From landing her first role with LADBible in the most unusual way and graduate roles at Glamour to interviewing Christine Quinn as her very own cover star, Sophie chats about all things fashion journalism and breaking out of a small town.
When we see the names of those published in the leading print and digital publications, it can often be hard to wonder and envision how we will ever get there. With editorial fashion being quite frankly one of the most competitive industries, how can we small-town girls ever make it? Well, Sophie did just that, and much more. As I dialled her phone number, my heart was racing, this was someone in the industry I had admired for a long time and I couldn’t believe I was about to get the chance to speak with her.
Joining the call with a bubbly hello as she blocks out all the noise in her London flat, Sophie instantly created a warm and kind presence. We couldn’t wait to dive into her experience from the very start. Sophie gives us all the advice on breaking out of a small town, building contacts in the fashion industry, and using social media to land a job.
From small town girl to London Town
Sophie began her journey into journalism when it came to the nail-biting question of what path to choose at university. Initially choosing the route of fashion journalism, the now freelance writer published in the likes of Cosmopolitan, was actually rejected. “I actually got rejected from every fashion journalism course that I applied to. I originally applied to The London College of Fashion and was faced with rejection. So, I ended up going to Manchester Met originally.” Sophie explained she then transferred to Goldsmiths University in London after one year searching for something more.
Heading from the middle of nowhere to the big city, Sophie was originally from a tiny village in the heart of North Lincolnshire. As she expressed, “It’s one of those towns where everyone who is born there, dies there. I think I was always set on wanting to break that cycle and get out of this scenario where you’re like okay, you are not gonna have that life where everyone does the same job, everyone knows the same people. I kind of wanted more for myself than that.”
Even moving her life to Manchester felt like such a huge step at the time to Sophie, with no experience of city life or even being away from home. However, moving to London was more of an abrupt decision in itself. “I actually decided I was going and went within a week. I knew nobody there. Once I had that idea, I was very set on going, and I just went for it. It wasn't particularly easy in the beginning, mainly because I was going straight into my second year of university and everyone had already made their friend groups.” As the North vs South divide showed itself pretty quickly, “ it’s kind of difficult to make friends here too because people in the South are generally less sociable than people in the North, so that was a challenge. But I think it was one that I'm glad that persevered because I for sure wouldn't be where I am now.”
While Sophie studied Journalism at University, which enriched her with many of the practical skills from TV to print, the experience will always come out on top. Sophie explains, “I feel like it's similar to when you learn to drive, you don't actually really learn until you do it. Publications and employers are becoming a lot more flexible with choosing experience rather than, having this degree or this degree. I would say most people that I've actually worked with in this industry, didn't study journalism at all. A lot of people did like history or business. It's more about having the skills and the connections and the drive to do it, because it's obviously very competitive in this industry.”
Landing a graduate role at Condé Nast
When Sophie graduated it was only a couple of weeks before she landed her first role, at none other than Condé Nast’s Glamour. How? Sophie spent her university years putting herself out there in the way our generation does best, on social media. “ While I was at university in Manchester, I was posting a lot on Twitter and I got into a bit of an altercation with the LADbible. Their social team would consistently use content that I created. I was originally like this isn’t fair, they were making so much money from it and I was getting nothing. So someone pretty high up had seen my tweet about them and they asked me to come in and work as a Social Media Executive a couple of days a week.”
While the moral of the story may be, never be afraid to stand up for yourself, it might even get you a job, it was in fact this first opportunity that spiralled Sophie’s career. “ I think once you've got that great name on your CV, the rest kind of comes naturally. I got my job at Glamour, as one of the girls that I knew from the LADbible actually was now working there. So she helped me prep for the interview and everything I needed to know. So yeah, I think having connections is super important.”
After two whole years at Glamour, the role taught Sophie pretty much everything she knows now. Working in a small team, she was placed with the opportunity to get involved in every aspect of the magazine from social media to writing. While her role was to run the social media channels, she was often involved in writing for the website and their previous print publication. The role allowed her to explore more outside her niche, really elevating her career from the start.
Establishing your own contacts from scratch in a competitive industry
Building your own list of contacts in the fashion industry is proven to be quite difficult coming from a small town. Sophie remembers at the start of her career, “I was a very quiet and introverted person. I didn't really enjoy being the person that goes and introduces myself to everyone.
"I think sometimes you do have to make yourself uncomfortable to get where you want to go."
"And in turn, I discovered that everybody that I found myself around was super loud and wanted to make friends with everybody. So I thought, okay, well, if I start mimicking that behaviour, (even though that makes me super uncomfortable) it might actually help me. And you know what, it worked.” Proving that pushing yourself out of your comfort zone could just be the most important yet terrifying thing you can do at the start of your career.
Sophie shares another great way to build contacts and friends in the industry before even landing a role, “I followed so many people who worked at brands where I dreamed of working and reached out to them. Everyone is actually a lot more friendly than I think people think. They're always willing to help you, even if it's reading your CV or giving you advice. I think just be prepared to make friends with everybody, even though it's competitive, it doesn't have to be nasty competitive.”
For any fashion journalist, freelancing can be a huge step up to achieving your goals, but persistence is key. When Sophie turned to freelance in lockdown, she explored Facebook groups and even reaching out to editors, as she explains “setting aside an hour a day to come up with ideas that you can go and pitch is so important because eventually one of them is going to land. Even if you've never written for somewhere before, if you have links to a blog or a portfolio or any other work you've done, that's enough for them to say, okay, you've, you've got the skills to do it. Also, edits are always necessary anyway, so it really doesn't need to be perfect the first time.”
Breaking the small town girl mould
While entering the fashion editorial industry from a small town can be exhilarating and so rewarding, it’s important to remember your worth. Sophie recalls the challenges she once had to overcome, as reality can set in at any moment. “I think the most difficult thing for anyone coming from a Northern background or any kind of background, that's not stereotypical to journalism, is that it can be a daunting idea of trying to break that stereotypical mould.
Traditionally this industry has been run by extremely wealthy, more so men than anything else. When diversity reports have been taken out in the workplace, it's still very heavily dominated by people who went to private schools and a lot of white people. It's still nowhere near where it needs to be.”
While Sophie believes the most important thing to remember as a young journalist from a small town is knowing your worth, “a lot of roles, especially entry-level roles they will try and take advantage when it comes to paying you. They'll be advertising a graduate role around 14K a year. Come on, nobody can survive on that, especially if you're moving to London. But because of the way the industry is traditionally run with people who are coming from wealthier backgrounds, they don't necessarily need that money because they're propped up by their families or whatever.”
“Being prepared for those situations is so important but it’s also important to be prepared to say no is super valuable. It makes you seem like you are more than just a workhorse. You can assert your dominance a little bit and negotiate. It’s kind of rare that you meet somebody else who is Northern in a workplace at the moment, but, don't let anybody kind of make you feel like that's a bad thing at all.”
Having a social media presence can be one of the most important things you can do for your career. Sophie doesn't make this bold statement lightly to me, personal branding is the new CV, as she explains “having a presence and having a personal brand tells people who you are within five seconds. Especially in an industry where it's all about numbers and generating followers and traffic.
Being able to say, okay, well, this is what I've done for myself. What can I do for you? I think that says a lot. I think it's so important because if you just think about how many CV’s, brands receive for one role, they'll get around 500 applicants! They're realistically going to take five seconds to look at a piece of paper. Whereas if they can see something visually and get a feel for your personality through that, I think that is a lot more exciting to them.”
The beginning of Blush Magazine
If becoming a freelance writer for Cosmopolitan and a content editor for The Independent wasn’t enough, Sophie has taken on a third role on as the Editor In Chief of the new print publication, Blush. It all began when the publisher reached out to Sophie on LinkedIn presenting her with the opportunity. Initially struck with a hard no, Sophie felt inexperienced and without the time. But after a lot of consideration Sophie took on the dream role, “I thought on it for a while and I was like, you know what, at the end of the day this is what I want to do, this is the goal, I want to be an editor-in-chief of a bigger magazine eventually. So this could be like invaluable experience for me, and being able to make something my own is gonna be great.”
Taking full ownership of the magazine, Sophie truly made it her own giving Blush a whole new revamp and rebranding structure. “I'd seen the issues that had been created before and I was told they wanted to reach 18 to 35-year-olds in the UK. I was looking at this magazine and as someone who falls into that category, I felt like this doesn't speak to me at all.” Leading to the new and improved Blush.
This new role came with a lot of roles and responsibilities that were completely new to Sophie, from admin work to commissioning people and producing flat plans, she explained, “Getting all the designers and sub-editors together while making sure everyone’s aligned on what we're doing is something that I'd never had the opportunity to do before. Which has definitely helped grow my confidence in myself and my own work.”
As a lover of print, Sophie hopes she can grow Blush to a whole new level from the ground up. While entering a new role undoubtedly comes with its learning process, accuracy was a big one for Sophie. “I think it was in my first issue of blush there was a horrific spelling mistake. I’d read the issue through about six times and sub-editors had read over it as well, and nobody caught it. When you are reading something so many times your eyes just blur and don't focus on things. Then once it's in print, it obviously can't be changed. So I think just being a little more cautious than you would have to be on digital where you can switch anything up or delete anything in a moment is crucial.”
Blush is already growing at great heights, landing Netflix’s number one series, Selling Sunset star Christine Quinn as their latest cover. While Sophie has had invaluable experience interviewing many times over her career even the likes of Florence Pugh, the nerves never seem to go away. Telling us all about interviewing the reality TV villain Sophie revealed, “Christine was, to be honest, probably one of my favourite interviews I’ve ever done. I didn't really know what to expect from her because she has this kind of villainous personality on TV, but she was incredibly nice and there was nothing that she wasn't up for answering. She would even just go on a long tangent about stuff I hadn't even asked about, which obviously any editor loves. I was like, I would've asked this, but I didn't even know if you would wanna talk about that!”
Taking full creative control of Blush has made Sophie realize her heart and her future lies in the role of an editor-in-chief “I mean, we all watched The Devil Wears Prada when we were younger and I was simply in awe. Just having complete ownership over something there's not really any feeling that can beat that sense of achievement. Planning something from the ground up into something amazing. Just being able to be inventive and experimental, is what I love about journalism. There are no right or wrong answers.”
Find Sophie on Instagram: @sophthompson
So inspiring!! I cannot wait to read more small town interviews to come, such a great space to create for up and coming creatives within the fashion industry. 💕💕🤩🤩