By Kristin Granero
Most people are familiar with the typical office supplies (read: notepads, pens and post-its) but condoms and toaster ovens? With a calendar full of events and publicists getting more creative with their mailings (hello, monogramed lip balm!), collecting cool and weird desk decor is becoming a publishing rite of passage.
Read on as seven editors invite us to their desktops.
- “As a sex and relationships editor, I get a lot of lube, condoms, and sex toys in mail. So anything on or under my desk that’s not one of those things feels weird. I’ve got a mac and cheese box, gluten-free pizza crust mix, and a skateboard.” —Michelle Toglia, sex and relationships Editor at Bustle2.
- “I have a toaster oven at my desk. We used it to do a frozen food taste test story a while back. Other than that, I have loads of your typical beauty products.” —Christina Heiser, online senior associate editor at Women’s Health
3. “I have a framed “T” made out of Burt’s Bees lip balms that hangs in my office. The brand sent that as an editor gift a few years ago. Everyone comments on it when they walk in.” —Tracy Perez, beauty director at Parents
4. “My item is ‘The Oz’ Mug. I went on The Dr. Oz Show a couple years ago to talk about at-home gym equipment. Minutes before the cameras started rolling, he walked onto the stage and started making pretty big changes to the blocking notes and script that his producers put together. You could see that they really appreciated his feedback. After the segment, his producer sent me home with a coffee mug. It’s an ugly souvenir that I have no intention of ever drinking out of. But it reminds me to edit like Oz, firmly but graciously. It also does a pretty bang-up job of holding pens.” —Clint Carter, senior editor at Men’s Journal
5. “I have a framed photo of me with Serena Williams from an interview I did with her on my very first day at ELLE.com. It’s a reminder of how far I’ve come in my career and how many doors my position has opened. I couldn’t imagine working at a cooler place.” —Nikki Ogunnaike, senior fashion editor at Elle
Train like an angel, get your wings @victoriassecret
A photo posted by Nikki Ogunnaike (@nikkiogun) on
6. “I have a very realistic replica of Wilson, the volleyball companion to Tom Hanks in Castaway, a postcard from Andrew W.K. urging me to ‘Party Hard, Mike!,’ and a one gallon jug of tabasco sauce that I confiscated from a former boss (it’s now several years old and kind of gross). Oh, and a VHS copy of the movie MVP: Most Valuable Primate, which is about a hockey-playing chimpanzee. It was anonymously sent to me via interoffice mail one day, presumably because I’m the lone staff member who likes hockey and chimps.” —Mike Darling, senior editor at Men’s Health
7. “I have been gradually collecting the books and memoirs of former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants, including Sean Lowe’s For the Right Reasons and Chris Harrison’s The Perfect Letter. As Glamour.com’s entertainment editor, I cover the Bachelor universe a lot—and looking at those books always makes me smile.” – Anna Moeslein, digital entertainment editor at Glamour
From Ed’s Guest Blogger: 4 Subtle Ways To Mix Up Your Makeup Game for the Office
»