What do you get when you combine a thrilling passion for all things Austin, a vivacious love of people, and years of journalism school and skills that align with working in the print and digital world of media? Madeline Hollern, Editor-in-Chief of Austin Monthly.
I had the opportunity to hop on a Zoom with Hollern herself, and I’m telling you – she is exactly who you think she is.
The Origin Story
Our story starts at the glitzy, glamorous turn of the century – Y2K. Hollern knew in high school that she wanted to work for a magazine.
“At that time, in the early 2000s, there was no more glamorous job in the world,” Hollern said. “It was like, you know, Devil Wears Prada and 13 Going On 30 and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Carrie Bradshaw writing for Vogue. So yes, I’d always loved writing. I knew I wanted to work for a magazine.”
Hollern fell in love with Austin when she came to the University of Texas in 2004 and knew she wanted to live in the city. Born in the purple rain of the midwest hub Minneapolis (don’t mind the Prince reference), she moved to the panhandle gem, Amarillo, when she was nine until she was 18.
Hollern interned at Austin Monthly in college, left, and then came back to Austin in 2011. She was the Senior Editor and Style Editor for five years, then she moved to Deputy Editor and later moved to Executive Editor. For about two years, overlapping her time serving as Executive Editor of Austin Monthly, she was also Editor-in-Chief of Austin Home (a sister publication of Austin Monthly). In October 2023, she became Editor-in-Chief.
“Lifestyle coverage has always been my bread and butter,” Hollern said.
Hollern didn’t necessarily have the goal of becoming editor-in-chief. Just as many forms of media have shifted in the last decade, the consuming, and therefore producing of magazines, has also had to adjust to the times. The magazine went from being monthly with a large staff to being bi-monthly with a smaller staff and a heavier focus on digital – one shift being how print allows for working months in advance, while digital can require an immediate deadline. Throughout the strategic shifting Austin Monthly did to fit their audience’s consumption needs, Hollern continued rising to the top.
“It’s funny, when I got promoted to Editor-in-Chief, people were like, ‘finally.’ And I’m like, ‘no, no.’ I joked like, ‘well I avoided this as long as I could.’ But it really has been wonderful.”
The Dichotomy of Painter and Polisher
I asked Hollern how her creative process as a writer interacts with having to meet deadlines. When I read her articles or her Editor’s notes at the beginning of Austin Monthly, her writing is infused with creativity and personality and life! Yet, she also clearly has to also be sharp, and quick and make tough decisions – important requirements for an editor. How does she do it?
“There are people in this world that are very creative and there are people in this world that are very organized. And when you’re a magazine editor, you have to be both.”
Near dusk and dawn, in those brief stolen moments of the day when the hustle and bustle of notifications are on pause for a second, you may find Hollern channeling her creative state, shifting into being first a writer and creator before returning to prioritizing the more “editor” side of her roles. She says her organizing strengths come through during the daytime and her creativity gets to shine more in off hours.
In The Action – Here’s What Happened
As I was reading Hollern’s articles, some of the stories that stuck out to me were very How to Lose a Guy in 10 days-coded and I couldn’t get enough of them!
Now, I’ll point out these two stories are almost 10 years old, but they’re important to mention!
The headlines: “I walked 20,000 steps a day. Here’s what happened.” “10 hours of sleep a night for 10 days. Here’s what happened.”
“I think people really like those narrative experiential stories,” Hollern said. “It’s one thing that I bring up in this day and time of AI where I’m like, ‘AI could never write an article: here’s what it felt like to do this or to learn this. Like, those kind of like real human experiences of like, ‘I tried this, here’s what happened.’ I think they resonate with people. I think people really like that.”
Hollern said for digital-forward content, staying on the pulse of what’s happening in news and social media is key in this current era. A journalist at heart, her inherent curiosity keeps her in the know about what’s currently cutting-edge.
The day-to-day tasks of the magazine depend on where they’re at in the cycle. Hollern said the first part of the cycle looks like ideating and coming up with what they want to do. Then midway through is the writing and editing of content, and at the end of the cycle is production and layout, adding captions, adding fact checks, etc.
Hollern says it’s a combination of thinking about social media and what and when to post, upcoming events, marketing plans of those events; there’s photoshoots and the design side, and some days she may be going on TV or moderating panels or attending events.
“It’s the greatest job in the world,” Hollern said. “For me and my personality, as someone who loves Austin, loves writing and loves being around people, it’s a perfect combination of everything I really care about.”
I asked Hollern what advice she has for young journalists.
“I had a professor who was like, ‘if you’re gonna be a journalist – and especially if you wanna be a magazine editor – be young, single and cheap,” Hollern said. “Get into it as young as you can while you can by single – he meant sort of be willing to move anywhere. Like don’t be tethered to any one particular spot. And by cheap, he meant you’re probably not gonna garner the best salary straight outta J-school…. So kind of be willing to start at the bottom and work your way up.”
I asked Hollern if this article were going to be published in Austin Monthly, what question she would recommend I ask during the interview, and this answer really spoke to me.
“Don’t let anybody talk you out of going into this job. I know that media jobs sometimes don’t pay as well initially, or you have to go somewhere you don’t wanna go. But if you love writing and editing and journalism and you have a passion for it, like I do, go for it. Because you spend so much of your life working and if you don’t have a job that lights that fire in your soul, you’re not gonna be happy. It is so worth it to follow your creative passion.”
Now, after you read this and go to look for some of Hollern’s works, here are some key articles to keep a lookout for. One piece Hollern was sure to mention is a long-form piece she did called Austin’s Sober Revolution.
You can check out all of Hollern’s recent articles for Austin Monthly.
Hollern’s Instagram: @MadelineHollern
Follow along with Austin Monthly: @Austin_Monthly