What does a day in the life of Julia look like? 
I look after the Culture, Lifestyle and Travel sections of Nine’s metro mastheads. Driving the content strategy across these topic areas is a big part of my role, but each day is different based on the news cycle, what projects are launching and how many meetings are in the diary.
 
These past few weeks have been very travel-focused, for example, as we launch the new-look Traveller and fully integrate it into the masthead websites. That has meant a lot of product and tech meetings and content planning. 
 
As a general rule, I try to split my time between working with editors on ideation, working with the Audience team to better understand subscriber habits, attending daily news conferences and lots of reading, scrolling, signing things off and slacking in between. 

Favourite memory or story you have covered or working on? 
There’s nothing like the buzz of a newsroom and the thrill of a story you’ve worked hard on exploding with subscriber interest. Working alongside some of the brightest journalists in the country keeps things especially interesting. If I had to choose a recent highlight, travelling to London to cover the Queen's death and funeral - it was a surreal experience.
 
What lifestyle trends and topics are you looking to cover in 2023? 
Cost of living is a huge issue this year. We’re all paying closer attention to our grocery bills, reassessing gym memberships or choosing a domestic holiday over an international one. As readers navigate this, it’s our job to provide them with reliable, relevant and practical advice in the form of high-quality, engaging service journalism.
 
How do you integrate and cater to different audiences across Nine’s papers / different markets? 
I spend a lot of time talking to reporters and editors about assumed knowledge. As a digital-first publication, we must imagine a fresh set of eyes on every story. Unlike the print experience, each digital article is viewed on its own without the context of a page layout. Being specific in the headline and copy about an article’s intention is important whether they’re reading our content on a social platform, watching YouTube, listening to a podcast or on site. Experimenting with different story formats in order to speak to new audiences is another area that excites me, while keeping brand integrity at the heart of what we do.
 
Who and what departments / publications do you work closely with alongside? 
In addition to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, I oversee Sunday Life and Traveller. Outside of editorial, I work with subscriptions, marketing and commercial.
 
Advice to PRs pitching to you and the Nine lifestyle team? 
As a subscription model, we are in the business of serving quality content readers can’t find elsewhere. That means generic pitches sent out en masse (and the follow-up cold call) are a huge waste of time. We are not a publication that runs a story from a press release. The best PRs build a relationship with the journalist, make an effort to learn about our unique audience and cater pitches based on that.