was going to have to Think...or do something. Yikes ... I was going to have to up my game.

I decided to treat the interview with Darren like a casting call which basically involves dressing and acting for the part. I had remembered an audition I had gone for earlier that month and they were looking for a funky, arty mother! To me this seemed along the lines of what Essentials might be looking for. For that particular audition I got tips on how to dress from my good friend Naomi Kelly who is an Art director for some really hip print ads and commercials. So I thought I couldn’t go wrong wearing the same outfit and going with the same vibe. In this acting industry you really have to be confident about the position you are casting for. So dressed and ready, I looked at myself in the mirror and said “Kanya you are a funky, hip Mom, with style and fashion!!! You are the EDITOR of a Magazine! Now go and be that women!”

My idea of Hip, Funky Mom...brrrrr ended up going with the far right outfit!!! Thanks Naomi

Meeting Darren was very refreshing he just radiates energy and passion for Essentials magazine and for its readers....Real Women. It was suppose to be a quick interview but we chatted about a whole lot of interesting topics. I really got a chance to hear what it was like being a Magazine Editor and even got to ask my own personal questions like “what is the maternity package like? What does a typical day involve?  How do you enjoy your job Darren?” I figured I better take this interview as an opportunity to see what life was like on the “other side!” Was it greener than my 9 - 5 job as a GIS and Remote Sensing specialist?  Could I really see myself in this industry if I ever got the opportunity? During the interview I thought to myself “How amazing is this Kanya? You are getting an insight into the life of a real Magazine Editor’s Job.” I mean you see their faces on the first pages of a magazine and read their editor notes... but this ...this was an Editor Live moment and Darren was so real, present and quirky in his own way.

I left the interview feeling very positive but didn’t want to get too excited coz just like an audition...there is no guarantee that you have got the spot. I drove home saying – “Lord if this is Your will...then make it happen!”