So what is a typical day really like for a fashion magazine editor?
No two days are alike for Fashion Quarterly editor Sally-Ann Mullin. While her time is generally spent bouncing between home, the office and attending meetings and appointments, she can often find herself sitting behind her computer checking pages for an upcoming issue one day, and on a plane to an exotic photo shoot location the next! It’s important for Sally-Ann to keep on top of her diary and to be able to stay in contact with her team, no matter how her day unfolds. Her Samsung Galaxy S8 is her constant companion, allowing her to plan, preview, document and communicate – so important when you are a high-powered editor who is always on-the-go.
Here, she documents just one day in her life – a day she hits at full speed!
6am
If my 4-year-old Paddy doesn’t wake up me up first, the alarm on my Samsung Galaxy S8 will sound at 6am on the dot. I usually do a quick scroll through Instagram and fire off a few DMs to my team about breaking news that might have happened overnight, check my emails and scan a few of my favourite news sites like Business of Fashion and The Guardian.
6.20am
I get up, make Paddy’s lunch and get straight into my workout gear. I love to start my day with a 6km run as it clears my head and sets me up for the day. One of my favourite apps is Nike’s Track My Run and I love how I can keep tabs on different routes and how long each run takes. I switch the app on, throw in my AKG by Harman earphones (I love these for their revolutionary anti-tangle feature!) and turn up the volume to my current favourite running track: DJ Khaled ‘For Free’.
7.20am
I’m meeting with a PR contact for breakfast at one of FQ’s favourite local brunch spots, Odette’s. I’m a bit early so I check my work emails – it’s always good to get on top of those as sometimes they feel like they are never-ending! I fire off a series of queries to venues for an upcoming shoot and then my breakfast companion arrives (with a bag full of new season designer sunglasses for me to preview) and we get down to business. I order the truffle pancake with wild mushrooms and cashew cream plus a soy flat white and we chat about upcoming collaboration ideas for NZFW – it all sounds promising and we both leave on an excited high. I make sure I snap a photo of the new range of sunglasses I’ve just been shown – it’s important to document all that we do on the FQ ‘gram (plus, my new phone’s 8 MP F1.7 Smart Autofocus camera takes the ultimate foodstagram shots so it would be rude not to!)
8.30am
Straight into a WIP with my Fashion Quarterly team to discuss where we’re tracking with the next issue. All is looking good and everyone has been working so hard. My own to-do list is long but manageable. I’m all about efficiency, so I use the Bixby PA feature on my phone to insert reminders into my calendar and feel very organised and on top of things!
9am
One of the amazing perks of being a journalist is getting to have some pretty cool experiences I wouldn’t necessarily get to have otherwise. I’m reviewing a McLaren 570GT this week, so I take Jess, our editorial assistant, and we head to the showroom to pick it up. The car is next level and you don’t have to tell me twice to jump in the driver’s seat. The first thing I do is sync up my Galaxy S8 to the console – this way, I can play my music and make hands-free calls on the drive back to the office. Jess hops into my actual car and we drive in convoy back to FQ HQ.
11.30am
I’m currently working on a beauty treatment series and filming some pieces to camera for review segments. I have a few moments to practice my script, which I’ve saved into the Notes function on my phone’s always-on display. The rehearsal time pays off and I nail everything in one take. Back to my desk I go!
12.10pm
I pick up a salad from The Raw Kitchen, which is conveniently located right next to our office. I eat lunch at my desk – more of those never-ending emails to get through!
2pm
Still at my desk working on an advertising proposal and responding to yet more emails. I check my phone and see that I’ve received photo updates from some of the team who are on a location shoot. I usually try to drop into shoots but if I can’t be there in person, I love that I can get a sense of what’s going on in real time so I can give feedback and ideas which can be implemented immediately.
3.45pm
Head to a range viewing at WORLD’s showroom – we always love visiting Frances and Benny as it’s more than just seeing the upcoming season collections… With these two it becomes a full show-and-tell, the collection elaborately explained by the guys with added segways and story-telling which is always very educational! I take photos of some of the designs that have caught my eye – they’d be perfect in one of the shoots I’m currently planning and I want to be able to call them in at a later date (I might also be adding them to my personal shopping list but sssshhh).
4.50pm
I get back to the office just in time for a quick catch up with our creative director Marcel to discuss potential cover options for the next issue. I flick through model portfolios on my phone and we shortlist a few faces that we’d like to pop in on a go-see. Next we just need to find out if they are available for the shoot dates we’ve already locked in – fingers crossed!
5.25pm
I’m out of here! Leaving the office, I can’t wait to get home and hear how Paddy’s day has been. I look for my car and have a tiny panic for a few seconds before recognising my new wheels in the carpark…
8.30pm
After cooking dinner and putting Paddy to bed, I remove my makeup and don a face mask (and take a quick selfie for a review series we’re doing on FQ.co.nz – how cute are the in-built filters?!) before curling up on the couch to continue reading my media preview copy of Iceland, written by one of my favourite poets Dominic Hoey – and which I have been dying to get my hands on!
9.45pm
I do one last scroll of Instagram, check the calendar in my phone to see what my day has in store tomorrow, set my alarm and then it’s lights out. It’s been a busy day but no doubt there will be more of the same tomorrow. Good night!
This article is brought to you by the new Samsung Galaxy S8.
