Jenessa gets published!

Hello everyone! You see this magazine I'm peering out from behind all creepily? Well, it contains my FIRST EVER NATIONALLY PUBLISHED MAGAZINE ARTICLE!

Now I've calmed down a little, I should probably explain. As some of you will know, I am on a Music Journalism degree, but during my second year I got really into fashion and homewares and crafts and ended up inventing HaberdasHer magazine for a magazine assignment with some of my coursemates. During the research phase, I read a lot of similar titles and discovered Homemaker, an amazing monthly mag that covers baking, homeware, thrifty living tips, interviews with crafters and great tutorials all within it's lovely designed pages. I got talking to their lovely editor Lizzie Hudson via email, and found out she went to the same uni as me! Small world. But very encouraging to see that someone who did a very similar degree to mine at the same institution has gone on to such great things.

To cut to the chase, over the year Lizzie helped me grapple with the wonderful world of magazine design and was a great help towards my project, which I ended up getting my best ever uni mark for. After showing her the finished product, I guess she must have liked it because she asked me if I'd like to do an article for her magazine! So without further ado, here is my very first Homemaker 'Home Store' page, which you can buy in Issue 9, out now!

I also did a couple of similar pages for Homemaker Issue 10, which should be in shops next week, and have just been commissioned for my first feature piece for Issue 11. It's a crazy feeling seeing your name in print - I even spotted an old lady in Sainsbury's this morning having a peer at my article. I thought it'd be a bit weird to point and shout 'that's me!' but I am sat here with a glowy feeling nonetheless. It's great to feel like this journalism lark is finally working out in the 'real world' rather just in University theory, and even better that it's for one of my favourite magazines. Thanks Homemaker, and thanks very much Lizzie!