For as long as I can remember, storytelling has been an essential part of my life. Whether through avidly reading books well past my reading level, performing on stage for theatre and dance, or writing my own stories by hand in my mother’s notepads, expressing and sharing stories in any way I could was more a necessity to me than a hobby. All throughout elementary and middle school, I would sit in the grass and read instead of joining my friends on the playground during recess, and I’d always have a book in hand wherever I went just in case I could find a couple spare minutes to read. I was a timid child, opting to keep to myself and observe. However, by immersing myself in fictional narratives, it was as though I had the world at my fingertips, which encouraged me to be as brave as the characters I read about and push the bounds of my comfort zone.
It is only fitting that, eventually, I would begin to consider pursuing a career that involved books. Initially, in middle school, I dreamed of becoming an author, of writing my own stories that could one day touch readers like the books I have read touched me. It wasn’t until my freshman year of high school that I was introduced to the brilliant world of publishing and the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make writers’ dreams come true by bringing their stories to life. I attended a book release event for Rick Riordan’s Blood of Olympus, the concluding novel to my all-time favorite series growing up, where he described the different roles in publishing and how each contributes to the creation of a novel. Sitting in the audience, it was as though a lightbulb went off over my head. I knew in that moment, at only fourteen years old, that working in publishing is something that I not only wanted to do, but needed to do.
Now, seven years later, my publishing dreams have started to become a reality. I am currently majoring in English Publishing Studies at Hofstra University, where I take classes about literary genres and the industry. My studies have only cemented my desire to work in publishing, a feeling of rightness falling over me the moment I nervously stepped into the classroom of my first publishing course. Since that day, I have gotten the opportunity to work with writers on their own storytelling. I am a copyeditor for my university’s newspaper The Hofstra Chronicle and a tutor in our Writing Center, and I have also worked for literary magazines Font, Growl, and Windmill Journal. I am extremely excited to work as a Social Media Intern with Sundress Publications to continue doing work that I am passionate about and to show the world the incredible stories and writers that are published by the organization. Now, I am able to work with others to express and share their stories.
Victoria Carrubba is a senior English Publishing Studies student at Hofstra University. She is currently a tutor at her university’s Writing Center and a copyeditor for The Hofstra Chronicle. She has also worked on her university’s literary magazines, Font and Growl, and was previously a fiction editor for Windmill Journal. Outside of work, Victoria can be found reading, dancing, or drinking chai.
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