Meet Amy Mangino

Handling magazine advertisements or subscriptions differ depending on which side of the Atlantic you work. So says GROW participant and New Yorker Amy Mangino, who is on a three-month work exchange in Stockholm.  "I thought it would be a great opportunity to live abroad and learn how magazine publishing works in another country," says Mangino, 34, who has worked as a marketing director at Bonnier Corporation's Saveur for the past two years. "I create the media kit, general presentation, and category presentations," she says. "I create sales materials for our sales reps to take out to advertisers."

In Stockholm, Mangino works as a marketing analyst at Bonnier Tidskrifter. "I have been working with health card presentations that track the subscriptions and single copies of a publication and its competitors, as well as who the reader is, what they like to do, where they live, etc." One of the things Mangino appreciates the most about the exchange is the ability to get deeply involved in the work. "I've been working on a presentation and I think I'm actually going to be able to present the information I've put together.  It's really nice to feel like I'm contributing."

The high costs of the magazine subscriptions  surprised Mangino, who says that one of the biggest differences between the U.S. and Sweden has been that of the magazine revenue models. "We're much more driven by advertising in the U.S." she says. "Here, for the most part, subscriptions or single-copies are a higher revenue-generating source."

Mangino hopes to bring back to New York a new perspective on research and circulation. With more memories than she can list, Mangino highly encourages other GROW candidates to submit an application. "Every day here has been an amazing experience and memory," she says. "It's one of the best decisions I've made."