By JENNA GIBSON
J Alumni News staff
Kirstin Wilder
Kirstin Swanson Wilder was inspired to go into journalism because a writer spelled her name wrong in the school newspaper in eighth grade. When she stormed down to the after-school program to correct them, the student journalists asked her to help improve the quality of the paper.
From then on, she was a journalist.
“I kind of got bit by the bug there,” she said. “I knew from that moment that I wanted to work on newspapers.”
Now, years later, Wilder is managing editor of the weekly Variety magazine, an entertainment news publication in print since 1905, and Daily Variety, a five-day-a-week newspaper that was founded in 1933.
Learning to love the newsroom
Wilder, who graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1989, took her first college journalism class during the summer before her sophomore year. The class was all day, she said, which made the experience more like a real newsroom.
“That was really great because it showed me the camaraderie that goes on in a newsroom,” she said. “I just wanted to be part of that.”
The J school emphasized the importance of professional experience, and the faculty were dedicated to helping students get summer internships.
Wilder said the help was invaluable. By the end of her junior year, despite applying to papers all over the country, she didn’t have an internship nailed down for the summer. Then Bud Pagel, one of her professors, called and asked her if she would be interested in working for the summer as a copy desk intern for the Raleigh Times in Raleigh, N.C. She happily accepted.
“That’s what really showed me that it was OK to move away from home, get out of Nebraska,” Wilder said. “I was miserable that summer, but looking back that was really good for me.”
The next year, Wilder secured an internship at the St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg, Fla. There she learned about different newsroom jobs, which only solidified her desire to work as an editor and designer.
After graduation, she worked at the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., then followed a cute boy out to California, she said. At the time, Variety was looking for a layout editor who knew the business side of publications. Wilder interviewed and got the job.
Wilder came to Variety at just the right time. Four years before she started working there in 1992, a larger company had bought the magazine. With the new company came a lot of change, and Wilder was able to move up the ladder very quickly. That, and her willingness to work hard and be nice to people, brought her to the managing editor position in just 18 years.
“This kind of Midwestern work ethic … it sounds incredibly basic, but that was crucial here,” she said.
Wilder recruits for Variety at UNL
The Midwestern work ethic is one reason Wilder continues to look to UNL for talent. She has recruited about five Nebraskans to work at Variety, and she comes back to Lincoln every year to interview students for the summer internship program.
Last summer, she chose Shannon Smith, a senior journalism major, as an intern.
Smith remembers staying up late perfecting her portfolio the night before her interview, making sure everything was perfect.
“I was expecting to be really intimidated,” Smith said. “Then I went in there, and she was very nice and conversational.”
When Smith was searching for housing in Los Angeles for the summer, Wilder suggested some places. When those fell through, Wilder connected Smith with her neighbor, and Smith ended up living in the same duplex as Wilder. Because they were so close, the two got to know each other well — Smith babysat for Wilder’s two young daughters, and Wilder lent Smith a bike for the summer.
“She pretty much took care of me,” Smith said.
But even though they got to know each other well, when they were at work, Wilder was still the boss.
“She’s very nice. She’s conversational. She’s easygoing. She would help you through anything,” Smith said. “But she’s not your best friend; she’s your editor.”
Staying in touch and giving advice
After Smith returned to Nebraska in the fall, she and Wilder stayed in touch. Wilder has offered advice and support. For example, when Smith was worried about her career path, she said she called Wilder, who reassured her that she would succeed and offered to help in any way she could.
“She’s a career woman … but she balances that and is still a good friend and a good person,” Smith said. “The main things to know about her are that she’s fun, she’s smart, she knows what need to be done, but also just that she’ll go out of her way for anyone, I think.”
Even though Wilder graduated more than two decades ago, she still feels connected to UNL’s J school. The support she felt from her professors is one of the reasons she is where she is today, she said.
“They didn’t just disappear out of your life once they hand you a degree. I’m just always telling people what a great education I got there at Nebraska.
“I’m incredibly appreciative,” she said, adding, “My heart will always be in Lincoln, Nebraska.”
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