Apr 14, 2022
This week, I am excited to bring you my chat with Amanda Flores, the Editorial Director of Prose, a customized haircare company. Amanda has loved beauty since she began playing around in her mother's Mary Kay stash when her mom sold the brand. But it would be years before she considered a career in the industry, and for her, writing was the key. Amanda wanted to be Judy Blume and pen novels (who knows, she still may fulfill that dream).
But while studying journalism and French in college, she landed an internship at Redbook and saw the possibility of combining two things that she loved. So following graduation, she did a reverse commute to work at the weekly Women's World and later worked in a combined fashion/beauty department at Family Circle.
Amanda called on her network for a few of her early career moves, ranging from connections she made during her internship or those she nurtured since college.
But it was her move to LATINA as beauty director that gave her a different kind of joy, having begun reading the magazine before she was in the industry. While the position was fulfilling, Amanda was interested in expanding beyond print magazines into digital. So she opened up a whole new category of career possibilities by joining L'Oréal as the Site Director of Makeup.com (and launching Skincare.com).
While there were many technical skills she had to learn, Amanda stressed that her editorial ability was her strength. And she believes anyone with editorial chops can be an asset to a brand and that majoring in journalism is still important.
After working at the largest beauty company in the world, Amanda was ready for a new challenge, joining Prose while it was still a startup and using her storytelling skills in new ways.
Hear all of this and more in this episode of Start Right Here! And check out our newsletter, The Last Word.