It’s next to impossible to walk around Drexel’s campus without seeing a student dressed to impressed either on their way to an interview or starting their daily commute. What draws people to Drexel is its top-notch co-op program. In this program, students are on co-op for six months at a time and graduate with up to 18 full months of working experience. In today’s tough job market, these students’ beefed up resumes really stand out in a crowd.
That’s why we at Her Campus Drexel decided to start a segment called Co-op Celeb. We’re highlighting a Drexel student with an awesome co-op to show potential students what Drexel is about, to inspire current students, and to show the rest of the world how hard-working Drexel students really are.
Cassie Homer, managing editor of Her Campus Drexel, is a junior from Palmyra, Pennsylvania, and is majoring in English. She says she chose Drexel both for its city location and its co-op program that “really sealed the deal.” Cassie is currently an intern at Laura Dail Literary Agency, a book agency, located in New York City. LDLA, consists of two agents who represent different groups of writers, and mainly publishes young adult, adult, and middle grade books. However, it also publishes cookbooks, and is home to a few New York Times Bestsellers, which Cassie said is awesome.
Cassie describes a book agency as a go-between that connects authors to publishers. After selecting clients, the agents proofread and then query the books to publishers. Instead of just critiquing and tweaking the writers’ manuscripts, the agents build relationships with their clients and encourage them as well. Writing and publishing a book is a long journey and these book agents are there every step of the way.
Cassie found her co-op outside of the SCDC website. “I knew coming in to co-op that the position I wanted probably wouldn’t be offered in SCDC. I wanted to work in book publishing and these positions are highly competitive,” she said.
The view from Cassie’s weekly commute
Instead of living in New York and going into the office every day, Cassie travels to New York City once a week, which she says is the only downside of her job. Her work varies from week to week, but Cassie frequently reads query letters, or as she describes them, “cover letters for authors trying to sell their book to the agency.” She also reads partial and full manuscripts, which she calls baby books.
However, Cassie’s job doesn’t just include reading. She occasionally sits in on meetings with the other agents at Laura Dail. One out-of-the-ordinary meeting she attended was with a film agent from Los Angeles who was discussing trends in book-to-film production. “If I’m being honest, it was a little intimidating.” Cassie disclosed. Part of the co-op experience is being thrown in unfamiliar and sometimes daunting situations, but Cassie sure has some great stories to tell about her experiences.
Some of the books that LDLA helped publish
After graduating from Drexel, Cassie hopes to jump right into the publishing world either as a book agent (like the position she works now) or as a book editor, who works directly with book production and publishing. Whichever of the two jobs she takes, Cassie will be loaded with experience and will truly be living her dream.
Cassie also knows how to look stylish while balancing all of her work. Her go-to outfit is “a comfortable, simple dress that can be mixed-up with different accessories,” she said. When asked where she likes to shop for clothes appropriate for co-op she said, “I found a lot of my work clothes at a high-end thrift store in my hometown (Plato’s Closet). All the clothes looked brand new and some still had their tags on! While I haven’t shopped there, Greene Street on Penn’s campus is similar to Plato’s Closet. Also Buffalo Exchange in Center City might be a good stop. If thrift stores aren’t for you, I also like Ross, TJ-Maxx, and Marshalls.”
Cassie left us with some advice for all those collegiettes heading into interviews soon, “Plan out tons of extra time to figure out where you are going. I found myself much less anxious if I didn’t have to worry about possibly being late,” she said. “Also, seize opportunities to talk up your strengths. I rarely got blatant questions like ‘what are your strengths?’ but there are other opportunities in an interview. Plus, I think it is a better skill to be able to apply your strengths to the specific position than to recite off a pre-recorded answer.”
Cassie’s co-op at LDLA has proved to her that book publishing is the field for her. After her first day at work, she knew that it was the right fit, and it’s a plus that her co-op allows her to work with her favorite thing, books. Cassie looks forward to hopefully meeting with authors of her favorite manuscripts in the next four months. Besides reading manuscripts, Cassie is also building connections within the book world, which will help her tremendously after graduation. And guess what—this isn’t Cassie’s only co-op! Because she only works part-time for LDLA, Cassie also has a full-time paid co-op working as an editorial assistant for an academic journal. Man, has this girl got a lot on her plate! You go, Cassie!