I squeezed my way into the tight schedule of Girls' Life magazine's publisher and founding editor, Karen Bokram. She did, however, take the time to mention that most of the people in the business are psychos.
Girls' Life is the magazine of worship for 10- to 15-year old females. It has the best boy and friendship advice, the most creative seasonal activities, dessert recipes, make-up tips, the latest fashion trends and is the magical realm to the thoughts of the moment's hottest teen male celebrity. Like a bothersome boy who GL columnists would advise readers against, I was persistent with Bokram after she kindly but bluntly denied my request for an interview. "Would Tuesday or Wednesday work for you?" I offered. Finally, she offered me a date on Thursday. "11 A.M." she simply demanded. Rule number one: When you're calling someone in Baltimore, Maryland, make sure you pay attention to the time zone difference.
Thankful for my anticipation, it seems I called the GL office an hour early, but I called right on time, according to Eastern Standard Time. I didn't even have time to be nervous. A rushed, stern female voice greeted me. I stumbled a little, trying to introduce myself as thoroughly as possible. "Uh huh," Karen Bokram encouraged after I mentioned the e-mail I had sent. I got her hint to get straight to the point. "What's a normal day like in the office of GL?" I asked. She nearly scoffed at the question. "There is no normal day. There's always something different to be done: advertising issues, circulation, working on the book." I shouldn't have been surprised. "Okay," I said, trying sound enthusiastic and prepared. "Is there any certain routine you use for motivation, like music, coffee..." I trailed on, holding the phone against my shoulder so I had two free hands, ready to type. Unfortunately, this only muffled my voice and delayed our conversation. "No--no coffee. I do have a Vitamin Water sitting here, though. I went to the gym this morning and I listened to my iPod. We have music in the office too," she said, expanding on the topic. "I was listening to the Mumford Sons, in the gym. I don't know if you've heard of them, but they're kind of like the new Kings of Leon." I continued to ask her about her entertainment interests. Keeping her audience in mind, I asked her if she watched the Disney Channel. "No, not so much Disney Channel. I watch reality shows." She mentioned she watches it for her own personal entertainment, even though some of her readers may be able to relate. As far as reading goes, she adds, "I read tons of stuff--it's crazy. Trade magazines, mashups, competitive...I read everything," she gushed.
Karen Bokram was into journalism for as long as she could remember. She started Girls' Life because there was nothing for the younger teen-aged girls when she worked at Seventeen magazine and she felt the age group needed a focused magazine. "Seventeen is too old, American Girl is too young, and we don't have too much of Justin Bieber. Ours is different," she said. "Who did you turn to for advice when you were your readers' age?" I asked. Bokram hesitated. "...my friends?" she questioned. There was no other magazine that she could turn to for advice like girls have now, with GL. She enjoys many parts of her creation, however. "My favorite part of GL? It changes--sometimes its the fashion spread article, the cover," she said. When answering on how Girls' Life knows what its readers want, Bokram states confidently, "We pretty much know after so many years of running the business."
The GL office is incredibly motivated. Bokram said the worst part of her day "is when it ends. And when not everything gets done." I asked for advice on how she copes with deadlines and she replied with a booming laugh. "We just work until then," she said, simply. As for up-and-coming writers, Karen Bokram isn't too impressed. "None really spring to mind," she said. "I guess my friend from Glamour. Quality must count. Editors can completely clean up someone's writing and then you see their name and think they're a genius, but they're really not. It's misleading," she admits. Speaking of writing skills, I asked, "If I wanted to work for a magazine like GL, would help to take women's psychology classes, or classes similar to that?" Bokram was kind of stumped. "Sure," she insisted. "Well, since most of the people in the buisness are psychos, that would help," she said matter-of-factly.
I burst out laughing. Judging by her fast, semi-complete sentences and enthusiasm on deadlines, I interpreted this as most of the people in the magazine business were stressed-out psychopaths, instead of a short-hand way of implying that most people in the business are "psychologists". Later on was when I realized that I had completely misunderstood her comment. I thanked Karen Bokram for her interview and she wished me luck on my project and thanked me back. She ensured her picture could be found "all over the place" on Google.
I realized how much preparation and research counts before conducting interviews. Researching other interviews gives a greater insight to what to expect from the interviewee and helps avoid questions that are probably asked most frequently. Unfortunately, for me, I felt a bit caught off-guard due to the sudden realization of time-zone differences. I also had a hard time relating to Karen Bokram because basically everything she said that was work-related, and even entertainment related, was completely different to me and so I found it hard to produce natural conversation during my interview. I was thankful that I made as many questions as I did, but with her short, quick answers, I felt that I should have dug a bit deeper with my questions. She answered most of them so certainly as if she were bored and had heard them all before. In the future, I would also make sure I had a way to record the fast conversation more conveniently than type to it all with one hand.
- Lisa Schulz
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