Rachel Slaff

Rachel Slaff

Studio 20 2011

Job: Senior Social Media Editor at Forbes
Location: New York, NY
Hometown: Erial, NJ


What I Do Now

I manage assistant editors, advise our newsroom on best practices for our 20+ social media accounts, and create short- and long-term social media strategies. I also help analyze data and report on our performance, and I work with our video, production, marketing, audience development, and product teams daily.

Before Studio 20

I was a college student at NYU – I majored in journalism (print/longform) and history. A very wise professor urged me to consider applying to Studio 20 instead of staking my career on print magazines.

During Studio 20, I worked directly with…

ProPublica, The New York Times (Local East Village), Hearst Digital (GoodHousekeeping.com)

Final Project Partner

Good Housekeeping

Problem I helped solve…

I experimented with a traditional framework – video – by soliciting and showcasing user-generated videos.

Professional hops since graduating…

I first worked as a digital media consultant for GoodHousekeeping.com, then as community manager for Hello Style (one of Hearst Digital’s premium YouTube channels). Then I was social media editor at Parenting.com and at AOL before moving to Forbes.

Why Studio 20

Social media is constantly changing, so a course on a particular social platform or type of code wouldn’t have helped me long-term. Instead, Studio 20 helped me learn how to solve problems, how to be flexible, and how to adapt to whatever changes might happen next. That’s something I’ll be grateful for throughout my career.