SPENCER: So, hello. Today I am here with…

EMMA: Emma Walytka

SPENCER: who is the…

EMMA: co-edit-in-chief for Influx. 

SPENCER: And how does that make you feel? 

EMMA: It makes me feel incredibly overjoyed and I feel very blessed because, I just love everyone on this team. Like,  I could yap about everyone for like days upon end, so I’m just like overfilled with joy, I would say.

SPENCER: Great answer. Okay. Are you ready to start this little interview? 

EMMA: Oh yeah. I’m so ready. Okay. 

SPENCER: So what can you tell me about Influx Magazine?  

EMMA: I think this is the most fulfilling thing I’ve done. At my career at Hubbard, I never thought that I would be the co-ed-in-chief. I was like, okay, like I guess I’ll try, I was always kind of the kid who was shy.

I was never really in leadership roles. I would say before college, I was kind of like the one that sit alone at the lunch table or the one that didn’t really have a lot of friends. I was really, really, really grateful and because of our theme is physicality. 

I was at first like, oh my gosh, like that is the most vast theme I’ve ever heard. There’s no way we’re gonna be able to like narrow down, oh my gosh, I was so wrong. 

And I’ve learned so many new things. We take on more serious topics like disordered eating, and that story was very personal to me and I absolutely love that story. So please, please read. It’s in the center fold. It’s great. And then we also, you know, talk about dance choreography and we get more into the arts.  You know, I never thought that it would be something this grandiose and this big.

SPENCER: So the theme we picked was physicality for this magazine. Everybody had a different view of what physicality means.

So as editors in chief, y’all basically get first say in what you want it to be. So, what was the vision you had heading into this magazine? 

EMMA: Before even talking to Ella, when I first heard the word physicality. I immediately thought about my own personal experiences with diet culture and disordered eating.

That’s the first thing that came to my mind. I’m gonna be completely honest. Like, that’s what I was like, oh my gosh, like. If I were to be on the writing team, I would wanna do a story like this and the Wonderful Ellie did, which is an amazing story. And that to me was something I really wanted to hit on because, ya know, for the longest time, I had to shrink myself to be in spaces.

That hit really hard to me, and especially in traditional media. We don’t really have actual dieticians being interviewed. We don’t have people that are actually working at eating disorder treatment centers. You don’t have people that have actually experienced this. It’s very funneled because, you know, online we’re getting so much advice thrown at us.

So many people are telling us, this is right, this is bad. Here’s what I ate in a day. It’s also overwhelming at one point you’re just become, oh my gosh, I just want some truth here. And I think that’s what I wanted to do with this. And I just wanted it to be an outpouring of facts and not advice, but real truthful information that’s coming from professionals that know what they’re talking about.

That’s what came to mind. And of course talking to Ella, she was very adamant and heavy on, you know, like dance and movement of our bodies, which I thought was a beautiful take.

It’s really cool because Ella and I, you know, we’re,  we’re similar but yet we’re very different in the way we kind of approach things.

And it was really fun to see her views on those more fun lighthearted topics. Like she’s just so brilliant and creative,   and just mind mapping with her at the very beginning was really fun. Especially ’cause, you know, we’re both from Minnesota, so kind of thinking about. It as an actual place too. And all the things we’ve known and grew up with was really cool to think about too.

SPENCER: Do you think each story is going to have its audience and do you think that audience is gonna hold that story a little bit in their heart?

EMMA: Oh, Absolutely. If you’re not into reading per se, like long form articles, there’s basically like. Little poems like Jasmine’s piece on pottery. Like we have personal essays if you’re not into like the long term reporting, which is incredible, you should listen and read everything, but there’s something for everyone.

We have an article in Lakota and my main goal is to make this as accessible as possible. What our captions look like. Are they accessible for everyone? if someone had a screen reader, would they be able to know what’s actually going on in this image?

You know, in terms of the design team looking at colors and really checking, you know, okay, if we have this color against that color will, Someone that maybe is color blind, can they see this clearly? And does everyone get the same kind of experience and is it fair? And I think that was one thing that really laid heavy on my heart and that I wanted to get into. But, yeah, for everyone.

SPENCER: What has been the most interesting part of hopping around the groups? So you’ve touched with design, you’ve touched with the writers. What are like the most interesting things you have seen working with these groups individually?

EMMA: Yeah, so, I think, there was one particular experience with the photo team that really touching to  me. Miss Reyna—if you’re listening, Reyna, I love you—you’re amazing. She’s our photo team lead, and we had our staff picture day. I was so excited, ok Finally, This is gonna be the time I’m actually gonna get a good headshot. I’m eeady. I’m gonna be confident. I’m in this era. Like I took, I’m gonna go, like 4 hours to get ready, maybe. Like I was real serious about this. I  was finally gonna get a photo of myself.

So i get here, I take my photo and I, like, look at it and get it back and was like “oh my gosh” I do not like how I look and I kind of panicked.

And this happens to me, frequently, ya know, when you struggle with that kind of stuff and I was like absolutely just frantic. I wasnt like myself. I was sad

And Reyna actually pulled me aside and talked to me and said, you know what Emma? I feel a calling to help you. Let’s go meet another day. I’m gonna book a studio and we are gonna take pictures and youre gonna feel comfortable

For the first time I got those pictures back and I told her, I’m like “i feel so beautiful” because i was comfortable and she was just so amazing in helping me through that. And I never thought that that was gonna come out of this at all.

The people are so good.  They just have such kind souls. Theyre just so giving and so helpful. Their personalities really shine in their writing , their podcasting, their design, through the website, through the photos that they take and i think thats really beautiful to see that, a human created that art. I think thats been really cool to see.

SPENCER: Go on all the tangents you need to! So this class is more than just a magazine class.

It’s a class where people get to collaborate and become friends and work as a team to get something they’re all proud of. Would you say that’s more of what the magazine is? Do you wanna touch upon any more of that? 

EMMA: Yes! Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you asked that. I think whats so beautiful about this class is it’s really not, you know, a, a quote unquote class environment.

It’s not where you’re getting these exams, where you’re having these structured assignments, where we’re kind of going through the motions. It’s not like that at all. You are living in the moment and you’re experiencing things in real time, which I think is incredibly rare. Not that this university doesn’t have exceptional courses, but you know, having a class structure like this is very, very rare, and it very much feels like it’s setting you up for life after college, and you feel like you’re in an actual kind of

Newsroom magazine setting. and I think that, you know, with all the unknowns that comes within that, it’s beautiful because I’ve had to think on my feet. I’ve had to, you know, feel rushed and be like, oh, oh my gosh. Like, I don’t know what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna have to send these pages in. But it’s been a, it’s been so fun to be able to act intuitively and to really be creative. cause I’ve missed being so creative.

I think university. Through the structured assignments and exams has taken that outta me at times. Um, so this has just been a great outlet I think for everyone to actually like release their creativity. 

SPENCER: And what about the process of making this magazine surprised you the most as one of the editors? 

EMMA: What surprised me the most was how multifaceted it was. When I read the course description, when i was signing up. I was under the presumption that it was just gonna be a print magazine.

 We’d have a print magazine, we’d all kind of work on it. Each do a little, you know, it’d be relaxed. Maybe 20. No, no, no, no, no. We’re having a photo team. We have a web team, we have a podcasting team. Like we got everything and everyone has their own, thing that they’re into. Whoa, like an Instagram too, like there’s so many parts of this that extend so far out of what I thought it was gonna be contained to, especially this podcast.

I didn’t know we were gonna have the ability to do this. I think that’s incredible. And I think it reaches people in ways that typical regular format writing can’t. 

We also have so many different ways that people can engage with our content that isn’t just visual. If you’re not into the visual, there’s auditory and there’s different ways that you can engage with us, and I think that that’s what makes us really special and unique.

SPENCER: If you could leave a message for anybody that’s gonna take this class in the future, what would you say?

EMMA: Oh my gosh. Wait, why am I getting emotional?

Well, I would say your authenticity is your greatest strength and use that in surplus in this class. Be Yourself to the most full measure you can. And when I’m saying that, I don’t mean just stick with what know you’re good at. Literally try something that you have never done before.Whether you’re like, well…I’ve always wanted to be in podcasting.

I’ve never actually done it, so I’m just gonna stick with writing ’cause that’s what I’m comfortable with. No I know in the moment it might be scary, but after that you’re gonna be like, wow, I actually learned a lot. So yeah, explore.

Like do things that you wouldn’t normally do and just get out there because I’m telling you one thing, it’s worth it. I would’ve never tried to be an editor.

Like there’s no way. Like I never would’ve done that in the past. I would’ve just said, what’s something where I can be like secluded and quiet, but now I’m like. You guys allow me to be more myself. And I think that’s one thing I would just say is don’t be afraid to be creative and to be weird and to pitch your ideas even if you’re scared.

Because most of the time, probably gonna be the best idea ever because it’s so weird and niche and I love that kind of stuff. 

SPENCER: And then the other question is do you have a message to the other people in this class with you right now?

EMMA: working as a team is something that in this day and age is, I think, I would argue it’s kind of slowly.

Fading away. You know, we’re doing work online or we’re remote or we’re just doing stuff on our own, but like continue to work together because the most beautiful ideas come when folks with different experiences and identities all can come together and create something special. And that’s what we did here.

And look at it, it’s like, it’s the coolest thing ever. And I just hope that everyone after this can continue to chat and stay friends because it feels like a family and. Yeah. I’m just really grateful for everyone. 

SPENCER: Well ,thank you for sitting down To talk with me. 

EMMA: Yes, thank you.

SPENCER: No,thank you.

EMMA: No thank you.

SPENCER: No thank you.

EMMA: No, 

SPENCER: nah. Stop. 

EMMA: No, stop it. 

SPENCER: Stop. That’s going in the thing, 

EMMA: Okay. I kind of like that, honestly.