The Emerson Mafia is notorious for connections in the film and marketing world, but what about publishing? Well, Monica Corcoran, class of ‘92, is the connection all aspiring magazine writers should get to know.
The New York-born and New Jersey-bred writer has built a career enviable by most, writing for probably all of your favorite magazines including InStyle, Elle, The New York Times, NY Magazine and Spin while also co-writing “The Fashion File” with Janie Bryant, the award-winning costume designer from Mad Men. Currently, aside from free lancing jobs, Corcoran is working on celebrity stylist and clothing designer Rachel Zoe’s untitled book project. All of this success is pretty remarkable, especially for a girl that never had a magazine internship and was, admittedly, not the best student at Emerson.
Monica (left) alongside Janie Bryant
“I went in as a creative writing major,” Corcoran says, but I didn’t stay in that for long. I took a few prose and poetry classes, but I failed them, I’m embarrassed to say, because I didn’t go to class.” Before her senior year, she even contemplated dropping out, but after words of encouragement from a close friend, she stuck it out for her last year. Corcoran says, “I’m happy she said [what she did] because it was the best thing I could do; dropping out to find myself – who knows where I would have ended up, but I’m glad I stayed in school.”
For her it was not until after graduating from Emerson with a BS in Communications that she realized she liked to write and even began to think of a career in publishing. She began in children’s book publishing for Putnam after a move to New York City. After a few years though, she realized editing was not what she wanted; there was still a hunger to write. This desire brought her back to Boston where she moved in with friends and just started writing and sending articles to various publications in Boston. The Boston Phoenix saw potential and brought her on for her first official job in the magazine industry. So Monica is not exaggerating when she says, “I did not take a very linear path to become a magazine writer.”
After two years she began to establish herself as a writer and moved back to New York City for a job at the now defunct magazine Worth, a financial magazine start-up that attempted to be a little “sexier.” Corcoran’s role was to write profiles and look into the psychology behind money rather than cover the industry. Tired of the east coast, a few years later, Corcoran decided to make the move west and landed in Los Angeles. That marks the beginning of her eight years at InStyle and writing celebrity interviews. Though these interviews have fostered great connections, like Bryant, which has brought her Rachel Zoe’s project, the new mother’s heart lies in research-based features.
With interviews, she says, “sometimes you are sitting across from someone, say an actress or actor, whomever, and you think ‘I’m smarter than you, I’m more thoughtful, I’m a deeper person, why am I interviewing you?’” Research-based features allow Corcoran to use her own words and as someone once told her, “prosper from your pain,” using a misfortune as inspiration and then take the money you make from that and do as Corcoran does: “buy a new pair of shoes or go on vacation.”
Monica does not have much advise to give to aspiring writers aside from just writing. She explains, “If you want to be a writer, just write…because of the Internet, you need to have some materials or samples because in an interview an editor will expect to see something. Remember, the competition will most likely be people that have published something online.” Once you get the job, she also advises, “interviewing, academics or celebrities, is about really listening to people and getting a conversation going as opposed to reading questions and waiting for the answers; it is how you get the best quotes and the most interesting information.”
So, all you publishing majors, the Emerson Mafia has not let you down.