Curiosity and creativity will always be in vogue for Emily
Emily Forkan, a graduate of Journalism and New Media at UL, is Managing Editor at Vogue Business. Here, in conversation with Jane Haynes, she shares how her experience at UL helped to forge her career path, her reassuring outlook on A.I. in the creative world, and how sustainability is shaping the future of fashion
Emily Forkan, managing editor at Vogue Business Pictures: Christina Fragkou
An insight into a typical working day for Emily Forkan, Managing Editor at Vogue Business, proves that she thrives on organisation and planning. So, it’s wonderfully ironic that Emily – who studied Journalism and New Media at UL’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences – “fell in” to publishing.
“A lot of what I do is overseeing the editorial output of Vogue Business – the newsletters and the website,” explains Emily, who oversees an in-house team in London as well as teams and a host of freelancers across time zones from Shanghai to LA.
“I send priority lists to people to make sure they know what they’re doing. If we’re expecting something from the China team, I make sure I get an email over to them quickly because they’ll be offline by about 10 o’clock our time. And throughout the day, I’m making sure that our editors are working on what they need to be working on.”
From chasing copy and imagery to ensuring content makes it to publication, Emily’s role is integral to the success of the brand.
“I think that’s the crux of the role: trying to pull together all these parts to marry at the same time so that we can go live.”
Born in London to Irish parents, Emily moved to her mother’s native Tipperary when she was nine. Residing in Roscrea, she got over the initial “culture shock” of the move and grappling with learning Irish from scratch.
When the time came to move to third level, UL was the obvious choice. However, after missing out on her top CAO choice, Law & Accounting, Emily – who had always loved English and essay-writing – decided to take a chance on journalism.
“UL was one of the first universities in Ireland that did journalism,” she says, citing the University’s focus on article-writing and radio as a major selling point.
“The fundamentals of journalism seemed to be a lot stronger in the course at UL; it was more strategic – UL was quite ahead of its time in that sense.”
Accepting a place in Journalism and New Media ultimately set Emily on the path to a successful career in publishing, and she singles out the practical aspects of the course, including the opportunity to contribute to student media, as game changing.
Emily, who served as Business Editor of The Limerick Voice as well as Fashion and Lifestyle Editor of An Focal, explains: “It was massively helpful in terms of learning the ins and outs of a weekly or monthly publication – having to set deadlines and edit people, and understanding how the legalities of images work. Unless you have that kind of experience going into publications in the outside world, that can come as a big shock.”
Some of Emily’s fondest memories are rooted in UL, from her membership of the Dance Society to the fun of the Clubs and Societies Ball. Beyond her career, the experience proved to be life-changing in other ways, too.
“I met my husband in UL! We lived together in Thomond (Village), and it was a great experience … We had our first kiss at The Lodge – it doesn’t get more ‘UL’ than that!” she laughs.
“I really loved my time at UL. By second year, it was like home – it was a great place to be. We had a small course, so we all knew each other really well; everyone was really nice and supportive of each other.”
The fundamentals of journalism seemed to be a lot stronger in the course at UL; it was more strategic – UL was quite ahead of its time in that sense
Graduating in 2013, Emily entered the workforce at a time of few opportunities for journalism graduates. Despite enjoying success in Ireland with her award-winning fashion and lifestyle website, intrigue.ie, and regularly contributing to the Sunday Business Post, Emily felt the time was right to pursue opportunities in London.
She made the move in 2014, eventually taking on sub-editing work with the Daily Mail – an auspicious move that shifted her focus to a new side of the industry. In 2018, after three-and-a-half years with the brand, having found her niche and climbed the ranks to Senior Sub-Editor, Emily took up her current role with Vogue Business.
“I fell into the sub-editor role, the same way that others will fall into copy editing or copywriting. All these different facets of the industry are so valuable, but I don’t think we’re necessarily told that they exist,” says Emily.
“Whenever we have interns coming into Vogue Business, and they ask what advice I have for the industry, I tell them to make sure they try all parts of it.”
She doesn’t see such roles becoming obsolete any time soon, either. After more than a decade in the industry, she is hopeful for the future of publishing and has a reassuring outlook on the rise of A.I.
“I think every new technology gets ‘stick’ at the start … We’ve seen that with the Metaverse – people getting freaked out and saying ‘oh, is it going to replace stores if we can have everything digitally?’ And there’s still massive discussion around digital avatars as models versus real-life models, and the ethics around that. I like to think that, when it dies down, we can live alongside of it – but it can’t replace human creativity, it can only enable it.”
One area where Emily has seen A.I. enabling progression is in sustainability, a key content pillar for Vogue Business.
“Our first Fashion Futures event had a lot of start-ups showing at it, and they all brought different innovations that they have created to work towards sustainability – whether it’s limiting water usage, black dye you can use in clothing that doesn’t contain petroleum …
“I think it will be really interesting, if we look in 20 years’ time at this new cohort of designers, to see how sustainable their companies are.”
Emily’s own future plans include more trips back to Ireland, and she is keen to bring her two children on their first visit to Limerick. One thing that will undoubtedly remain steadfast is that sense of curiosity instilled by her alma mater.
“You have to be curious in all ways of life, whether it’s travelling, taking on new projects or trying something different in your job. I think there’s a sense sometimes that, to be curious, it must be something big; whereas I think you can find it in the smaller things in life as well.”
