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ALUM Spotlight Julie Keith '90, M.A. '93

With both bachelor's and master's degrees in English, Julie Keith has taken the magazine publishing industry by storm. Before becoming executive editor of award-winning Portico, a city lifestyle magazine in Birmingham, she managed several titles within Better Homes & Gardens' crafts division. For the past two years, Portico has been honored with the gold Eddie Award for best regional magazine in the country.

Q. Tell us about your career taken since graduation.

A. After I received my M.A. I returned to Birmingham and worked at the bank where I'd interned summers and Christmases since my freshman year. They offered me a full-time position, but I wanted to work in magazine publishing. A family friend got me hooked up with a small niche publisher in Birmingham that produced needlework and crafts magazines, and I worked there for three years or so. That led to a job as the editor of Alabama magazine, which in turn led to a job as managing editor of the Better Homes & Gardens Crafts Group, a division of Meredith Corporation, which also publishes Country Home, Traditional Home, Ladies' Home Journal, Child, and lots of other national titles. After four years in Des Moines, Iowa, my husband (who is a freelance writer and editor and also an Auburn grad, class of 1991) and I were ready to come home, so a former colleague at Alabama magazine called to tell me they had launched Portico and that they wanted Todd and me involved. We moved home in 2002; I've been with the magazine ever since.

Q. What is your current role at Portico?

A. My title is executive editor, which means I'm responsible for all of the editorial content in every issue. We publish 12 issues a year now, and with a minimum of 100 pages each, that's a lot of articles to produce every four weeks. I develop the story ideas, or accept or reject ideas that have been pitched by freelancers or staff editors; I help get the stories produced (scheduling and attending photo shoots, revising copy, directing writers), edit them when they're done, review the layouts after they've been designed, and make sure everything is as good as it can be before we ship to the printer. I also determine the long-term editorial direction of the magazine, find new ways to use existing content, and exploring ways to grow the Portico brand. Since we're a local magazine, a good bit of my job is knowing my town, so I have lots of meetings with all sorts of people. I work with corporate partners about events we co-sponsor and explain the editorial mission to advertisers, if need be. I also speak to groups and do some guest teaching at local universities here. Sometimes I even write a story or two.

Q. What is the best part about your job? What is the most challenging aspect?

A. There are two best parts, really. One is working with the team I have. I've been in magazine publishing for 13 years, and this group is hands-down the most talented and creative group I've ever seen. My photographers are phenomenal, my designer is brilliant, my sales director is a machine, my editors and writers are the best anywhere. It's just amazing to see it come together every month. The other best part is getting to discover and produce the kinds of engaging stories we run in Portico. Birmingham is a unique community, and it's a privilege to expose some of the city's more surprising, provocative, and uplifting stories with my readers. With every issue that comes out I fall in love with my hometown all over again. I'm so proud to be from here and so happy to be able to talk about it in such a gorgeous format.

The most challenging aspect is growing a young title. We're a small company and have only been around for five years, so at times there's only so much we can do. After working for a big corporate publisher with lots of resources, it's sometimes hard to see great ideas die simply because I don't have the money or staff (yet) to develop them. But we get bigger and better every year.

Q. Why did you choose to attend Auburn?

A. My dad went to Auburn, and my sister and I were raised Auburn fans. I applied to other universities in the Southeast and was accepted, but in my heart I knew I'd end up at Auburn. I bleed orange and blue.

Q. What do you miss most about Auburn?

A. The freedom, the bright fall days messing around town with friends or heading to a game with all the crowds converging on Jordan-Hare. The sense of limitless opportunity. Feeling my brain crackle with new ideas. Being in a stimulating academic environment.

Q. Any advice to Auburn students?

A. Be open. Try new things. Take classes that appeal to you, not just what you think you should take. Mom and Dad are probably paying, or helping to pay, but you can graciously accept their money and advice and still forge your own path. College, to me, or at least a liberal arts education, is about determining who you are. It's not vocational training. It's learning how to think and communicate. It's developing your own opinions. Auburn is a special place because it gave me an environment in which to discover who I was and what I could do well, and I know it provides the same experience to students now. You just have to be open to it. It's four years of wide-open possibilities. Explore as many as you can.