Speaker Samantha Shelton, FITNESS Magazine

A small town girl has gone from a high school graduation class of 26 students to graduating from SUNY Oswego, and is now taking on a position as an Editorial Assistant for FITNESS Magazine.

Shelton spoke at the Living Writer’s Series class on Monday, Nov. 5. Journalism and Creative Writing students eagerly lined up for questions and comments as Shelton ended her success story about breaking into the magazine industry.

“It’s all about getting your foot in the door and then working your *ss off,” said Shelton, encouraging students to network and stay involved with social media.

Always a fitness junkie, the Oswego alum worked for the campus fitness centers as a personal trainer and student manager before landing an internship at FITNESS, which she was eventually able to turn into a career. To combine both passions, she wrote newsletters promoting the fitness centers programming, along with health tips and stories of students’ own fitness journeys.

But before all of that began, Shelton subscribed to FITNESS at the age of 12 and fell in love. Describing the magazine as “geared toward ‘real women’ who enjoy working out and eating the occasional cupcake,” she knew it would be a perfect fit if she could one day land a position. The magazine reaches out to 7.7 million subscribers and, although the average reader is 38, Shelton now receives letters from women as young as 14 years old, all the way up to  65.

Shelton did everything she could in the journalism field while attending school at Oswego State.  She wrote for The Oswegonian, eventually becoming the Managing Editor, and then launched Her Campus Oswego after she returned from her summer internship with FITNESS.

Rewinding back to high school, though, Shelton explained how she had two internships for public relations’ offices, one for a radio station and another for a newspaper. From there, she went on to intern for The Observer-Dispatch newspaper during sophomore year of college. All of these internships gave her the base she needed to land her paid internship at FITNESS through the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME).  

Shelton‘s main piece of advice? “Create your own opportunities…getting more involved in the magazine industry wasn’t available at Oswego while I was here, so I started Ed 2010 and Her Campus.”

While returning back to college life, Shelton made sure she did everything she could to keep in contact with the right people at Fitness magazine. In March, she kept Fitness editors familiar with her face by attending their half marathon run. From there, she was offered a freelance opportunity with Fitness.

“I was heading back to Oswego when I received an email from the executive editor at FITNESS and she asked me to call after I was done with my classes on Monday…turns out, they wanted me to continue working for them on a freelance basis,” explained Shelton. “That eventually lead to the position I have now as an Editorial Assistant.”

Shelton is now continuing her position as an Editorial Assistant for Fitness and works hard to  build her career. She also shared stories about the more interesting parts of her day, like meeting basketball pro Shaquille O’Neal. Spotting Lady Gaga at her local spin studio proves there’s never a dull day in NYC, either.

Possibly the most important note Shelton made during her presentation though, was the reassurance that aspiring magazine journalists could use her as a contact, and she encouraged students to keep networking throughout college. Showing a slide with her name in the masthead as the Editorial Assistant, Shelton said, “No matter how long you write, it’s so freaking cool to see your name in a national magazine.”

 I think we can all agree, as aspiring journalists, just how amazing that feeling must be.

• Oswego news