14 Questions With Austen Tosone, Writer and Beauty Content Director at Jumprope

Working on the print editorial team at Nylon straight out of college, Austen Tosone had her dream job, creating amazing work at a company she loved—and had previously interned for! Then, a little over a year in, Nylon’s print magazine folded and she was laid off. She soon found a new job, in the same building even, working at Interview Magazine until it too folded. Left without a job once again, Austen took control of her career and became a full-time freelance writer, content creator, and influencer. She learned how to edit her own Youtube videos, created a helpful e-book called Right On Pitch, and wrote articles about topics that interested her—especially beauty.

In the year and a half she did this, her skillset grew, as did her confidence in her abilities. All of this led to her new role as Beauty Content Director at Jumprope, a tech startup that allows anyone to create edited and creative videos with ease. Austen spoke to Making It In Manhattan about how she got her start, her time working for herself, and what her new role at Jumprope looks like.

Growing up, did you always have an interest in working in fashion?

I admired it from afar but didn’t immediately see myself fitting into the whole world of fashion. I developed an interest in theater early and I liked dressing up and taking on different personas was always a really fun concept to me. I was a total tomboy in grade school. I was shopping pretty much exclusively at Pacsun and Roxy and on weekends I’d practice skateboarding in my suburban New Jersey neighborhood. It wasn't until high school that I started paying more attention to fashion and beauty and I credit that to my mom and grandma passing down some cool vintage pieces to me and to the magazines I was reading at the time like CosmoGirl, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and Nylon.

What did you wear to your first interview?

I’ve always feared that I’d be asked this question eventually and you’ll see why when I tell you the answer. Basically what happened was that in March of my senior year of college I had reached out to some former internship supervisors to let them know I was graduating and asking for coffee chats to catch up and put it on their radar that I’d be looking for a job soon. My supervisor from Nylon agreed to meet with me and so I showed up to the office thinking we were going to get coffee in Soho somewhere in ripped jeans, a t-shirt, a leather baseball cap, and a black leather jacket. When I got there she had my resume printed out and motioned for me to follow her back into the office. I had no idea I was there for an interview and that they were looking to hire an editorial assistant! Thankfully my outfit was on-trend for Nylon and I ended up getting the job.

What was your first internship or job in the industry, and how did it impact your career?

My first official job in fashion was working in retail at the Free People flagship store in Rockefeller Center. I worked there for almost three years while in college. I actually wrote a whole blog post about how my retail job impacted my career in the fashion industry and ended up interviewing eight other editors who had also worked in retail for Fashionista. I think that retail jobs are a great option for someone who is interested in getting into fashion but who doesn’t live in NYC or LA or who can’t afford to work for free for a whole semester. Even though I was interested in editorial, retail taught me a lot about the business side of fashion from making sure that we were hitting sales goals to that best-selling items should be featured at the front of the store to enhancing the customer experience by learning about all of the items on the sales floor.

Where do you turn for inspiration?

I get so much inspiration living here in New York. I’ve now lived in three different boroughs and love getting to really get to know each neighborhood’s unique personality. I also still get tons of inspiration from blogs, as well as traveling, coffee table books, and film and TV. Plus, there’s nothing quite like getting lost in my collection of magazines from 10+ years ago.

If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before starting your career, what would it be?

Be flexible! I don’t regret pursuing my interest in print magazines even though I’ve been laid off from two, first from Nylon and then Interview, but I do think that learning to pivot and trying to picture myself being successful or happy in other areas of the fashion and beauty industries was hard for me to wrap my head around for a while. It sounds a little grim, but seriously think about what you would do tomorrow if your job disappeared and always be looking for the next thing. I also find that usually when I confront that worst case scenario I’m actually less scared to try something different and make a move that could actually challenge me and help me grow.

What has been the proudest moment of your career thus far?

I’m so proud of the year and a half that I spent as a full-time freelancer. I really proved to myself that I could make it on my own, even after getting laid off. I got creative and learned new skills like copywriting and social media consulting that allowed me to take on more work in addition to what I was already used to doing with editorial work and blog projects. I’m also really proud of my YouTube channel. I create all of the videos solo from start to finish and to see it grow over the past two and a half years has been really exciting.

What advice would you give to young women hoping to one-day follow in your footsteps? Where do they even begin?

Never stop learning. When you’re first starting out the phrase “that’s not my job” isn’t really an option. When I was at Nylon, even though I was a print editor I was still pitching stories to the website, offering to cover previews and events for Snapchat (tbt!), and even hopping on Facebook and Instagram live to interview celebrities like Jojo and Hilary Duff. If you’re enthusiastic and reliable, you’ll go so far. Start wherever you want but don’t be afraid to ask yourself the tough questions to figure out if something will work for you long-term. I wanted to pursue fashion and my first internship was with a designer in the Garment District. I learned a lot that summer, mainly that I didn’t want to be a fashion designer.

Where do you see the editorial world moving forward?

As much as I’d like to be eternally optimistic and believe that magazines will find a way to survive forever, I don’t have a lot of evidence to back that point up right now. I think that in order for editorial content to exist there has to be branded content in addition to traditional editorial stories. Or video content. Or a podcast. If you’re creative you can embrace these new types of content without sacrificing editorial vision or feeling like you’re selling out, but there has to be a balance. Publications need money to pay their writers and editors and if they’re not getting it from traditional glossy print ads, they need to be bringing it in from somewhere else. Fewer people are working for experience now and people deserve to be compensated for their work and paid on time. I’m actually excited to see what the industry will look like in a few years. It’s up to the next generation of writers and editors to help preserve the spirit of print and tell important stories without getting left behind.

Where do you hope to see yourself 5 to 10 years down the road?

Five years ago I had such a clear vision for where I was going to end up in my career. For a while at magazines you’d start out as an editorial assistant, get promoted to assistant editor, then associate, etc. until you were a department head or the editor-in-chief. I can happily say that I can’t predict exactly what I’ll be doing in 5-10 years but I know that I’ll be in New York and I know that in some way I’ll be helping other creatives and producing content, whether it’s using words, video, voice, or some new medium that hasn’t been invented yet.

What does your new job at Jumprope entail?

Jumprope is the place to create and discover how to videos that you can share to any platform and as the beauty content director I am overseeing the whole beauty category on the app. There are three main components to my job. The first and most important is working with our creators to help them learn about the main functions and features of the app and help them create the best possible content. I’m always around to answer questions or offer pointers. The second is pitching writers, editors and podcasters in the beauty space and thinking of ideas for pieces about beauty trends, the rise of apps in the industry, and other types of features that could incorporate Jumprope in some capacity. And the third is working with beauty brands to see if the app could be a fit for their social content needs and/or their community of brand fans.

What is it like switching back from freelance to full-time?

You know, I actually thought it was going to be a more difficult transition than it has been. The reason I wanted this role at Jumprope was because when I read the description for the job it aligned so perfectly with what I was already doing and working on as a freelancer. I had a pretty immediate gut reaction that this was a full-time role really worth getting excited about. A huge part of my job is networking and talking to creators over coffee, attending events, pitching editors, and even creating content for the app, and if you knew me at all as a freelancer there are so many overlaps between what I was doing then and what I’m doing now. I was a little nervous about how my audience was going to react since I had become known for my daily stories as a freelancer and content geared towards helping creators. But once I explain the role to someone they immediately get it. I compare it to when your favorite editor moves to another magazine—if you really love their work you’ll follow them wherever they go and I feel that I have a deep connection with my community because I’ve been super open with them about everything and they were happy to support me in this next chapter.

How has video changed the way content is created and absorbed?

The biggest change in video content over the last few years is honestly the crazy amount of it that is being created and consumed at any given moment. There is no denying that video is massive and 100 billion how to videos were watched in 2018. It’s easy to see why video is something that everyone wants to be involved in and now creators have more resources that can help them make better video content. Instagram made everyone a photographer and apps like Jumprope are making anyone feel like they can share their talents with the world whether you’re filming in a studio with a crew of people or you’re a one woman show propping up your iPhone in the medicine cabinet of your bathroom. The two biggest things holding creators back from getting into video are time and money and Jumprope is on a mission to democratize the practice of creating professional-looking videos. Jumprope takes care of generating exports for you and crops them for every platform so you don’t have to spend time re-cropping for Instagram or re-filming in a horizontal frame to share to YouTube.

How has your work as a blogger led you to your role at Jumprope?

I focused primarily on creating fashion and beauty content for the first five years of Keep Calm and Chiffon. After I got laid off and chose to be candid about that experience, that’s when I really started getting a strong response from my readers. Once I began to share my life behind-the-scenes as a freelancer, how I was making a living, how I landed brand deals, and how I pitched publications with my e-book Right on Pitch, I noticed that that’s what resonated with my audience. I’ll always still love to create fashion and beauty content but career advice has become another huge focus for me. My desire to help other creators mixed with my growing passion for creating and watching videos about beauty made this a great fit for me.

What do you hope to accomplish in your new role?

My goals at Jumprope are really similar to what I wanted to focus on as a full-time freelancer: providing content creators with tools and resources to streamline their content creation process so that they can ultimately turn their passions into their business. I was already doing that on my own with my e-book and with YouTube videos geared towards helping creators but Jumprope enables me to do that on a larger scale and reach more people. I want anyone to feel like they can create video content and share it with their audiences, friends, and families.

Check out awesome content Austen has created using Jumprope on Youtube and Instagram.