On a recent chilly November day at Fordham Lincoln Center’s Argo Tea, I sat down with Gabrielle Pope, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’24, the current editor-in-chief of FLASH magazine, the student fashion magazine at Fordham Lincoln Center. In the interview with Pope, I discovered that she has gone on quite the journey to get to where she is today.
The editor-in-chief of FLASH transferred from the University of Tampa to Fordham Lincoln Center and began her journey at Fordham in the spring of 2022, where she joined FLASH as a contributor for the magazine. She eventually moved her way up to be an opinions editor, where she became close friends with the editor-in-chief at the time, Julia Demer, FCLC ’23, who soon recommended that Pope take over as the editor-in-chief of FLASH.
Pope described Demer as a mentor who helped her realize how much she wanted to stay on FLASH. Following Demer’s graduation from Fordham last spring, though, Pope was left to take over a magazine for which most of the staff had graduated.
“I’ve seen it as a contributing writer — someone who contributed for the photoshoots — as an editor and now as the editor-in-chief.” Gabrielle Pope, FCLC ’24
The day-to-day life at FLASH has been difficult for Pope to navigate; she often completes lots of work in small spurts, especially as pitch call deadlines approach. Yet, Pope remains collaborative and present in the magazine as much as she can and typically emails her team every day to oversee editing processes and respond to interested contributors.
Although FLASH receives numerous pitches, according to Pope, it’s clear many students still don’t know too much about the publication.
“A lot of people (Fordham students) I talk to here don’t know FLASH exists and don’t know that there is space for them to do this kind of thing,” Pope said
Pope shared that the hard part comes after an issue has been published. As the editor-in-chief, she noted that she has to market the newest issue of FLASH as much as possible to increase sales.
Ongoing efforts at FLASH that Pope highlighted include working on creating a masthead for the website and planning the first FLASH magazine party in almost a decade. She added that she wants a bright future for FLASH, but has found it difficult to market the magazine because most students don’t know that the magazine exists.
Pope hopes for the magazine to grow into more than a publication at the university.
The editor-in-chief noted that she is still working on marketing the magazine and increasing the student body’s awareness about FLASH, while simultaneously running the publication. The team recently sent out a pitch call for their 20th issue titled, “Indulgence.”
“Since it’s our 20th issue, it feels a little special, so I wanted to lean into this kind of roaring ‘20s or ‘20s theme,” she said. “So we went with indulgence.”
Getting out an issue for FLASH is an extensive and time-consuming process for Pope. Since the FLASH team does not have a set time to meet to work with one another, they created an active group chat where all production operations for a FLASH issue can be observed.
Although a lot of planning goes into each issue, not everything is set in stone. Pope shared that the team of editors uses a group chat to plan out issues, photoshoots, and which articles will be going into each issue., which has also been a way to determine their new contributors.
“It’s interesting because I’ve seen it from all angles: I’ve seen it as a contributing writer — someone who contributed for the photoshoots — as an editor and now as the editor-in-chief,” Pope said, referring to FLASH’s production cycle. “I see how everything comes together, so it is quite a bit of work.”
Pope added that being at Fordham has impacted her career and her leadership at FLASH. She had many professors who were able to help her out with pitching and getting herself out there to pursue her career in fashion.
Aside from FLASH, Pope has made her mark in other areas of the fashion industry. She has interned at designer brands such as The Row — which is owned by the Olsen Twins — and Proenza Schouler, where she worked with social media and marketing. Although she was initially nervous about working for such well-known fashion brands, Pope said that she gained insight and confidence within the fashion industry from her experiences.
Recently, Pope has also been engaging in freelance styling, so far working on a holiday campaign for Nars and the cover of Vogue Singapore’s September 2023 issue. With her internships and freelance styling experience, Pope was able to attend her first fashion week with Proenza Schouler, who she worked for as a digital content and social media intern.
After discussing her experience with the fashion industry, Pope shared how she felt about getting the new special issue out as the new editor-in-chief: “It’s really stressful, but I’m climbing my way through.”
