Chandra moved to New York City in 1996 to pursue her dream of working in consumer magazines. She landed an internship with the American Society of Magazine Editors at American Baby and then got her first “real” job as an editorial assistant at Good Housekeeping immediately after. She finished up her last two college classes remotely and graduated from Indiana University that fall while the rest of her ASME intern friends finished the remainder of the school year. She got the best training of all under her Good Housekeeping boss who gave her the FOB profile section to assign and edit. That’s where Chandra began to build her stable of writers. This was also when a lot of Chandra’s ASME intern friends started reaching out for advice about their job search for their impending graduation. Overwhelmed by all the folks seeking the same advice, she started an email newsletter (not even a thing yet back then) with job tips, leads, and insider info — and then with another former intern, organized happy hours so everyone could share their knowledge of the magazine job market together. This was the start of Ed2010 which then quickly grew into a large, national mentoring organization for the magazine media industry.
Chandra soon moved on to Glamour magazine where she worked as an assistant editor working in the travel and entertainment departments. This was when the first internet boom happened and there were suddenly content-based websites flooding the market. (And she launched Ed2010.com as well.) Print magazines flourished and ad dollars were still rolling in, making jobs plentiful and well paid. Chandra jumped from job to job every couple years; it was too exciting not to! At YM she ran the features department. At Ladies’ Home Journal she was a deputy articles editor, assigning crime, essays, and long form features. At CosmoGirl, she was the executive editor and stayed there for five glorious years, launching the CosmoGirl College Guide and managing the scholarship program until the iconic brand folded in 2008. Pregnant with kid #2, it only made sense for her next gig to be at Parents magazine, where she stayed for eight years and helped the magazine earn ASME nominations in the general excellence category while rebuilding its digital team and redefining its brand mission and design.
Chandra finally said goodbye to the consumer print magazine world in 2017 when she started her role as the executive director of Scholastic National Partnerships, the branded content division of the children’s book publisher. At Scholastic, she led a team of 35+ editors, project managers, art directors, and marketers to create programs for brands such as Google, Facebook, NASCAR, MasterCard, Deloitte, HBO, Lexus, and Hilton. She now runs her own talent recruitment, development, and consulting business (Talent Fairy) — and to continue to help creative people (like you!) find their dream jobs in media.
3 Things You Should Know: 1. She grew up in Jeffersonville, Indiana, on the Indiana-Kentucky border. 2. She has guest-lectured at dozens of colleges and universities. 3. She still loves print magazines, even though she doesn’t work for them anymore.
3 Things You Really Didn’t Need to Know: 1. She has a potty mouth. 2. She is a Peloton addict. 3. She loves stinky cheese, sidecar cocktails, and impossibly dark chocolate.
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Talent Fairy Interviewing Tips: Make Them Fall in Love With You
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