Join me for a sit-down Q&A with Her Campus BU’s own senior editor, Jess Oshanani!
How did you first get involved in Her Campus?
I had seen a lot of Her Campus articles on my Facebook feed in high school, and I always enjoyed reading them. When I came to college from a small town, I knew that I wanted to be a part of a community once I got to BU, especially since it’s such a large school. So I made my way around the entirety of Splash, and I went right to the Her Campus booth once I saw we had a chapter here. I’ve always loved writing, so I went to the first information session and instantly knew it was something I wanted to be a part of.
Describe the process of transitioning up the chain of command and why did you choose to do so?
I started as a writer throughout my freshman year. In my second semester, positions opened up for an editor, and the E-Board was taking applications. I loved being a part of Her Campus and knew I wanted to be involved at a deeper level. I really loved the idea of being able to have a hand in the process of publishing on the site and being able to help shape the content that goes up. So I applied and I didn’t think I was going to get it, but they announced at the end-of-the-year party that I would be an editor starting in the fall and I totally freaked out! I was a writer and editor through the first semester of sophomore year as well. In the second semester of sophomore year, Zoe (our current co-Campus Correspondent) became a CC-intern and I was asked to take on the position of senior editor, which I immediately accepted.
What do you do as a senior editor?
I manage the writing team, create the editorial calendar, and copy-edit each night, which means that I go over all of the articles that will be published the next day and check for spelling and grammar errors and make sure they are correctly formatted for our site. I also meet with the E-Board regularly to think of ways to improve our branch to make it the best it can be, as well as hold writers’ and editors’ meetings along with coffee hours to meet with our team members.
What’s your favorite part of being senior editor?
Being able to have a direct hand with the content that goes on our site. I love being in Her Campus so much, so being able to be behind the scenes and help craft content means a lot to me. HC has always been a platform for empowering young women’s voices and being able to watch each individual article express the mind of its writer is an amazing experience. I’m also in a position where I get to interact closely with everyone on the writing team. I’m so lucky to get to do this because they are all such great people with amazing ideas and strong voices. I feel that I am deeply ingrained in the Her Campus community and to be able to know so many of the team members personally makes me incredibly thankful.
Note: As I conduct this interview, Jess gets a message in regards to a missing article that is supposed to be posted tomorrow. She enters senior editor mode to get to the bottom of the situation. Watch her work.
What is your favorite article (that you’ve written or edited)?
I can’t pick a favorite article that I’ve edited, but one of my favorite articles that I have written is my most recent one. It’s a review of the Carmilla movie, and I’d say it’s one of my favorites because of its spontaneity. When I wrote it, I had been waiting for the movie to come out for about a year. It’s a continuation of a web-series that I am obsessed with, so after I watched it for the first time, I was so excited that I channeled all of my feelings about it into this article as an outlet. Because it’s extremely time-consuming being senior editor, I haven’t been able to spend as much time writing as I used to, so the process of putting this article together just made me feel really happy. It brought back all of the good feelings I got from writing for Her Campus full-time, which while I absolutely love being senior editor, I really, really miss.
Jess Oshanani is a junior in the College of Communication studying Mass Communication with a minor in Cinema and Media Studies and is on the pre-law track. Her goal in life is to be the next Elle Woods.
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, and read our latest Tweets!