FROM THE
EDITOR
So if, unlike me, mastering better make-up application
is an attainable goal for you, we’ll help you nail it (p24).
If getting that next big pay rise or making a career change
is on your agenda, we’ll give you the advice you need to
get there (p66). If you want to broaden your mind and
challenge the way you think, we’ve got the best long-read
features in the business (pp80-103). Or, if your current life
goal is just choosing which TV show is worth your weekend
binge-watch time, we’ve got that covered, too (p17).
We are all works in progress, this magazine included, and
we shouldn’t be ashamed of that. You do you, because that’s
all you should ever be and it. is. enough. So don’t let
anyone tell you otherwise...
(and that includes your own
inner monologue).I
have never felt the full force of imposter syndrome
until this moment.
As I write this, I am sitting in our London office.
Award-winning covers gleam on the walls around
me, the warm (if fleeting) sunshine is streaming in
through the windows and the wonderfully kind and
talented Cosmopolitan team chat and laugh around me.
And... well... I guess I’m the “boss” now? But the truth
is I still feel like the 19-year-old who visited this very
magazine on work experience over a decade ago.
The day I found out I got this job, I cried tears of
joy in the toilets at work and wiped away the non-
waterproof mascara I had foolishly applied that morning,
my ugly-cry face resembling Violet Beauregarde after
she swells into a giant blueberry. Retreating home,
I unearthed some joggers from my floordrobe and
ordered a takeaway. With a glass of lukewarm wine in
hand and Netflix auto-playing, I felt like a total failure.
Why? Because I suddenly panicked that this sort
of normal human behaviour was exactly the reason
I would never be good enough to do this job. Should
I have better hair? Should I have more fashionable
clothes? Should I know how to do eyeliner by this
point in my life? Am I too young? Or too old? And
shouldn’t I be out drinking champagne in some
stylish bar, or yelling at someone about florals for
spring not being groundbreaking, instead of eating
carbs alone on my sofa?
For the uninitiated, this feeling is imposter syndrome.
Thankfully, I was comforted by two things. Firstly,
the wine, takeaway and leisurewear I just mentioned.
But secondly, and most importantly, if there’s one
brand where being a perfectly imperfect person, and
revelling in the brilliance and beauty of that, is not
only OK but championed, it’s Cosmopolitan.
One thing this magazine will never do is tell you that
who you are is wrong, what you feel isn’t important
or that the way you look isn’t good enough. There are
plenty of things in life making us feel that way already.CLAIRE HODGSON
Editor-in-ChiefGSONN4Keep in touch by following
me on Twitter @Claire_Hodge
and Instagram @claire_hodge PHOTOGRAPH SARAH BRICK. HAIR AND MAKE-UP JOLANDA COETZER AT LHA REPRESENTS, USING URBAN DECAY AND SACHAJUAN