Kayla Becker is a Florida State University (FSU) alumni who graduated with the Class of 2013. Becker currently works for Fodor’s Travel Guide and shares her experiences as one of their travel writers/editors.
Her Campus (HC): Hi Kayla! Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little more about what you do and where you work?
Kayla Becker (KB): My name is Kayla Becker. I am currently an editor at Fodor’s Travel. We are a New York-based publishing company that prints travel guidebooks, and we’ve been in business for over 80 years. I am responsible for being the lead editor for a number of books every year, so I edit maybe eight books per year. I visit destinations all over the world; right now, I am editing a book on Seoul, South Korea. I go all over the place, so it’s been just a really cool experience for these past four years to get some really good industry experience.
HC: What made you choose to work at Fodor’s?
KB: Well, I love to travel and have always been interested in travel journalism. I chose travel because I had previously taken a teaching position in France for a year and had dived into travel that way. I thought it would be a good fit for me personally because I love writing about all the experiences you can gather when you are exploring a new part of the world. I also love print media, so I think marrying the love I have for both travel and print made my decision easy.
HC: What is your favorite place you’ve visited for work?
KB: I think that the one that stands out to me the most is the trip I took to Bolivia a few years ago pre-pandemic; that was really life-changing. I had never been to South America before, and getting to go to the salt flats out there was really amazing. It felt like another world! My most recent trip was this past January to Switzerland, and getting back into traveling again with fewer COVID restrictions was the best feeling.
HC: How did the company handle the pandemic restrictions without being able to travel?
KB: It was really a crazy time. When the pandemic first hit, I was in our office in New York where it was really scary. To be working for a travel company, where travel is our bread and butter, was very challenging in determining what the next steps were.
We put some books on hold while we could figure out what was happening, but we were able to print again, and sales are going back up almost to where they were pre-pandemic. It’s very encouraging to see that people are obviously still interested in travel and still want to buy print guides. As an editor, it was very challenging because it’s my job to work with writers all over the world to update our guidebooks, so we had to kind of play it by ear, but we came out on top. Things are looking up.
HC: Do you have a favorite book you’ve edited from Fodor’s?
KB: The Florida book is one of my favorites because it hits home, being from Florida. I know all the places in it, and it means a lot to me personally. The other one I’m really proud of is Bucket List USA. It’s a first-edition book, and I was part of the team that did the editorial plans, drafted up what this book would be and presented it to the company. Being able to build it from scratch was really special and speaks to what people were looking for after the pandemic, which was the top things to do in terms of domestic travel. It is also very different from any of the books we’ve ever done, which were very time-intensive, but I’m very proud of that one.
HC: Is this your first job? If not, can you tell us about previous work you’ve done in your field? How do you think your time at FSU helped you prepare for this role?
KB: Previously, I was at a smaller travel website called Sherman’s Travel before Fodor’s, and I was there for about three years. I’ve been at Fodor’s for four. At Sherman’s Travel, I was writing for a website, so I was doing a story per day, and it was a lot faster-paced and dealt with travel deals. Actually, one of my first roles with them was to be a cruise critic; I went on cruises and wrote about them. I also worked for Ladies Home Journal Magazine, which shut down while I was there, but it was an interesting experience because it showed me what the industry was like and what is happening with print magazines.
After that, I moved to France and taught for a year, which is when I got the travel bug and started writing about travel. I definitely think FSU prepared me for my job now. I was a double major in Editing, Writing and Media, and Communications. I remember getting a lot of very good, practical experience in my classes which helped with networking and opportunities.
HC: Looking back at your younger self, do you think that this current position you have is what you’d thought you’d be doing when you got older?
KB: I actually do think that I kind of followed the trajectory that I wanted to when I was in college. I mean, I used to think I’d be doing things like newspapers or magazines. Things change, but I’ve always loved books and travel, so I think that being in book publishing is not too far away from where I thought I would be; it fits me better than any of the magazine positions that I had. Being open to new experiences is super important, but I’m glad that I stuck with it.
HC: Any tips for our readers trying to get into this competitive field?
KB: Network as much as you can. You never know who is going to end up where, so just keep in touch with people. If you work with someone in an internship, follow up with them and send them a link to your work. It’s always really nice to foster those relationships.
The second one I always tell people is to make sure you have a really good website that showcases the best of your work and is easy to follow. You can include the link to this website on your cover letters or your resume. Also, don’t be afraid to apply for positions that aren’t as glamorous or the big names; it really helps to jump-start your career to work for a publication that might not be as well-known.
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