This is a profile that is long overdue. For those of you who don't know, Amber is the editor at Inman. She has been fearlessly leading Inman's editorial staff for almost a year now. Among her many talents and passions is writing; check out her work here. She'll tell you more about herself in the following q-and-a. AMBER'S INMAN BIO Amber Taufen has been working as a writer and editor for more than a decade for consumer publications and trade associations; she’s edited books and ghostwritten articles, and she’s worked as a receptionist, copy editor, contributing writer, assistant editor, editorial operations manager and project manager for her employers and clients. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in magazine writing, both from the University of Missouri - Columbia. | What do you do for Inman, and how long have you been doing it? I’m the editor-in-chief (as of April 1, 2015), but some of you might remember I started as the contributor editor in November 2014. The contributor program had 150 people in it when I handed it over to Dani in March 2015, and in her capable hands, it’s grown to almost 500 or so! What made you want to get into journalism or more specifically real estate journalism? I always wanted to help people, and I think that the gift of language is my best way to do that. Real estate journalism appeals to me because it’s an area of our society with a huge impact. The real estate industry influences our overall national economic health, and owning a home is still the American dream; covering something so important to our society makes me feel like my time is being well-invested. What was your favorite article to write and why? I think it was “The one skill that makes you irreplaceable” because it crystallized for me the thing that agents do that a computer will never be able to do well. What do you do in your spare time? … What’s spare time? :) I work a lot! But I also have a husband and a two-year-old son; I love to read, hike and practice yoga. High-altitude baking is another hobby. What advice do you have for aspiring writers? Just write it down already. If you have an idea brewing, get it onto paper (so to speak) so that you can start polishing it up. Some people are afraid to keep going when their first few sentences aren't as "good" as they eventually will be; but as a very wise journalism professor of mine once said, "All first drafts … suck." What advice do you have for new contributors? Do an advanced Google search for some keywords for your story and inman.com (you can plug it all in here: https://www.google.ca/advanced_search). This should give you a good overview of popular stories that either related to your topic or were about the same topic — and help you either decide on a direction or inspire you to create something even better. |