Name: Kristin Harris
Job Title: Associate Celebrity Editor & Talent Relations at BuzzFeed
College/Major: University of Central Florida (BA), London College of Fashion (Postgrad certificate)
Twitter Handle: @KristinHarris
What does your current job entail? Is there such a thing as a typical day?
KH: In my current role, I’m an associate editor and in charge of all things talent for the BuzzFeed NY team. Essentially most of my day is spent interviewing celebrities, singers and actors, or working with studios and publicists to coordinate an upcoming interview. Every single day is different, which is what makes it so exciting. Some weeks we’ll have three interviews and shoots in-studio at the office, as well as interviews out of office at press junkets, red carpets or on-set visits. Other weeks are focused on pitching and coordinating upcoming interviews, while spending the rest of the day covering daily pop culture/celeb news. A lot of my time is spent brainstorming interview/video ideas, working with publicists and studios to schedule the interview, coordinating with our internal photo/video teams to produce the shoot and then writing and editing the interview.
What is the best part of your job?
KH: The best part of my job is having the creative freedom to experiment, innovate and write about whatever subjects/people/films we’re most passionate about. If I’m a huge fan of Taylor Swift, for example (spoiler: I AM), I can come up with an insane, outrageous interview concept, pitch it to her team and then actually see it all come to life. Having the ability to do whatever we’re most passionate about is really incredible—every single day I wake up excited to go to work.
What is one thing you wish you knew about your industry when you first started out that you know now?
KH: One thing I wish I knew when I was young and starting out is that it’s okay to be persistent. I was more timid when I was younger, and I saw one unanswered email as a hard and fast hell no—which isn’t necessarily the case. Being in my role now, I can barely keep up with my inbox, and sometimes embarrassingly respond to emails weeks later once I finally find time to sort through everything! I learned as I got older that persistence is key—if you really want something, you have to go after it. So if that means following up two or three times until you finally get an answer, then that’s what you have to do. Don’t ever let anxiety, fear or judgement keep you from your dreams.
Who is one person who changed your professional life for the better?
KH: My family and friends—specifically my mom—truly helped change my professional life and allowed me to finally have enough confidence to follow my dreams. It’s not a secret that this industry is insanely hard—there are plenty of times where I wanted to break down and give up, chalking all of this up to some far off, elusive dream. But the people around me encouraged me to never give up—they truly believed in me, answered my phone calls of panic at 1 a.m. and inspired me to keep pushing until it finally came true. I can 100 percent, confidently say I would not be where I am right now without those people in my life.
What words of wisdom do you find most valuable?
KH: My favorite quote growing up was always, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” by Eleanor Roosevelt. Following an outlandish, crazy dream can be really terrifying, and I think the most brave thing you can do is believe in your dream—that’s the first step to making it happen. Those words really inspired me to take that chance and really go for it, no matter how unrealistic it might have seemed.
What is one mistake you made along the way and what did you learn from it?
KH: I think the biggest lesson I learned starting out was not to take things too seriously. In one of my first jobs, a friend of mine said to me: “This isn’t life or death, we’re talking about lipstick!” And that really put things into perspective for me. There will be moments of panic where someone calls you on a Saturday demanding something be done with a certain celebrity, or a certain article, and it feels like the world is going to end and everything you’ve worked so hard for comes down to this one moment. Obviously the work you’re doing is incredibly important, but it’s also important to keep things in perspective and really trust your gut. As long as you’re working incredibly hard and truly doing the best you can do, that’s what counts.
What has been the most surreal moment of your career thus far?
KH: Even after having been doing this for a few years nearly every single day seems unreal to me, but the biggest whirlwind thus far was when I recently had the opportunity to fly to Hawaii and interview Zac Efron on the set of his upcoming film. It was an insane 72 hours—we flew across the country on a 10-hour direct flight and stayed up until 2 a.m. on set to do the interview in the middle of the night. It was a completely surreal, incredible experience that I will never forget.
What advice would you give to a 20-something with similar aspirations?
KH: It sounds pretty cliché but I say this time and time again: never, ever give up. I’ve always thought that if you truly believed something was meant to be, then it would happen. I’m a big believer in the phrase “thoughts become things,” and if you know deep down in your heart that this is your passion and what you’re meant to be doing, then as long as you persevere and never give up that dream, it’ll eventually come true. When I was growing up and I dreamed of being an editor and everyone thought it was impossible, I always thought to myself, someone is going to have that job. That job actually exists and it might be rare and hard, but some person will have that job—so why can’t that person be me?! It wasn’t an easy road to get to my dream job. There will always be setbacks and moments that you feel like it’s never going to happen, and you want to give up, but I think those setbacks are there for a reason: to weed out the ones who aren’t as passionate, and force the people who truly want it to keep pushing forward and persevering. Once all of that hard work finally pays off, there’s no better feeling in the world!