Today we’d like to introduce you to Emilia Benton.
Hi Emilia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m a freelance journalist primarily covering health and fitness for publications such as Runner’s World, SELF, Women’s Health, Healthline, the Houston Chronicle and more. I received my BA in journalism from Hofstra University in Long Island, New York and got my start working in the magazine industry. I moved back to Houston in 2011 and shortly thereafter took a job as a copy editor and staff writer at the Houston Chronicle, where I worked for the next few years. After a job switch and a layoff, I went full-time freelance in 2017. My path to success as a freelancer certainly didn’t happen overnight — it took about a year and a half of networking and relationship-building to get to a point where the work was steady and sustainable. Now I couldn’t see myself going back to a traditional job in media and call this the “dream job I never knew I wanted.”
I’m also an avid long-distance runner and three-time ambassador for the Chevron Houston Marathon, which I ran for the eighth time this past January. At this year’s race, I also qualified for the Boston Marathon, a goal I’d had for myself since I ran my first marathon in 2010 at age 23. I currently train with the Houston Harriers and love elevating Houston’s vibrant and diverse running community whenever I can. After living in the Museum District/Hermann Park area for the last 10 years, I recently moved to nearby Riverside Terrace with my husband Omar, and our Boston Terrier rescue, Astro.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As I noted above, my writing career hasn’t been an overnight success. It took about a year and a half (during which I was still applying to regular full-time jobs) before my freelance career became sustainable. I also don’t think freelancing really started to blow up until around when I got started — the freelance community seems huge now. But as a result of that, I never really knew going freelance was an option, and if I had, I would have actually planned for it and started forming relationships with editors well before leaving a job. That’s the best advice I would give anyone in media considering taking the plunge and going freelance.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I primarily cover health and fitness; my work has appeared in publications such as the Houston Chronicle, SELF, SHAPE, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Well + Good, and more. I am also passionate about covering social justice and featuring diverse subjects in my work as a whole, whether it’s a featured individual or an expert source, regardless of whether social justice or minority representation is even a central topic in the piece. That’s something I’m particularly proud of and something I believe sets me apart from other writers.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I feel lucky that I was already working from home and for myself before the pandemic. I’ve seen and read so much about employee burnout and the struggle to devote and balance time with family while also working to ensure it’s known you’re dedicated to your work. I already knew it’s entirely sensible for many jobs to be done remotely and I hope more employers have begun to accept that even after things have returned to some sense of normalcy.
Requiring people to work in person in a specific location has also undeniably contributed to a lack of diversity in many industries. I saw it when I worked in-house at major women’s magazines in New York City, where I was one of very few Latinas/women of color. When I left New York, I thought I was closing the door on a career in journalism, and publications largely employing freelance writers from across the country has contributed to a huge increase in diverse writers, which I think is amazing.
Contact Info:
- Email: emiliamariebenton@gmail.com
- Website: emiliabenton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emiliambenton/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emmiemarieB
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/emiliambenton
- Other: https://muckrack.com/emilia-benton/articles
Image Credits
BCS Marathon (for the one with the logo)
Omar Vazquez (for the rest)
