Gorkana meets… marie claire’s Natalie Lukaitis

Natalie Lukaitis joined marie claire as digital beauty editor from STYLIST magazine in May. In an exclusive interview, she talks to Gorkana’s Jessica Lester about writing for the “New Type A” girl, being a Google rankings geek, and what PRs can do to grab her attention.

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You have worked at a number of women’s lifestyle print titles in the past, namely STYLIST and ELLE. How does working on an online platform differ?

Print is more of a brainstorming process. You have time to think about a concept in depth, from the feature and content you produce to the artistic value of it. On the other hand, online is more in the moment. You have to come up with a fully formed idea in a short amount of time, which allows you to get more of your creativity up on a platform faster.

Both are creatively stimulating, but you get satisfaction from them in different ways. For example, when you pick up a magazine and see your work on a page, it’s an amazing feeling, which is similar to seeing your work published online, but I guess online is more immediate.

Does it alter the way in which you work with PRs?

Not too much. I guess the only way it differs is that we focus more on digitally creative things, like videos and social media – and the timeline. I like to make sure I can link to whatever I’m writing about online, so I don’t normally add products in that aren’t readily available.

How does it differ in terms of the workload and daily routine? 

Working at a weekly really got me ready for the digital world. It was fast paced and a lot of creativity went into each and every day. It was a great experience. My daily routine on digital is definitely fast paced. As a team we like to be the first to get news up and find the fun, interesting and cool things to talk about. It’s a great feeling when you see your features at the top of Google search (I’m a major geek for that).

Describe the way in which your team works.

Our digital team is currently growing, which is fantastic! I’m very proud to be a part of a publication that can see the importance of all publishing forums. marie claire is very forward thinking, so it’s constantly opening my eyes to new things. As a team, we’re all very supportive. We share everything in the morning, just in case someone’s idea sparks another for someone else and we have a great collaboration with the print team too. It’s somewhat of a force to be reckoned with I guess.

Who specifically is marie claire‘s target demographic?

We call her the New Type A girl. She’s outrageously cool, has fashion and beauty prowess, but is also a champion of other women and completely aware of worldly issues.

Explain your relationship with PRs.

Like any other industry, it’s really important to build relationships in this one. I work very closely with PRs and have a lot of respect for them.

What is the best way for them to grab your attention?

I love beauty products, so my attention is grabbed pretty easily when it comes to new things.

What is the deciding factor in working with a PR?

It all comes down to the product and whether that is a good fit for what we’re working on and our audience. I’m an advocate for trying everything I recommend.

How do you best like to work with them?

At the moment we’re doing some really creative stuff digitally, which is really exciting.

How do you prefer to be contacted?

Email.

Natalie was talking to Gorkana’s Jessica Lester