Online Magazine Attracts Female Students

Pop culture and relationships are among the topics discussed in Her Campus Tulane, a new online magazine written by college women for college women. The tagline of the national Her Campus magazine — “a collegiette's guide to life” — indicates the target audience and what readers can expect to find on the site.

The six executive board members of Her Campus Tulane are (from top left) Alyssa Conti and Catherine Combs; and (bottom) Nina Helfman, Elyse Toplin, Megan Lehr and Brynn Ruriani.

A missed opportunity for an internship was replaced by a chance to run an online magazine for the founding members of Her Campus Tulane, a branch of the national Her Campus franchise. Her Campus was launched in September 2009 by three Harvard University undergraduates after they received recognition and funding in a Harvard business plan competition.

The magazine offers campus-specific content by establishing branches at colleges around the country. To date, there are more than 120 branches.

Catherine Combs, a Tulane senior, serves as campus correspondent and editor-in-chief for the Tulane branch of Her Campus magazine. After missing the deadline to apply for the magazine's internship last winter, Combs says she decided to take a stab at adding a Tulane branch to the national magazine.

Since the launch of the Tulane branch this past spring, the Tulane staff consists of about 16 students including an executive board who work as writers, editors and marketing representatives.

Alyssa Conti, a Tulane junior who serves as the magazine's editorial and opinion editor, says she is consistently impressed with how much work each of her fellow students puts in.

“Every week we put out articles about everything from campus events and world news to pop culture and relationships. We've also done articles helping prospective students decide if Tulane is right for them,” says Conti. “We all do this without being paid and in addition to our classes and other commitments like sororities, clubs and ROTC.”