Texas Fellow at Eater

August 19, 2021
Texas

As the leading independent modern media company, Vox Media ignites conversations and influences culture. Across digital, podcasts, TV, streaming, live events, and print, we tell stories that affect our audience's daily lives and entertain as much as they inform.

Our portfolio features influential and respected editorial properties including Vox, New York Magazine, The Verge, The Cut, Eater, Vulture, The Strategist, Polygon, SB Nation, Intelligencer, Curbed, Grub Street, and Recode. Off-platform, the Vox Media Podcast Network offers one of the largest collections of popular podcasts, and Vox Media Studios produces and distributes the award-winning nonfiction shows. Powered by innovative technology that scales quality, the Chorus publishing platform and Concert advertising marketplace answer the always-changing needs of modern audiences, creators and marketers.

Vox Media has been named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Media,” an Inc. “Company of the Year,” Digiday’s “Best Company for Parents,” and one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign.

The Eater network, which includes Eater.com, 25 local Eater sites, an Emmy-award winning YouTube channel, podcasts such as Eater's Digest and Gastropod, and TV shows on Hulu and PBS, is a brand focused on storytelling and service around restaurants and food culture.

We seek to offer guidance, entertainment, and news and to do so fairly, accurately, and with nuance to a diverse and growing audience across a variety of platforms. We want to ensure that our staff is made up of talented food obsessives with a variety of experiences and perspectives, from a variety of regions, and from a diverse set of backgrounds. 

This fall, the fellowship is a one-year, full-time, salaried position (with benefits). 

Eater is looking for a Texas-based fellow to contribute to our daily coverage of the restaurant scenes and food culture across the state of Texas. This is an opportunity to pitch, report, and write for our sites in Austin, Dallas, and Houston and, when relevant, the national Eater site, and add to our continuing and growing coverage of one of the most important food scenes in America.

Through thoughtful maps and guides, deeply reported features, breaking news, and pointed commentary and analysis, we help our audiences understand their local food scenes and make informed dining decisions. This fellow will have the opportunity to contribute various types of stories, and we are seeking someone who is just as passionate about service journalism as they are about features and news.

The fellowship will be a year-long program that will provide extensive training and mentorship along with opportunities above and beyond that of traditional entry-level/intern positions. Aside from intensive feedback from editors, fellows will also have dedicated mentors, exclusive networking opportunities, brown bag sessions featuring management throughout Vox Media, and the chance to attend one professional conference per year, such as NABJ, NAHJ, SRCCON or NICAR.   

What we’re looking for:

  • Passion about the area Eater covers, especially restaurants, bars, and food culture
  • Previous newsroom experience—or, if coming from a non-journalistic specialty, a demonstrated ability to write compellingly for general readers 
  • A proven ability to write quickly when needed and work on a daily publication schedule
  • Ambition to do great work and to deepen Eater’s coverage of the restaurant scene and foodways of Texas
  • Someone who is eager to tell stories, talk to sources, come up with creative angles, and find stories that others have yet to identify
  • Fluency in Spanish is a plus
  • Ability to travel for stories is a plus
  • Basic photography chops are a plus
  • Candidates who are committed to participating in Vox Media’s efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • Curiosity, strong communication skills, and willingness to learn from others

Responsibilities include:

  • Reporting and writing stories to run on Eater Dallas, Austin, and Houston sites — both taking assignments and also coming up with your own pitches and ideas
  • Contributing to maps and guides, quick turnaround news pieces, and longer editorial features and projects
  • Working with editors to shape and improve content
  • Working with editors and reporters across our team to learn how our newsroom operates
  • Learning Eater’s voice, editorial standards, and publishing processes, and using those skills to publish stories on the site
  • Bringing your unique knowledge and perspective to Eater’s editorial team

When you apply, please tell us:

  • The essential and unique perspective you’d bring to Eater’s newsroom
  • If you think we’re missing anything in our existing Texas coverage 
  • About a story you really care about or want to tell, whether it’s about a certain restaurant or food world figure, a food tradition, an undercovered food culture in the region, or a piece of service that would really help our audience 
  • Whether there are any specific skill areas you’d like to focus on within Eater’s team (visuals, video, reports, social media, editing, daily news and service, etc.) 
  • Where you would be based throughout the year 

Our next class of fellows begins in October.

About working at Vox Media:

This is a full-time temporary position with excellent benefits—including flexible hours and generous parental leave. Vox Media strives to provide comprehensive healthcare options for our employees and to ensure that our healthcare and other benefits are LGBTQ-inclusive. You'll be joining a group of focused, hard-working, creative people who are passionate about doing work that's challenging and fun—and who strive to maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Vox Media is committed to building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and everyone is encouraged to apply. Vox Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, disability, national origin, protected veteran status, age, or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state, or local law.

For more information, or to apply, click here.