Erin Migdol (Chronic Illness Editor at The Mighty)

I’m the chronic illness editor at The Mighty, and I had the pleasure of working with Karina Sturm for five weeks while she fulfilled her work placement requirement for her master’s degree in journalism at Edinburgh Napier University. I’d like to share in more detail the impact she had while working at The Mighty, and express my support for any editorial position she seeks in the future.

From her first day on the job, Karina jumped straight in to the tasks The Mighty’s editorial team does every day. She edited blogs submitted by contributors, taking care to follow AP style and write engaging headlines for SEO and social media. She assisted The Mighty’s video producer on a shoot, which required her to physically paint video subjects as they discussed their chronic pain. She took over the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome weekly newsletter for the entire duration she was at The Mighty — she selected stories to include, wrote a beautiful letter of encouragement for each newsletter, and formatted each newsletter in The Mighty’s content management system.

Karina also participated in the chronic illness section’s weekly brainstorming meetings and wrote her own original stories; for example, a piece about jobs people with EDS enjoy, an EDS gift guide, and a roundup of Mighty readers’ creative ideas for decorating mobility devices. She was able to put her own experience with EDS and chronic illness into her work, making our EDS content more personal and helpful to our readers.

Karina quickly learned The Mighty’s content management system and editorial processes and was easy to communicate with even during her four weeks of working remotely. She was eager to help wherever she was needed, and did every task assigned to her with a positive attitude and in a timely manner. She also impressively volunteered to work two weeks beyond the three-week requirement. By the end of her time at The Mighty, it felt like she was a full-fledged Mighty team member.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with her, and believe she would be a great addition to an editorial team. I know she will accomplish great things in graduate school and beyond.

Sincerely,

Erin Migdol

Chronic Illness Editor at The Mighty

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