So many girls dream of creating their own fashion line, working as a stylist or being a fashion magazine editor. Letitia Burrell does all of these things. She’s a freelance fashion stylist, she’s launching her own clothing line, and she’s not only the editor and chief, but also the creator of DuJour Magazine. And on top of that, she’s accomplished all of these things in her early twenties. I was lucky enough to snag an interview with her, and of course I asked her of plenty of questions about breaking into the industry, what she looks for in an intern and what it takes to break into the industry as a stylist. Read on!

Tell us a bit about your background, education and past experience.

I guess I have to start off with the fact that I grew up as a perfectionist, and never realized until recently. I went to school for fashion design in Florida, THE best in the country for high school students. I didn’t feel I would be the next Karl Lagerfeld, and so after a while I dropped out, or transferred, to the next best school right here in NYC. Just a few blocks from FIT actually. I have a weird mix of insecurity and over ambition, which results in perfectionism. So when I transferred I decided why not take a more business/marketing/merchandising approach to fashion and see where it leads, knowing that business runs in my blood (a grandmother with her own sewing business inspired me and I have been creating ideas ever since, brownies with milk in school to my own skirt collection in trade shows at 16). And what do you know, it ended up being just what I needed. I went back to what I excelled in which was writing, and blend it with my new interest in fashion styling. Googling into wee hours of the night on how to be the next big styling star like you see working for Elle Magazine. From there I joined the millions of websites that started popping up everywhere as social media groups like Model Mayhem, scoured Craigslist for freelance styling jobs with local photographers, bravely strolled right into boutiques around town with my homemade pull letter requesting clothing for shoots, and finally landed my first magazine internship!

Why did you want to own your own magazine as opposed to working at a magazine?

Well, that pretty much pulls from my previous answer. I had one internship after the other, and really got to see first hand how simple magazines are. Simple, yet tons of work. I was doing everything from spell checking to advertising sales. And I really can’t say enough just how overly ambitious I really am. Not in a bad way, more like I don’t take no for an answer kind of way, and am yet to find that I can’t NOT do anything I set my mind to. So I went from pretty much running the magazines I worked for (getting my own column, introducing fashion sections, organizing events, pitching ideas right and left) to finally sitting down and analyzing just what drives us crazy about most mainstream mags. And that is the overwhelming amount of advertising, the yawn-worthy content (do we really need Botox when you just told us about it last month?) the redundant ideas, the surplus of celebrity obsession, the stale editorials, and the ridiculous amount of unattainable products. I really found myself just buying magazines like a Zombie, because they were there, had a few pretty pages, and once in a while had Sara Jessica Parker on the cover, with whom I have a huge girl crush. But it came time for me to retreat back to my one big dream I always had in life of owning a magazine that I really knew people would cherish, be inspired by, and ultimately use to replace less valuable magazines. I could have kept interning and working my way up, yes, (I mean who doesn’t dream of knocking Anna Wintour right out of her high seat sometimes right?). But I am the poster child for impatience…and living the motto..’why the hell not’?

What void in the magazine market does DuJour fill?

I am still happy that each day brings a new opportunity to answer this question. I know what I set out to do, but of course, like all things planned in life, it is never what actually happens now is it? So DUJOUR is an ever-evolving infantile magazine, serving up an overdose of feminine, flirtatious, artistic and humorous content. I personally enjoy magazines like Frankie from Australia, and Lula from the UK, and felt if those two magazines had a baby…wow, wouldn’t that be something! And to sit here and realize that America was really quite voided of having a national, indie magazine for the 20-something market really just gave me that extra push to want to make something that might be found somewhere else, but not here in my own country yet. Dujour is really for girls who aren’t so transparent and one-sided like most magazines make us out to be. We don’t JUST like high-end fashion and Republican politics and decor for penthouses. Sometimes we want a simple cupcake recipe, an outfit wit both Chanel and H&M, a model that looks just like us in the morning, or an article about living a real life…and makes you laugh out loud. Magazines like to cover up their one-sidedness by having these annoying special issues, like The Green Issue (because how dare they actually feature eco fashion regularly) or The Budget Issue (because once out of the year is the only time you think about saving money) and so on and so forth. You can’t please everyone obviously, but Dujour definitely offers up a fresh mix, like a summer salad! Its more like a community in paper, than a magazine.

What would you look for when hiring an intern as far as resume, experience, personality and skills?

Really and truly, I barely look at resumes unless they mention beforehand that they had experience at Elle or Marie Claire or something like that. Mostly I just look for character and personality, because DUJOUR is such a unique magazine with such particular content, that if an intern didn’t fit our style, it would be like shoving a gay-rights activist into a George Bush parade. It just wouldn’t mesh that well. We love love people who already have blogs and show initiative in their own life that writing and styling is what they want, we like people who aren’t addicted to Vogue, because that would just mean they could never understand why we are trying to not be like them, and we definitely look for those who have kick ass ideas on how to reach out to our young and insatiable audience.

How should an aspiring magazine intern dress for an interview?

I was there once, every editor was there once. It is the most nerve wracking thing. My favorite thing ever was the episode of that show The Fashionista Diaries, when the showroom was hiring to replace the assistant from Queens. Those girls came in with Marc Jacobs shift dresses, (had to be from sample sales) high-waisted skirts and ruffle shirts, sky-high pumps a la Miu Miu, the works! It was very inspiring and definitely on point for what an interviewee should wear. You need to be sophisticated, but not like you are applying for a secretarial position. You need to be trendy, but not at all overdone…more worked into your own personal style. And most of all you need to stand out in a toned down way. This can be accomplished by using vintage pieces. Vintage always gets you compliments and double-takes. Especially vintage jewelry and bags. The week before an interview, look through tons of pictures from The Sartorialist and Garance Dore blogs, I guarantee you won’t have a problem with what to do after that!

Once hired, what are the three main things an intern needs to do to be successful?

I don’t know about all magazines, well, minus the fact that attendance and punctuation for in-office jobs is universal. Since DUJOUR is telecommute for our interns, that is not really a problem. To be successful with us you need to 1)Generate original and innovative ideas on your own initiative using thorough research and keeping the Dujour reader in mind at all times 2) Turn your work in on time and to the best of your ability, it is super obvious when people get lazy or did something in half an hour 3) Work in a cooperative manner and not think you are here to knock someone else down or shine your way to the top, which is something that clearly isn’t the case on Marie Claire’s Running In Heels Show

What are a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to submitting freelance articles to DuJour?

Oh boy, the world of freelance articles! To be honest, I hate those submissions. Its like resumes, you send them to every Tom, Dick and Harry without so much as a blink and swapping around a few words in the cover letter. Come on people! Don’t send us an interview with Ralph Lauren. Why on Earth would we publish that? What do Dujour readers find inspiring about Ralph Lauren when they can read about Charles Anatase or Henry Holland instead. I barely respond, or even read pitches because I know no one took the time to devour the magazine and get down to the heart of what our content is like. We need articles that will make readers go ‘wow, never thought I would read that in a magazine!’ or ‘oh boy, been waiting to read something like this forever!’ and no one will say those things if all we write about are trend reports and the latest DVF outpost to open up.

What’s the toughest part of your job?

Wow, the toughest part of my job is ……. find what she answered tomorrow in part 2 of the interview!

In the meantime, check out…