What key traits do you look for in a potential employee or intern?

Confidence. Someone that's really comfortable with themselves is going to take more initiative and be okay talking with me if there's an issue. And enthusiasm; they love the brand, they’re passionate about it and they're eager to learn more. The rest of you can just learn.

How did you land your current position?

I decided that I wanted to work in fashion photography, but having zero idea of how to do that, I attended a program at the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts. It’s a 12-month intensive diploma course, and from there it helped me get a job at Aritzia. I worked there as an in-house retoucher for three years. During that time I would ask to assist the photographers that Aritzia would hire, and that's where I initially met Charlotte. Right away, I was captivated with her work; I loved how she always had this clever feminine humor towards it and of course her colors were so good. It was a lot of fun being on set with her and learning what life is like for a fashion photographer based in New York.

In fall of 2015, I left Aritzia and started working as an e-commerce photographer for Kit and Ace. We had a bunch of photographers in-house, and it was a lot of fun creating the content for the campaigns, e-commerce, and social media.

I had kept in contact with Charlotte since meeting her in early 2015, and in June 2016 I made a trip out to New York to assist her for a week. I was so amped up coming to New York and getting to work with Charlotte on set. I remember walking into Pier 59 Studios, and I was engulfed immediately by that world. A week after I returned to Vancouver she sent me an offer letter to become a full-time digital technician / studio manager / retoucher.

What do you look for in hiring interns?

It's mostly about attitude and persistence. If people seem nice and seem like they want to learn, then we always give them a chance. People who are wanting to learn and adapt to new challenges. If people come in with a negative attitude from the get-go then they will get chewed up by the pace, fatigue, and realities of the business.

Yeah, you have to love who you work with, or it's just no fun.

Exactly. And everyone works so hard in this industry, so you want to be around other positive people.

I’ve also interned for so many random people, mostly unpaid, but it's just how you learn set etiquette. It is such an important thing, but you don't know it unless you've been on set.

And what qualities do you look for in potential hires?

Someone who is not easily discouraged and can operate in a high intensity environment. You want to feel like someone is growing within their position and can continue to take on more responsibility, so being trustworthy and reliable is also key. It has to be someone who's a hard worker, and they have to have a genuine interest, whether it's photo or in fashion or something else in the entertainment realm. Sometimes they're already doing something; they're already taking pictures on their own or styling their own little shoots. Other times, you can just tell someone wants to know a lot more about the industry and wants to completely immerse themselves into an experience. For me, passion is just as important as experience.

When you're interviewing people, what do you look for?

I'm always surprised by how many applications I get that don't mention that they've read The Cut or what they like about The Cut or why they want the particular job. I look for people who seem genuinely interested in our site and what we do, and have a reason for wanting to join. And that they haven't blindly sent in their resume.

Actually the last round there was this person who had almost too much experience. They had done 10 internships, and I thought alright, this person probably would probably do a good job but instead I’ll go with the girl who had only interned at 1 place as she was really genuine. I also thought it could really help her.

Now that you’re an editor at Into The Gloss, can you talk a little bit about the interview process for getting the position?

I graduated early so I could focus all of the third quarter on finding a job instead of juggling it with coursework. I emailed all the people I had worked with—it’s hard to know what to do when no one is hiring. But someone I knew from New York Magazine heard that Into The Gloss was looking for an editorial assistant and tipped me off. I emailed Nick at ITG and said who referred me, why I loved the site, and I sent them three pitches. Which I actually think is a really good idea. You shouldn't just say "Hey, looking for a job." You should be like "Hey, looking for a job, look how well I can do that job."

At first, he didn’t email back. I let a week go by and then email him again, figuring what’s the worst thing that could happen? On the second email he got back to me right away and was like "When can you come in?" We did a brief phone interview and he sent me this brief edit test. Maybe a week later, I came in, we got breakfast, and I met with five other people on the team, all in that one day. And then I didn't hear anything for two weeks.

I was freaking out because I got really good vibes from everyone. But hiring takes time—and people are busy. No one drops everything and just looks to hire someone. They’re juggling that with 15 other things. So I didn't hear anything for a while, and then they brought me in and I met with more people. They gave me another edit test, which they actually ended up publishing. Then I didn't hear anything again. That's when I started getting really anxious. So, I just started writing stories. I would email, "Hey, I have this idea for a story, here it is completely written in case you want to run it." And they published that one too! Finally, they wrote me up the offer. And I started as an editorial assistant two years ago in June 2014. Very different company back then than it is now. Which has been fun.

How so?

They hired me and I didn't know anything about Glossier. I came in on my first day and was like "What's going on with all these G label things." They're like "Oh, so we're launching products." And I was like “Oh, okay. That's new.”

We've grown a lot. My first day was also the first day of our COO. It's become much more of a company and we've also transitioned from being a niche media property to a true tech start-up.

So how did you land your job at OC?

I did a styling and production internship at OC, and when it was finished they did not have any positions open on the production team, but they did have a position for office manager. So I took it knowing that my plan was to move back over to production. I helped the studio/production team out as much as I could to stay involved. I worked my way up from there. My current position did not exist before but as the needs of the company grew and things within our team changed, and the role was created for me. I saw what needed to be done on our team, so I made it happen, and that is how I am where I am today.