How I Got Here: Beatrice Hazlehurst on moving to New York and being a freelance writer
image via @beatricehazlehurst/instagram
as told to daisy henry
“The race to create a potent, highly engaging personal brand online has incited more than one reckoning.”
Welcome to How I Got Here, where we talk to people who are killing it in their respective fields about how they landed their awe-inspiring jobs, exploring the peaks and pits, the failures and the wins, and most importantly, the knowledge, advice and practical tips they’ve gleaned on the journey.
With features on Suki Waterhouse, Emma Chamberlain, Mila Kunis (and plenty more), Beatrice Hazlehurst’s writing portfolio reads like a who’s who of Hollywood. Hailing originally from New Zealand, the U.S.-based writer’s career appears, at least from afar, like the gold standard for any aspiring journalist. But before she was reviewing Céline Dion’s comeback concert, or dining with Suki at a rotisserie chicken joint in Los Angeles, Beatrice cut her teeth in Auckland with unpaid internships.
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A viral article led to a staff writing role at Vice, where Beatrice worked for a year before moving to New York City. “I owe everything in my life to cold emails, and that’s how I landed at Paper Magazine,” she tells me. After a few days interning, she was brought on as an associate editor, while working as a waitress on weekends. “I remember the extreme dissonance of interviewing someone like Big Sean on a Friday, then clocking in on a Saturday.”
A global pandemic eventually brought Beatrice to LA, where she’s since settled as a freelance creative. What exactly this looks like day-to-day changes constantly, but she typically spends her time working on articles, writing copy, recording and editing her podcast (Uncover Girl) or editing her Substack. “Work-wise, I’m always doing something for pay and something for passion, which is very creative industries-coded,” she adds.
When I ask Beatrice the best part of being a freelancer, she doesn’t flinch. “It’s all in the title: you’re free.”
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Fashion Journal: Hi Beatrice! Did you have an idea of your dream job growing up?
Beatrice: You know, I actually didn’t have a dream. I wanted to be an author, then an actress (which I saw all the way through to an unsuccessful drama school audition in Sydney). At the time, I think I really liked what validated me and wanted to parlay whatever that was into a career, but I’ve always been attracted to stories and storytelling. Was I influenced by the many rom-coms revolving around female journalist protagonists? Not no.
Take us back to when you were first starting out in your industry. How did you get your foot in the door?
I was born into the “a thousand girls would kill” generation, which meant unpaid internships galore. During university, I studied comms at Auckland University of Technology, which I highly recommend! I secured a few bylines in Remix Magazine, then I transcribed interviews at Fashion Quarterly (a lost art in the AI age).
After that, I did backpage event breakdowns at the New Zealand Herald, during which time I wrote a viral article about a group of Auckland boys promoting parties with sexist imagery. It was aggregated by the Daily Mail – my partner remembers reading it four years before we met. As empowering as that felt, it was pretty scary.
The story did allow me to springboard into a part-time writer job at Vice’s New Zealand office, where I wrote a bunch of gonzo-esque articles, before moving to NYC.
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What was it like to move from Auckland to New York?
Oh man. It was a lot of Trader Joe’s $3.99 wine, navigating tipping culture and cooking bulk butternut squash curry because it’s cheap and I knew how to make it. I owe everything in my life to cold emails, and that’s how I landed at Paper when I reached out to the fabulous then-editor Abby Schreiber.
I interned for a couple of days before they brought me on as an associate editor for $100 a day, and on weekends, I showed up hungover to my waitressing job at Bluestone Lane in the West Village. I remember the extreme dissonance of interviewing someone like Big Sean on a Friday, then clocking in on a Saturday.
This lasted until I graduated to a slightly more livable salary and could quit my moonlighting role. Ultimately, I was assigned stories and talent at 22 that I still talk about today, almost 10 years later. The access at Paper to interact with your heroes was singular and incredibly formative.
You’ve since relocated to LA. What was behind the move?
Business and pleasure, and a global pandemic, baby! I met my now partner in LA, two days before the fashion-culture magazine I worked for disbanded. For six months, I dipped my toe into freelancing, and when New York City shut down in March 2020, I temporarily moved to LA to ‘wait it out’ with him. The sunshine, in-unit laundry and old Hollywood romance of the city had me at hello, and I stayed.
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What does your day-to-day look like now?
It’s such an incredible hodgepodge that changes every six months. Work-wise, I’m always doing something for pay and something for passion which is very creative industries-coded. Depending on the day, I will work on copy deliverables for a client, record a podcast interview and edit, work on a press assignment, write for my Substack (Hot and Dangerous), send out emails. Truly computer job activities.
What was the catalyst behind starting your podcast, Uncover Girl?
When I started listening to podcasts, there was an onslaught of shows dedicated to celebrity memoirs and I loved them. Still, the lift felt insane to me: a new book every week?! Uncover Girl was born of a love of this concept, the podcast medium, and the celebrity profile itself – one of the strangest, most fun formats of magazine journalism. Mostly, I couldn’t believe no one had done it.
Every week, I bring on a new co-host to ‘uncover’ a profile of their choosing and I think it’s only getting better. My favourite thing is applying a celebrity’s take from, say, 2002, to today’s era. It is, without a doubt, pop anthropology. Now, the show has a literary salon series, ‘Under the Covers,’ where listeners can unpack an iconic profile live (and sometimes in PJs).
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What has been a major career highlight for you so far?
Publishing an investigative piece that took three years to get across the line was major for me (you can read it here). Travelling to remote destinations like Abu Dhabi or Peru (thank you, Hyatt). Last year I wrote a book, which is crazy (I’ll let you know how that pans out). And honestly, I think creating the podcast. It’s still my favourite thing.
What hurdles have you faced getting to where you are now?
Mama, where to begin? First, money, that elusive wench (but we’re practising abundance). Also, the race to create a potent, highly engaging personal brand online has incited more than one reckoning.
From a press standpoint, I’ve dealt with stories that have been killed, and difficulties with specific talent and their publicists. I will say, most of the time, I am extremely #justiceforpublicists. No one works harder in this business and they can make or break someone’s career.
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What’s the best part about being a freelance writer and creative?
It’s all in the title: you’re free.
What would surprise people about what you do?
That you never feel like you’re actually doing it. This is likely because you’re simultaneously a content creator, social media manager, editor, producer, salesperson, copywriter, art director and more.
What skills have served you well in your industry?
People skills are truly everything. You are hired for your energy as much as for your talent. Otherwise, self-discipline. This will help you adhere to deadlines and continue to show up in times of uncertainty.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be in a role like yours one day?
Send the email, take the coffee and listen to everyone around you – connections create stories. And, in the eternal words of the illustrious Kris Jenner, “If someone tells you ‘no,’ you’re asking the wrong person.”
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Keep up with Beatrice here.
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