work to weekend: summer style

While I'm traveling for work this week and experiencing the 1-2 weeks of the year that I actually need to turn my casual work-from-home wardrobe into reasonably professional business style, I have invited some stylish blogger friends to provide some inspiration of their go-to summer work item and how they also restyle it for the weekend. And because I'm fascinated by (or just nosy about?) people's work life, I've asked them to fill out a little questionnaire about their work and their work style. But to kick the week off, I decided to fill it out myself!

What is your job title?

Managing Editor (of 3 different peer-reviewed academic journals in the field of international business/accounting/marketing)

What do you spend the majority of your workdays actually doing?

Though I do some editing - of accepted manuscripts and various other documents - my daily tasks are heavier on the "managing" part of my job title, which I love for the variety and for the getting to be in charge of stuff/organize stuff aspect. It's kind of like being a project manager, coordinating workflows for the journal peer review process and the publication process. This works out to mostly mean "emailing people" as I am the central hub for authors, reviewers, editors-in-chief, area editors, and publisher contacts, but I also process new manuscript submissions, send decision letters, run tracking reports, check proofs, and more. Oh and I coordinate social media for two journals and an academic organization as well as the assembly/editing for the newsletter and a smaller/less formal publication for one of the academic organizations. (And I also have to admit that I spend my day doing a bunch of other things too - childcare, working out, laundry, errands, the occasional pedicure - since I work from home and have a really flexible schedule in that way.) The travel comes in a couple of times a year when I go to academic conferences or organization board meetings related to the journals.

How similar is this to what you thought you wanted to be when you grew up?

I didn't even know it was a real job! And since my 5-year-old dreams were to be a ballerina married to an astronaut living on a farm by the highway, pretty far off... But in my later school years, I knew I wanted to be an English major because of how much I love to read; it was hard to think of jobs beyond English teacher (which I didn't really want to be) that would suit me, until I started interning with different kinds of publishers - trade, academic, industry - during college. From these experiences I thought hat I wanted to be a copy editor of books, but when we graduated/moved to where Peter went to medical school, there weren't book publishing jobs available, so I temped for a while until I came across this Managing Editor position at the university. I actually did a similar, very part-time job as Editorial Assistant during college for one of my professors who was Editor-in-Chief of an academic journal, and that experience is a huge part of what landed me this job.

How would you describe your usual work style?

Efficient and organized. My publishing background is useful for doing my job well, but pretty much it's just about staying on top of things and juggling multiple tasks. And this "style" question has kind of a double meaning... if we're talking clothes style, it's, well, whatever the heck I want since I work from home. But whether I'm working at a coffee shop or at conferences, I stick to my "basics with a twist" mantra. It means I can style classic pieces that are eminently remixable, but with a little personality and fun.

What is your top work wardrobe pick for this summer?

As someone who works from home, I don't need all that many "work" clothes, but for the times I do, and for adulting things in general, I'm all about the non-tee options that can be dressed up or down, especially ones with great patterns like this floral sleeveless blouse or this ponte polka dot top (remixed here). I don't keep a lot of work clothes around, but I have a few basic/professional skirts that these kinds of tops pair really well with.

How would you remix it for the weekend, and where would you wear it?

The beauty of these non-tee tops is that they go with pretty much any bottom... For everyday wear, I'd do it with a pair of jeans or navy shorts, and for a summer date night (this one was my birthday dinner!) it's great with white jeans. And with all of the above: denim jacket. Favorite way to dress down something workwear-ish, hands down.

What are you wearing for work this summer? Stay tuned for how some other ladies are remixing their workwear this week!

Sharing on Summer Style, Hello Monday, Mix It Monday.