Intern Profile on Chloe Metzger

Very few people can say that they started writing for an online magazine at age 14, but Chloe Metzger, an editorial intern at Parents, is one of the few. After a “life-changing” teacher led Metzger away from her dream of becoming a lawyer, she shifted her focus to magazines, and truly started immediately.

“I’ve always been crazy – or driven, as my dad says,” Metzger explained. “So I thought, ‘I need to figure out what I’m going to major in: at age 14!’"

So she applied to Driven Far Off, a music webzine looking for writers. After sending in clips and taking an edit test, Metzger was hired while finishing up her sophomore year of high school. “They just thought I was a college student and I didn’t tell them otherwise,” she said. “And they eventually found out after two years, but by that point I was one of the main writers. So I kind of snuck my way on that.”

Metzger later joined JAYE, an online fashion magazine, eventually becoming the Executive Articles Editor until it folded in January 2012. Last summer, she interned for Cosmopolitan, and Metzger is currently a Buzz Reporter for Seventeen. 

A self-described, “modern day nomad,” Metzger can claim seven states as home, although during the school year she finds herself at the literary capital of North America: Iowa City, Iowa. While she didn’t initially want to end up in Iowa, being in the literary capital worked out well for Metzger, an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. 

At Parents, Metzger is enjoying the familial atmosphere, and taking all the assignments she can. “They give you so much to do, so much opportunity to learn,” she said. “And that’s how all internships should be, but they aren’t always like that. [At Parents] I could go into a layout and literally delete the entire page. And I would be blacklisted from the magazine world, but that’s really cool. The coolest thing is seeing that they trust me and I’m part of a team. Being an intern, you hear horror stories but it’s like, “They like me, they really, really like me!”   

By Julie Mazziotta, ASME Intern, Real Simple