A blog of my time working within the Entertainment section of Pride.

Pride Magazine is the UK’s ‘first-ever monthly black publication’ and since the launch in 1990, ‘Pride has set the agenda within the British ethnic-minority community for more than 20 years’.

I first purchased the August 2016 issue, which at the time had rapper, Eve on the cover. I was intrigued that the theme of the issue was ‘controversy’ and the content was about black culture. I had never seen a black lifestyle magazine that appealed to young people and included so many topic areas from fashion and beauty to health, music and entertainment.

After flicking through I was surprised further by the ‘ballsy’ attitude that the magazines style and words have! I felt as though every article and advert related to me in some type of way, it has a reasonable price of £3, an easy handbag style size and since then it has been in my top ‘go to magazines’ collection.

This summer I was lucky enough take part in their Editorial internship. Below is a short blog of what I got up to each day…

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'Big Brother contestants...’

Day 1 July 31st: (10am-5pm ish)

I started looking through old issues, filling out features and interviews Pride had covered each month on an ONLINE DATA GRID. This was to make sure Pride didn’t repeat the same topics or interview the same people and to create a flat plan of each issue. This task may sound a little dull but it was quite fun reading through old issues (that were new to me since I only found Pride mid-last year) and it helped me to learn more about how the magazine works.

Around 2 o’ clock Big Brother contestants’ Deborah and Hannah Agboola came into the office to be interviewed for Pride’s September issue (which I can finally blog about because the issue is out!). Before this I made a fact sheet with quotes and characteristics about the girls, including BB house clips and information that I sent to the Entertainment & Features Editor, Nicole to help create interview questions. It was a good experience to listen in on the Editor asking questions and to see how she how she created a comfortable atmosphere for the interviewees.

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Day 2: (Aug 1st)

I continued working on the archive database adding information about each issue (starting from March 2016, aiming to get them up to date). After learning how to do this yesterday the process was a lot quicker.

Afterwards I helped Nicole by TRANSCRIBING a 40-minute interview she had taken with a performer in The Lion King theatre production.

In the last few hours, I looked at upcoming September events in London for Pride’s ‘What’s On’ section and wrote 8-10 short summaries of things to do. I researched cultural events like plays, music gigs, festivals, art shows and more! I looked further into the magazines layout and writing tone.

‘Cherri V.'

Day 3: (Aug 2nd)

Today I completed a short 10-minute telephone interview the singer Cherri V after finishing the ‘What’s On’ section (both PDF files are attached to this post). I was given guidance with questions and the interview helped to build my confidence, one because I had to research who the singer was on the day and also because she is quite well known in the music industry!

After the interview, I had transcribed the conversation which was easily done as I had practice from the day before and I adapted the interview, editing it to the house style layout of the ‘One to watch’ feature section in Pride Magazine.

‘BWNG.’

Day 4: (Aug 3rd)

I researched and wrote interview questions for the YouTubers, ‘Boys With No Game’(BWNG). The questions had to give a ‘woman’s talk’ feel, asking intimate quires about relationships, what men want from women and dating scenarios.

I also looked at celebrity news and recent updates within the BME community that could possibly fit in the ‘Pride pick and mix’ section that highlights the good and the bad news of the month.

‘Phone Calls!’

Day 5: (Aug 4th)

Today was the day of answering phone calls! I was left in the office for a few hours, which of course was when the phone begun to ring like mad. Learning how to speak professionally and be on your toes with questions from customers is really important and this helped a lot with that.

I powered through logging magazine archives and finally got the system data up to date, yay me!

I spent time looking up pieces for the ‘Buzz list’ entertainment section and posted an article on the magazines WordPress, using image editing software to adjust the photo.

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'Interview...'

Day 6: (Aug 5th)

My first task was to look up film, box-set and DVD releases due to come out in September which would go into the ‘Buzz list’.

Soon after I had a telephone INTERVIEW with Solomon from the ‘Boys With No Game’ (BWNG) YouTube channel. This was a great experience due to the type of questions I was asking, which were topics involving relationships and intimacy.

Before this I had never had to have such a personal interview with someone I had never met/talked to within this area so it was a good way to push my boundaries with interviewing and build confidence.

I then transcribed the answers along with Zephryn, another member of the online channel that Nicole had interviewed.

‘Bad gyal Riri...'

Day 7: (Aug 6th)

My first ARTICLE was uploaded to Pride Magazine Online today (link below)! I looked at news about the beautiful Bad gyal Riri going back to her homeland Barbados and I wrote a short piece about her attending the 2017 Crop Over Festival. I had my article, ‘Rihanna shows the world how to do #CROPOVER’, looked over by Nicole around three times before publishing (which really helped me to see what areas I could improve on). I learned how to write sentences that flow in a way all of Pride’s online articles do. I edited photos to the right size requirements and added a Gif – because everyone likes Gifs! Afterwards I continued to research film and box-set releases coming out this September, focusing on home movies and releases in particular.

http://pridemagazine.com/2017/08/rihanna-barbados-cropover/

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'Summertime Jams...'

Day 8: (Aug 7th)

I transcribed an interview Nicole had taken with the former member of the boy band Blue, Simon Webbe.

Next, I moved on to a 'LISTICLE' style feature, ’23 Timeless Summertime jams of the nineties & Noughties’ (See link below). I looked at other listicles for inspiration, YouTube playlists and used my own knowledge of old classics.

http://pridemagazine.com/2017/08/23-timeless-summer-jams-of-the-nineties-noughties/

Towards the end of the day Nicole kindly invited me to view a movie premiere of the film ‘Patti Cake$’ due to release September 1st. Having watched the trailer previously I knew the film was one I would never e-v-e-r choose to go and watch. The story line is about female rapper trying to make it and seemed like a cheesy comedy.

As we arrived – through what seemed like a flood of rain and by arrived I mean ran to - waiting was a table of posh snacks and free alcohol, Budwiser or wine. The building was very extravagant and elegant inside and wasn’t the usual cinema theatre. All recording devices had to be given up including our mobile phones and put into plastic bags and we had our bags searched! The security was high but the screening was a small intimate room of around 30 people.

To my surprise it was a lot better than I expected. It was funny, a decent length and I and Nicole rated the film 3/5 - which was a decent score from me. We both ended up laughing at some points and I could honestly say I wanted to find out what happened at the end.

The day was great and thank you to one of the Editors’ I was able to go to my first ever movie premiere!

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‘Beyoncé...'

Day 9: (Aug 10th)

CELEBRITY RESEARCH and stories that might relate to Pride readers was my starting task. Beyoncé’s weight lost photos were all over the internet so that was the topic for the day. By looking at several articles, I highlighted key points and wrote a short piece, ‘Flawless! Beyoncé shows off post-baby body, just two months after giving birth to twins’ (See link below).

http://pridemagazine.com/2017/08/beyonce-baby-body/

Afterwards I selected images and edited them to the right size requirements before adding Gif’s! Today I practiced my writing in the tone of Pride’s online articles.

‘Chipo Chung...'

Day 9: (Aug 10th)

I finished adding the August issue to the SPREADSHEET data base before uploading a‘One to watch’ interview with Rude Kid that Nicole had completed before tweeting it. I spent most of the day completing a FACT SHEET about the low percentage of black-Caribbean students that attend Oxford and Cambridge University, for a September article.

For lunch, I was treated by Nicole to a GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen) meal which was amazing!

I finished the day by TRANSCRIBING an interview Nicole took with Chipo Chung the Zimbabwean actress and activist.

Overall this internship was brilliant. In just two weeks I feel as though I have learned a lot about writing for certain audiences, how to interview well and a lot about researching. I was able to write and produce a lot of material, more than expected and it was great to work closely with an Editor. Nicole was an amazing help and always made sure I was busy and interested!

Links to all my articles online:

http://pridemagazine.com/2017/08/rihanna-barbados-cropover/ http://pridemagazine.com/2017/08/23-timeless-summer-jams-of-the-nineties-noughties/ http://pridemagazine.com/2017/08/beyonce-baby-body/