Kimberly Garza has wanted to be a writer since she was 8 years old, so it seemed natural to major in English when she enrolled at UT Austin. Aware of the tendency for others to think of English majors as having a hard time amounting to anything, Kimberly decided to gain some journalism experience in college so that she’d find it easier to get a job after graduation. Working at the Daily Texan taught her that hard newspaper reporting wasn’t her thing; she wanted something that could give her freedom to write creatively. When the aspiring journalist took a class offered by a former editor of Texas Monthly, Kimberly acquired a taste for magazine writing. She worked as an intern at the magazine for a semester and became enthralled with this longer, more narrative style of journalistic writing.
“Working at Texas Monthly in my junior year was definitely a turning point for me,” admits Kimberly. “Up to that point I felt as if I was straddling this untilled ground between the fictional writing I was doing in my classes, and the more factual reporting required by the Daily Texan. There didn’t seem to be that many opportunities for writing the sort of creative, feature-based pieces that I was really interested in writing until I was exposed to niche magazine journalism at Texas Monthly.”
Kimberly used her time at that prestigious publication to get as much experience as possible, helping their writers and editors with researching, fact checking, and pulling together the materials they needed to produce a compelling article. But Kimberly was concerned that having a single internship under her belt wasn’t enough to be able to compete in the hotly competitive feature writing market.
“When I came across the job as an assistant editor on Spirit, Southwest Airlines' in-flight magazine, I didn’t think I’d get it. I was fresh out of college, with very little experience but found that my internship at Texas Monthly was a big plus. It’s a well respected and nationally known magazine and was good to have on my resume,” says Kimberly. Part of the hiring process required Kimberly to write sample articles similar to ones typically found in Spirit. Adds Kimberly, “My liberal arts education perfectly prepared me for this since I was so used to going back and forth between a variety of topics such as switching from writing about politics to crafting a piece on popular culture. In fact, writing well, thinking critically, working to deadlines, and having a broad perspective on a wide range of topics are all Liberal Arts characteristics that are valued in my field. ”
Kimberly’s Top Tip:
When you’re seeking information or advice about a possible career track and get passed from one person to another, just think about all the contacts you’re making. “I made a point of talking to as many professionals as possible, each of whom passed on some career wisdom but also the names of other people I could speak with. I also made a great many friends and contacts at Texas Monthly, which meant that I could name drop where necessary and come across as really well connected."