“I thought I would [work at Country Life] for a few years and then move on,” says Rosie Paterson.
More than ten years later, Paterson is still at Country Life and is now the digital content director and travel editor at the magazine.
Paterson, 31 reveals that she initially toyed with the idea of a career in film production rather than magazine journalism. She says that while magazines and films may sound like different careers, they are both “something people want to watch or buy rather than something essential.”
Early Career
Started her career 16 years ago, she completed internships at magazines like Vogue India, Condé Nast Traveller and InStyle.
According to Paterson, the basics of starting at any magazine are similar in terms of the skillset you gain. Paterson was also sure of the kind of magazine she wanted to work with – premium and high end. The Country Life magazine ticked all those boxes for her.
Her start with Country Life, Paterson says was extremely lucky. After her university graduation, she reached out to a family friend for advice, who at the time, was working as the personal assistant to Mark Hedges, the editor of Country Life.
To her surprise, the family friend had just left her job and knew that the magazine was looking for someone to fill the spot. She suggested that Paterson reach out to them for an interview.
“I was so lucky that I emailed when I did and they liked me [for the job]”, says Paterson reminiscing.
Travel editor and digital content director
As the travel editor, she oversees travel content for both the print and digital issues of the magazine by, staying on top of new hotel openings, new travel trends, pitching ideas and commissioning articles.
A drawback that she faces especially as a travel editor, is constantly having to say ‘no’, to hotels in different countries and to PR agencies pushing their locations.
She says that 90% of the time, the locations either don’t suit the magazine, the magazine has already covered them, or she just doesn’t have the bandwidth to send someone to cover those locations.
Paterson also stepped into a new role very recently as the digital content director for the magazine. Handling everything digital, from the magazine’s website and newsletter to social media. She ideates on how the website should look, bridging the link between the editorial team and the advertisers and helping advertisers understand Country Life and their audience.
Her new role doesn’t leave a lot of space for her to write. However, she reveals it’s something she had already expected.
“My role now involves a lot of strategy, the literal engineering of the website and organizing events which gets in the way of all the creative stuff.
“The most writing you’ll ever do is at the junior level. The higher up you get, the less you write,” says Paterson.
To progress further in the industry, Paterson knew that more meetings, more emails and even more spreadsheets awaited her.
Memorable moments
“[Because of the travel with this job], the places I get to go, the people I get to meet, I wouldn’t have done in normal life!”
Paterson recounts a memorable moment in 2015, when one of their writers Mark Griffiths (an expert botanist and historian) discovered what he believed to be the only painting of William Shakespeare’s face from when he was alive.
A lot of portraits of Shakespeare’s face available prior to this discovery were believed to be created post humous.
Griffith approached Country Life with his discovery, and they released the painting as a global exclusive.
The painting of Shakespeare’s face was featured in a book that included beautiful botanical illustrations and was said to be written by Shakespeare’s friend.
The famous writer and author often mentions flowers and plants in his work which is why she believes it makes perfect sense as to why his portrait would be featured in the book.
“We also had the original book in the office for a while which was pretty amazing”, says Paterson.
Paterson recalls another memorable moment, when she organized the magazine’s 125 birthday celebrations in 2022. Queen Elizabeth II attended the birthday celebration, which Paterson reveals became a logistical nightmare for her.
Changes in the industry
Paterson and her team go into office three times a week. New company policy at Country Life now states that any new roles or new onboarded personnel need to be in office at least thrice a week.
She says that she doesn’t see a major push at Country Life for employees to come to office every day especially since many long-standing employees have made major life decisions and laid roots and wouldn’t want to move closer to the office.
Though, she has noticed a recent push by magazines based in London for personnel to come into office every day.
“I personally don’t like working from home”, reveals Paterson.
While freelancing and work from home options offer senior writers more flexibility and convenience, for people just starting out in their career, Paterson suggests being physically present in office as much as possible.
“You don’t learn as much from sitting at home. You don’t pick up on conversations and learn things accidently that way.
“You don’t get to meet members of your team, other teams or people higher up in the magazine.”
Paterson believes that it’s human nature for people to notice you if you interact with them face to face daily rather than through a screen.
“Especially, if the people making the decisions [on the future of your career] are going to be at the office.”
She adds, “I also think it’s uninspiring to sit at home.
“You’re never going to have any good ideas for an article looking at a whiteboard in your bedroom.”
In the next five years, Paterson would…
“I’d probably still be at Country Life. I don’t have any plans to leave.”
Paterson doesn’t see any change in the travel side of her job, though she does hope to interest more advertisers.
For the next five years, she wants to focus on building the Country Life website and hopefully growing her digital team at the same time.
“Basically, everything getting bigger.
“[I’d like the website] to be known in the industry as a hub of amazing stories with amazing writers, photographers and illustrators.”