E-mentor Success Story: How I Landed My First “Real Person” Job

By Ashley McKemie, senior at The University of Texas at Austin

Last year I had the most fantastic e-mentor. I was fortunate to be matched with Cory Leahy, who was one of the many great speakers our AWC UT chapter hosted that year. At the time, I was interested in going into trade publishing and because Cory had once worked in the technical/scientific publishing sector, we were paired up. She did a wonderful job answering my questions, but she told me she wasn’t able to give me the best advice because the technical publishing world is a far cry from trade publishing . Still, she didn’t just disappear on me, but rather offered to read my resume and cover letter and helped me improve them immensely.

Here comes the best part, though – in addition to helping me with all of the above, Cory went above and beyond her e-mentor duties and introduced me to Jan Baumer, a friend of hers who had previous experience working in trade publishing. I soon found out that not only would Jan be willing to meet with me, but wanted to offer me something even better – an internship.

I met with Jan after Cory remotely introduced us and we instantly clicked. We sat in a coffee shop for over an hour, talking about working in the publishing world and tons of other, random interests (mostly books and life experiences) that we had in common. About halfway through, Jan asked me if I already had an internship or was currently looking for one. I told her I had a few months ago, but didn’t currently. On the spot, she offered me a position as a social media intern at the Writers’ League of Texas. I think I stammered out something along the lines of, “Uh, yeah, that would be great. Sure, I’d love to. Wait, seriously? Yes!”

I worked at the Writers’ League as an intern for five months before I received more exciting news. They wanted to hire me on as a paid staff member. With more composure than my acceptance of the internship, I told them, “Yes!”

Thanks to Cory, I’ve arrived at my senior year of college with a solid internship under my belt and a precious promotion to employee. I know for a fact, that had Cory not been an excellent e-mentor to me, I would not have met Jan, gotten an internship and valuable experience, and not have an awesome job at the Writers’ League of Texas.

Interested in the e-mentor program? For student-to-member e-mentor information, email Christy Agness at students[at]awcaustin.org. For member-to-member e-mentor information, email Stacey Lawson-Barr at careers[at]awcaustin.org.