Lawrence High School grad’s journalism career blossoms

Lawrence High School class of 2005 graduate Christina Amoroso is making her mark in journalism and is now the executive editor at Bustle, a digital women’s magazine.

Her interest in writing began back in middle school. “All throughout middle and high school, I worked on the school newspaper and I was the editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook,” she said. “Then I went to journalism school with the hopes that I would get a job in magazines and I got a lot of my training there.”

Amoroso, 34, launched her career at the New York Post while studying journalism at Northwestern University. “I really kind of launched my career at the New York Post,” she said. "I was an intern there throughout college. Every summer while I was in college I worked in a bunch of different departments ... I covered hard news, I worked in sports a little bit, I worked in features ... so I got a lot of experience in a lot of different subject areas and I realized that features was really kind of where my passions lie."

Graduating college during the recession year of 2009, Amoroso latched on to an internship with Entertainment Weekly, but that experience was soon interrupted. “In the middle of that internship, one of my editors from the Post called me and they had a full-time job opening in the features department which was like a dream come true,” she said.

Amoroso worked at the Post for eight years as a writer and an editor. In 2017 she moved on to become the executive lifestyle editor at Cosmopolitan and two years ago joined Bustle. “[At Bustle] I work closely with our editor in chief and chief content officer on running the day to day at Bustle …,” she said. “I’m working closely with the editor-in-chief on what the vision of the site is going to look like and the overall voice and tone of what we’re putting out in the world, and it’s really been a lot of fun.”

Stephen Sullivan, a former teacher at Lawrence High School, recalls Amoroso’s writing and editing talents from her time as a student. “Someone very smart told her she could be a writer, but had the skill set and the mentality to be a great editor,” he said.

Amoroso agrees that although she enjoys writing, her skill set and interest is better applied to the behind-the-scenes aspect of editing. “I do think my mentality is definitely better toward being an editor,” she said. “I’m a bit more of a planner and I like to be behind the scenes and put things together and think about what photo you’re going to put with a story and how are you gonna headline it and how are you going to package it? ... You know, just thinking about the production of a story from [that] kind of perspective is really satisfying to me.”

Amoroso’s former colleague and friend, Mackenzie Dawson is books editor at the New York Post. Dawson remembers Amoroso’s assertiveness during her time as an intern and throughout the rest of her career.

“The interns who really put themselves out there and raise their hands for assignments and do what Christina did, which was introducing themselves to everyone, are the people who end up getting the most out [of their experience],” Dawson said. “Which she clearly did because she then ended up being hired full-time.”

Dawson is not surprised at Amoroso’s success over the years. “Christina has always been really wise beyond her years,” Dawson said. “Her success has not been a surprise to me at all because, even when she was much younger, she knew [exactly] what she wanted and so it’s been a lot of fun to watch her succeed.”

Amoroso believes that throughout all of her jobs both reporting and editing, she gets fulfillment through the impact her stories can have on readers. “The thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is telling a really compelling story and telling a story that’s really going to connect with a reader on a very personal level and that [is] going to stay with our readers after they click away from our site,” she said.