If you want to know more about the day-to-day life of a Digital Editor, Lili gives us a peek into her world.
She’s the editor of a very large women’s website. She shared a little of her work day with us, so we could learn more about the day-to-day experience of a successful digital editor.
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Here we leak some behind-the-scene shots…
We asked Lili how she got into her line of work, and she spilled the beans “I’ve always had a passion for storytelling and women’s issues, but I must admit that I got into this career quite by accident!”
Lili had a few “false starts” on her career path – she first studied Physiotherapy, then switched to BA (Drama), then waitressed for many years - and even did a stint as a mime at Cape Town International once…
“When I finally decided I wanted to write, I submitted a couple of freelance articles to a variety of publications, and the then editor of Women24, the indomitable Sam Wilson, liked my work and gave me a chance” she explained.
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Lili tells us she loves the immediacy of her work. “The nature of online is such that everything happens very quickly and the turnaround time needs to be ridiculously fast. Something would happen, we’d investigate, research, write up, source or take pictures, sub-edit and publish all within under an hour.”
“It’s exhilarating!” she says.
Online editors plan, create, review and revise content for publication. The role generally includes managing a team of permanent staff members and interns, making sure stories are informative and engaging, editing, rewriting, detecting and correcting errors and evaluating submissions and working with writers to ensure their stories succeed.
Her advice to those trying to break into her industry is to know that journalism and content production is a very wide field with lots of opportunity to explore fascinating topics, meet interesting people, and do meaningful work. She warns though that “It is also very competitive, not very lucrative and ever-changing, so if you are considering a career in this field you need to be innovative, creative and truly passionate about what you’re doing.”
If you’d like to be featured in this Instagram series, send a mail to editor@careers24.com, telling us about yourself and your awesome job, and we’ll be in touch!
