October 28, 2014

International Talk: Dawn Spinner Davis, Beauty Editor at totalbeauty.com

Dawn Spinner Davis is the Beauty Editor for totalbeauty.com based in their New York City office. In her role at totalbeauty.com, Dawn offers expert advice on beauty, product reviews and offers tips. Dawn has over 10 years’ experience in beauty journalism working for many high profile US magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Lucky.

Describe your role at Total Beauty
I am the New York City based Beauty Editor for Total Beauty. My job involves going out to the market, attending beauty events, working with beauty brands and learning about new product launches to then figure out how we can take all that information and use it on the site. I also write and edit stories

When was your first big break into the industry?
If you want to get into journalism it is really important to get an internship. I was studying abroad in London because my University in the US, Colby College, along with two other universities — Bates and Bowdon — owned a townhouse in Bloomsbury, London where they hired local professors from different schools in London to teach us. Whilst I was studying here I knew that for that summer I had to get an internship with a magazine but could not figure out how to get one. So I wrote a bunch of letters to different human resources departments at the major publishers in New York. I had no idea whether they received them or if I even put enough postage stamps on the envelopes! Needless to say, when I got back home I didn’t hear from any. There used to be this fashion website called ‘Raven style’, where they featured four different girls who each had their own style. I thought they may need an intern and it seemed like a great place to be as it was totally different to what I had studied at university. I decided to email them and ask if they needed an intern. The woman there got back to me and replied ‘I actually don’t have an internship available but I have a friend who needs an intern terribly. She works in Public Relations at Nars (make up brand). Would you be interested in talking to her?’ My response was ‘Sure why not.’ I thought that it couldn’t hurt to do something different. I went in for my interview at Nars and got the internship. I loved the people I worked with and I got to work with Editors from different publications as I would send them the products they requested for stories. It was at this point that I mentioned to my co-workers at Nars that I really wanted to be on the editorial side. The following winter, I had a break from university and they were able to put me in touch with one of the beauty editors at Harper’s Bazaar who was looking for an intern over the Christmas period. I did an internship at Harper’s Bazaar and made some great connections. When I graduated from university I happened to get a call from Harper’s Bazaar telling me that they really needed an editorial assistant and asked if I was interested. I said “yes” and started on the following Monday!

That is fantastic! So your winter internship at Harper’s Bazaar helped you secure this job offer?
Yes, I think that they offered me the job without an interview because I made a good impression. The job at Harper’s Bazaar was a very junior editorial assistant role where I would answer the phones and get people coffee and lunch. However, I made sure I always smiled, was friendly and a happy presence. And I wasn’t there for very long because the Beauty Director at Harper’s Bazaar knew that I really wanted to get into beauty and recommended me for a beauty assistant role at Lucky Magazine.

So what happened after working at Lucky Magazine?
After working at Lucky Magazine, I moved to Miami for a year because my husband needed to move there for work. I did some freelance writing for Self (US mag), Allure (US mag) and a home design magazine based in Miami. After a year we decided to move back to New York, which was when I made the switch to digital. I found out there was a maternity cover role at Harper’s Bazaar- they remembered me from when I had been there 6 years prior-and offered me the job. It was a temporary job, but the Editor who I was covering for did not return so they kept me on! The issue with this job was that I had to cover everything and managed the whole website by myself. A job opened up at cosmopolitan.com for a Beauty Editor and I was able to take that job as it was within the same parent company. I stayed there for a year which was when the opportunity came up to work for Total Beauty. I was interested in this role because I had only worked for magazines or their websites for 8 years and wanted to work for a small company and experience start-up culture. They hired me because they did not have an Editor based in New York and it was important to them — New York City is really the centre of the beauty universe.

Would you say the key to keeping your network strong is keeping in touch?
It is always good to keep in touch and I get emails from past assistants periodically. I feel terrible that I don’t always have the time to reply, but if you email someone you used to work with and they don’t reply, please don’t feel bad. Just know that they have read it and it’s on their mind. I don’t delete emails, I have them saved so if I have a position or hear about a great opportunity then I can go back to the emails.

Describe a day in the life of Dawn Spinner Davis
Morning: When I wake up I usually go for a run with my dog. I always make sure I eat breakfast which is oatmeal porridge with some blueberries, chia seeds and nuts. My schedule varies so much day to day. It totally depends on what events are happening and sometimes I may have a breakfast meeting.
Afternoon: I could go to an event and then afterwards stop by the office for a few hours to do some writing and catch up on my emails.
Evening: I normally have a lot of evening events to attend, for example, this evening I am off to a Gorgio Armani fragrance launch party. I don’t stay for long, I go to check out the fragrance, see some friends and then go home and cook dinner-I love to cook so I do it often. Then afterwards, I settle down and watch TV or read a book.
Cooking in the city can be challenging, and there is a lot of quick and easy food at your disposal. I lived Downtown in the West Village for 10 years until March this year when I moved outside the City to Connecticut as my husband and dog needed more space! I commute into the City for work.

What has been the highlight of your career?
Probably when I got my job at Lucky Magazine because it was my dream job- I was 23 and obsessed with Lucky as it was my favourite magazine. I worked for Jean Godfrey June who is the Beauty Director at Lucky. She had a monthly column and I would read it and think that her writing was just brilliant, funny and smart. When I started working for her at Lucky she taught me how to write and find my voice.

What has been the most challenging time in your career?
It was coming back from Miami to New York in 2009 without a job and not knowing what I wanted to do. I had become very interested in home design from when I worked for a publication in Miami. I considered moving to this sector and getting a lower level job rather than going back to beauty. It was something I was debating. I was very conflicted about what direction I wanted to take my career. However, I happened to fall into digital without even meaning to do it and it was absolutely the right time and best thing to happen to me. It was one of those things where everyone around me was saying to me “I can’t believe you are going to go and work online. Are you crazy?!” Now they ask me, “Can we come and work online with you?“

The online beauty industry has bloomed in recent years and in particular the rise of beauty bloggers & vloggers via YouTube with some of them making millions. Some of our readers may be debating about whether to go to university where they may end up thousands of pounds in debt or enter the industry through blogging to get noticed. What do you think about the rise of beauty bloggers?
I think people need to realise what a small percentage of them are really making money or really succeeding. You have to ask yourself what is the longevity of this route. Odds are you are not going to be Michelle Phan. You may make some money now, but you have to question how long it will last and think long term. My advice would be to go to university so that you can have the necessary qualifications to fall back on. That 3-4 year experience can be so much more than just going to lectures. University is really about making friends and learning to be an adult. I think that there is a lot of clutter in the blogging space and if you are going to create your own website or YouTube channel you need your point of difference: something that makes you special, unique and cool and that can resonate with millions of people. You need to be aware that the competition is very intense. A lot of women who are bloggers also freelance for publications to pay their rent and utilities.

Listen to Dawn’s top 3 beauty tips for women: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174223959″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

There is a term in the UK-Queen Bee Syndrome-which describes women in senior roles who like to be the only woman in the boardroom and feel proud of it rather than bringing other women along. Do you see that in the US?
Our CEO is a man and this is the first time I have worked for a man. I think in magazines it tends to be women who help promote and support other women. I have been lucky enough to have worked with some great women who were promoting employees from within the company and helping writers to grow.

Do you personally think women can have it all?
I think it is a balancing act. I don’t have children yet, and that aspect of having it all I am not sure how people do it. I can imagine it is very difficult. I have enough trouble balancing my husband and my dog! I think it’s important for women to have their own definition of what having it all means for you. Then think of a way to achieve that because there is no universal blanket definition of what that is for everyone.

Some of our readers feel slightly put off from a career in Media because they assume that it would be impossible to have a family. What do you think about this?
It is funny because 10 or 11 years ago it felt that way, however, I have seen it change and people value their work life balance. Technology and in particular working online has allowed us to work at anytime and working from home is a very easy thing to do and gives employees flexibility. In my current job, I have the flexibility to work from home a couple of days a week when I want to and it really does not make any difference to my work. I actually feel that I get more writing accomplished at home than at the office because there are people at work and we could start chatting. I generally work from home Mondays and Fridays.

Thank you to Dawn  for meeting our founder Vanessa Sanyauke in New York for this interview.

To find out more about Total Beauty please visit their website here: http://www.totalbeauty.com/

Follow Dawn on Twitter here @DawnSpinnerD and Instagram @DawnSpinnerDavis