Pros
Here you get to participate in fun events, enjoy the plethora of free stuff sent to the company that is then a free-for-all grab to employees, meet interesting people to interview, get published, work on some career-building projects, get tapped into DC “culture”—which if we’re honest is all about having elite taste in food and activities. It can be a great career builder and you gain a lot of experience, good and bad. There are some really caring employees, but they’re outnumbered.
Cons
Favoritism is a running theme here. If you’re a fellow, you’re told that you will be able to use your connections at the magazine for life—this is a total lie unless you really graft a relationship with someone and that’s hard to do. Also a culture of blatant rudeness and disregard for fellows and those lower on the totem pole. Male employee(s) have acted utterly inappropriate through demeaning comments (particularly to females), embarrassing public lectures to lower-level staff, unprofessional and conniving ways of operating, and actually openly mocking some of the bad reviews on this site. Similar behavior exists among female employees as well. Even if you leave on good terms, forget about the people you worked with daily answering a request for a recommendation. Take your marketing/advertising, events, editorial or digital experience/clips and be happy you got that. The magazine’s culture evokes that of a major publisher in NYC in the ‘80s, when it’s likely struggling for revenue and can’t afford to promote from within. More kindness and consideration for lower-level employees and the fellows would go a long way in revamping a company that may need to cut costs more. This sounds like a bitter review, but it’s just a fact that many lifestyle publications act like this, and I’m truly happy for the rough experiences I had at times. If you’re a go-getter this is place for you to cut your teeth and deal with difficult people.