Hey girls! My name is Claudia and I’m an intern here at GL. I do everything from writing articles for our website, to organizing our fashion and beauty samples to modding. As the middle child of three girls, and after attending an all-girls’ school for seven years (ugh!), I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what it really means to be a girl, and the real-life issues that we face on a daily basis. Plus, I understand what GL girls want, because I was once one myself.

Like most of our interns, I grew up reading the mag. Actually, my sisters and I would fight for it when it came in the mail! As an avid reader of GL, I became passionate about the magazine early on. I learned lots of new recipes, gained a friendship through GL’s pen pal program and even used suggestions from GL in making my own Halloween costume…yes, I did dress up as a rainbow when I was twelve!

Although the magazine has changed since I was a reader, it still holds onto the initial core values from when it first hit newsstands. I love that our editors have added sections like G-Life and Entertainment. I remember being so surprised when the issue arrived with Alexis Bledel (a.k.a. Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls or Lena Kaligaris from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) on the cover, the first issue ever with a celebrity!

It’s been over 10 years since I was a GL reader myself, but working for the mag, I started to read it again. GL certainly inspired and influenced me as a young girl, and I loved working for such an honest magazine that I grew up completely obsessed with. After graduating from college a few months ago, and working here at Girls’ Life, I have finally gotten a full-time job and will be entering the “real world”! Scary!

Working away!

You live (and intern!), you learn

My experience interning at Girls’ Life has not only kept me up to date on the latest style trends and what it means to be Team Edward or Team Jacob (I’m Team Jacob BTW)—it has also given me the opportunity to learn about working at a magazine, as well as working under pressure (gotta get those articles in on time!). Now that I’m moving on, it seems kind of fitting that I spent these last few months here at GL. My internship forced me to look back to when I was GL girl, and wow, I have learned so much since then…not just in school, but in life!

I thought that I would end up interning for my favorite magazine when I was younger. I encourage you to continue reading GL. I was so lucky to have such a positive publication to turn to when I was growing up, and you girls are lucky, too (plus, you get the added bonus of having girlslife.com… nonexistent when I was a reader!). Hey, you never know, someday, you may be an intern here, too!

by Claudia Notarangelo | 2/1/2016