From landing her first roles with Chanel and CR Fashion Book to building a TikTok following and landing her dream role at Seventeen, Hannah chats about all things moving to New York City, attending fashion weeks, and breaking the small town stigma.
When we see the life of fashion editors in New York City, attending fashion shows, exciting brand events, and working within our dream publications, it can often be hard to envision this dream ourselves as small town girls secluded in our suburb. But, Hannah did just that and so much more.
Hannah Oh is Seventeen's Assistant Fashion Editor, after spending her semesters at college working for the likes of Chanel, CR Fashion Book, and celebrity stylist, Julia Von Bohem. With her work published in some of the biggest publications from Cosmopolitan and Elle UK to Harper’s Bazaar Japan, she also runs her own TikTok page sporting life as a fashion editor and advocate thriftier.
Where it all began... Hannah's journey into the fashion industry
Hannah began studying a major she actually designed herself, Digital Fashion Marketing and Media Studies at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Her end goal was always to become a fashion writer and editor of a print or digital magazine. Studying journalism, communications, and media studies alongside interning at a range of fashion companies and setting herself up freelance on the side. Although she recalls it was not easy, it was all worth it.
“I feel that I've found my calling for this season of my life — a quote that I love is by Frederick Buechner that says "The place God calls you to is the place where the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness meet."
Hannah explains, “the things I love to do intersect with a real need through my job at Seventeen — people often dismiss the interests of young girls, but I was once that young girl turning to magazines for questions that felt really big and I take the responsibility of my job very seriously!” There is truly nothing better than following your passion when it comes to choosing your career path in the industry.
Interning alongside studying is a lot to balance, Hannah recalls “I didn't realize how much I was balancing until I looked back on it. Interning, working part-time, or assisting while you're enrolled in full-time classes is tough.” Working through three summer and winter vacations, Hannah was intent on building up her resume before being through into the post-grad job search.
“You have to learn how to say no to things otherwise you'll burn out, but it helps to be surrounded by people who are equally ambitious and will spur you on.”
Moving to New York City from a small town
Hannah first moved from the suburbs of Philadelphia to the heart of the city for college, “I had hoped to attend a very suburban, green-grass-and-football-games kind of college but doing college in a city (albeit a smaller one) was great prep for moving to one of the most hectic cities after graduation.”
First moving to New York City in the summer of her college years with a 6-month lease on the Upper West Side. “I braced myself for the stressful, loud craziness that everyone warned me about, but honestly the summer I moved to NYC to intern was pretty magical.” Working part-time in editorial at CR Fashion Book and part-time as a fashion intern for stylist Julia Von Boehm, she quickly came to grips with city life. “I learned the subway system, figured out my favourite spots, spent lots of time doing (free) picnics in Central Park, and completely fell in love with the city.”
The fact that the fashion and media industry are centred in New York City was the push Hannah needed to move. Originally thinking she would never put roots down anywhere as hectic as New York, it is now her home. Always seeing the city as ‘too expensive' and ‘too big,’ it has now become her home with the more people she has come to know giving it the warmth she needed, “ It's no longer as sparkly and glitzy as it was when I first moved, but NYC is home, and the people I know in this city give it a sort of warmth — a softer, warmer glow.”
Coming from a small town into New York within an industry that relies on contacts can be one of the biggest challenges, Hannah remembers “It's difficult to build up that initial momentum with networking in the fashion industry when you don't have any family connections or a ton of industry contacts.” But for Hannah, it all began with one person who gave her a couple of industry contacts of her friends and suddenly the ball got rolling as each of those then gave her a couple of names. An approach Hannah loved? Informational interviews, do truly work and inspire you at the start of your career.
Another great way to make your own contacts? Network and do it alone. When Hannah first moved to the big city she attended every event she possibly could and went alone with the intent to spend time striking up conversations with people in the industry and hearing their stories.
But if Hannah could give any advice, she has learned the importance of a non-work community when moving to a new city, “it's really, really crucial to have friends who aren't involved in the fashion industry. Learn how to leave work at work, learn how to have conversations that have nothing to do with jobs or work or hours or co-workers or office happenings and industry drama.”
The *pinch me* moment. Landing her dream role at Seventeen
Although she landed her first fashion internship through the guidance of her college, it spiralled then onwards from her own resilience in the cut-throat industry from LinkedIn deep dive searches to cold emails.
Graduating can be daunting no matter how many internships you have under your belt. It’s hard to know when the right time is to land a role or even begin looking for a full-time position. However, Hannah shares that “three months is a good rule of thumb” as some media jobs require a quick turnaround with your start date while others can take a while. Hannah began looking and planning three months out from the time she hoped to secure a full-time role. And it was around that time she landed her dream role at Seventeen magazine and head back to New York City. As Assistant Fashion & E-Commerce Editor working at one of the biggest Gen Z magazines under one of the biggest media houses, Hearst, Hannah always had an underlying passion for the magazine.
“I used to sit in my local public library and read archive issues of Seventeen magazine. I remember reading the stories and thinking "I could do that" which is ironic because it didn't even cross my mind to pursue journalism until after I had moved off to college — so it's very full circle for me to be writing for Seventeen now.”
With such an exciting role comes a lot of responsibilities along with the perks of press tours, PR packages and fashion week trips. Recalling this interview right now from a press trip with Victoria Secret’s Pink, the life of an editor is a busy one.
Every fashion student's dream: Attending Fashion Week
As fashion month just came to a miraculous close, Hannah has attended a couple of seasons of New York Fashion Week previously as an intern, but this time was her first season as a full-time editor. An experience we all dream of in the world of fashion journalism.
“Your first fashion week will always be your most magical, memorable one. I've attended a couple of seasons that have all been wonderful in their own right. The "I'm genuinely just happy to be here" attitude will get you everywhere — I've seen people try to argue their way into shows they weren't invited to, stomp off or leave because the show started late or they didn't get the front row seat they thought they deserved — but being willing to roll with the punches, the late Ubers, and long lines, and remembering that you're there for the incredible privilege of previewing major designers' collections before the rest of the world, will do wonders for your experience and how you feel about fashion week.”
Is Freelance worth it as an aspiring Fashion Journalist?
As an ambitious and inspirational individual, it took a lot of hard work for Hannah to meet her dream career, which also included freelancing on the side. While it’s not necessarily important to freelance at the start of your career it is handy to have your name in by-lines out there to help you secure a job. However, Hannah explains, “you can get those through internships at established magazines or through freelancing *after* you've worked at a magazine. It's hard to freelance without any experience or by-lines to show your expertise so don't be discouraged if you can't freelance immediately after graduating.”
Social Media and the industry
Social Media is so crucial when beginning your career in fashion journalism, Hannah expresses “Having a solid social platform is an excellent place to crowd-source questions and opinions, share your articles, engage with the people that you write for, and engage with other editors and industry folks.” It’s a great way of starting to network from a small town.
Hannah runs her own Instagram and TikTok with a combined following of over 130 thousand followers. Sharing insightful information on the fashion industry from the realities of working in it to fashion trend predictions. “Back when I was trying to break into the editorial world, I searched everywhere for any sort of sneak peek I could possible get into the industry — I read books, watched vlogs, listened to podcasts, etc — and now I get to be one of those resources. I just started my TikTok to create informative fashion content and talk about trends I've been noticing and loving, and it's turned into such a wonderful platform. I'm very grateful and very lucky.”
Commenti