Ellie Conley has all that it takes to be a campus celebrity. This Miami junior hailing from Concord, Ohio is a double major in journalism and political science with a minor in communications, and has taken on so many roles around campus you almost need a third hand to count them all! A proud sister of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Ellie has worked with UP Magazine and MQ Magazine, interned for the Oxford Press, and is a Miami Tour Guide Manager. If all that wasn’t enough, she is also Her Campus Miami’s Publicity Coordinator and a Cosmopolitan Brand Representative!
This busy bombshell is young, successful, and just down right fabulous, so check out her inspiring interview below to get the scoop on Her Campus Miami’s campus celebrity! If you would like to learn even more about Ellie, check out her website, ellie-gance.com. You can also learn more information about how to subscribe to Cosmopolitan through Ellie here.
HC: How did you get your start with Her Campus Miami?
Ellie: I stumbled upon the Her Campus site when I was just a senior in high school, and would read it all the time. Once I got to Miami I went through rush and got to know an awesome gal named Alex McNulty (our Editor-In-Chief!) and I noticed she had posted articles on Facebook that she wrote for the site. I asked her about it immediately and sent my application in from there.
HC: What inspired you to become HC Miami’s publicity coordinator?
Ellie: I always love a great party! But in all seriousness, I became the Event Chairman for Kappa Kappa Gamma during my sophomore year and really enjoyed planning the brunches and formals, more so than regular socials. I gained some great contacts from that position and thought I could use those skills and networking to create great events for Her Campus as well. Also, I love Her Campus, so why not share that with everyone around Miami through events and marketing? Being the publicity coordinator allows me to do that.
HC: What is your favorite part about being HC Miami’s publicity coordinator?
Ellie: My favorite part about being HC Miami’s publicity coordinator is getting to work with the whole Her Campus Miami (OH) team. They are all such smart, beautiful, and inspiring women. I learn from them everyday.
HC: Tell me about your trip to NYC over the J-term. Why did you go, and what did you learn?
Ellie: Over Miami’s inaugural J-term I went to NYC for 4 days with my JRN350 class (titled NYC Media). The first and third weeks were all online, but for the second week we met in New York City with some of the top journalists working at Fox News, ABC, NBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Ladies’ Home Journal, Allure, and more! A lot of the people we met with were Miami grads, and that was really motivating to know that at one point they were probably sitting at the same desk as me.
HC: What was your favorite memory about being in NYC?
Ellie: I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to going to The Wall Street Journal; I’ve never had any interest in business news. But when we got there, we met with Lisa Bannon, the deputy editor of Arena (WSJ’s Arts & Entertainment section), and she completely changed my view. Her personal story was amazing: she graduated from Miami and moved back in with her parents in Youngstown, Ohio, wrote for a couple daily newspapers there, found a job in Toronto, Canada with a trade magazine reporting on things like supermarket news (who knew that was a thing), and then moved to Paris, and then Milan, where she started working for WSJ. I was aw-struck when she told us she interviewed Giorgio Armani in Milan, Italy.
HC: What was the greatest takeaway from NYC? Did it influence your career goals and interests?
Ellie: I’ve always known I wanted to be a journalist, but it wasn’t until last semester I started focusing more on magazine writing. Then going to New York sealed the deal; I want to be a magazine writer in NYC. It has to happen. Since then I’ve been writing more and more, as well as working to improve my editing skills. One of the best pieces of advice I heard in NYC though was from Margaret Sullivan, the public editor for The New York Times. She said that when you get writer’s block, just look at it as if you were unloading the dishwasher. No one likes starting to unload the dishwasher, but once you start by taking one glass out, you take out another and eventually finish. With a tough article, don’t take a break, just start by writing one sentence. Then write another. Eventually your article will be finished, and if you don’t like it, you can always go back and edit.
HC: Tell me about being a campus rep for Cosmo. How did you get involved and what are your responsibilities?
Ellie: I found out about the Cosmopolitan Brand Representative program through Third Channel from an email that was blasted over my sorority’s listerv actually. Third Channel is a company that chooses student ambassadors at schools all around the country, to represent other companies. This is the first time Cosmopolitan has done any program like this, but if you think about it, it’s genius. College women love Cosmo, so why not hire them to promote it even more? The application was very different from anything I’ve ever filled out; it asked me to rank my priorities and to describe myself in five pictures (I’m pretty positive I included a picture of a slice of pizza). When it asked me to explain why I should be chosen for the position, it also asked that I do it in as few words as possible, bonus if you wrote a Haiku. I didn’t know if they were joking, but I wrote a Haiku. Within 36 hours I was notified that I got the position and so far it has been great! Each week I am asked to read Cosmo and give feedback on certain articles, promote the magazine around campus and online, and sell subscriptions. Each couple of weeks I get free Cosmo swag to give to my subscribers too, which is really fun.
HC: What do you hope to get out of this experience with Cosmo?
Ellie: Working with Cosmo and Third Channel has allowed me to practice a lot of marketing and PR, similar to my position with Her Campus. I like planning events, but marketing is not my biggest strength. This program gives tips and advice each week, as well as tasks to complete that have helped me to get better at it. My number one strength I would have to say is writing, and even though I hope to do that in the future, PR is a great plan B. My dream job is to work for either Cosmopolitan or Elle magazines, so I’m hoping this will help me put a toe in the door, or at least a pink-painted-nail!
HC: You’re such an amazing role model for Miami students. What advice would you give to women on campus who are still searching for their niche?
Ellie: That is such a great compliment! First, try something new. I’ve never had a set plan for my life, just ideas of what direction I wanted it to go in. I think trying new things helped me finally create a goal of becoming a writer this year. I dabbled in a little bit of video and radio journalism, and am still playing around with news reporting, but trying all of those things helped me learn what I like to do best. Second, throw all of your heart into it. Once I decide that I’m going to do something, it’s hard for me to give up. Not to be too sassy (is there such a thing?), but having that “I get what I want” attitude has pushed me to not take “no” for an answer when it comes to getting an interview or applying for a position. Third, enjoy what you do. I know becoming a writer will probably not make me a millionaire, but I’m okay with that. Just thinking about all of the interesting people I will get to meet, and the amazing things I will be able to witness is enough for me. My top priority right now besides becoming a writer is my friends and family, way above schoolwork. I think I get criticized for that a lot but it’s what makes me happy, and being content with my life has lead me to become more motivated. More motivation equals better writing. It’s way easier to wake up on a Monday morning knowing that my housemates are waiting for me to get a Polar Pop with them, rather than thinking about all of the homework I’m about cram into the next two hours.