By DAN TOMASELLO
NEW YORK— The journey continues.
Lynnfield High School Class of 2018 graduate Alexandra Ross’ journalism career has taken her to new heights while working at People Magazine for the past three years.
“I do a little bit of everything at People,” said Ross. “I was hired to do anything that falls under the umbrella of entertainment, and that is very much true three years later. I get to work with the movies team, the music team, the style team, the books team and the TV team. I get to pick something under that umbrella and I have the freedom to pursue it, which is really cool. I love the variety. I am interviewing people, I am writing for the magazine, I am writing for the website, and I am covering red carpets and different events. I am doing a little bit of everything.”
After graduating from Boston University with a Journalism degree, Ross worked as a news desk coordinator for “E! News” at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York for year. People Magazine hired Ross as a writer/reporter in the fall of 2022, and she was promoted to staff writer last November.
“I was hired as a writer/reporter and staff writer is the next title up on the ladder,” said Ross. “I am in the magazine in one form or another every week. A lot of times it is news items in what we call the front of the book, which is the first couple of pages of the magazine. And every couple of weeks or so, I have a bigger feature. I love that. I have always loved writing. Seeing your name in print in People Magazine absolutely never gets old.”
Ross has interviewed a number of different public figures over the course of her three years working for People, including two of her three role models outside of her mom: Actress Mariska Hargitay from “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.
“Everyone I work with knows that I love Mariska Hargitay from ‘Law and Order: SVU’ and Savannah Guthrie from ‘Today,’ who is the reason why I became a journalist,” said Ross. “I feel like the clock struck midnight this year. Over the last six months, I have written a lot about Mariska and Savannah. That has been so fantastic. The past six months have been really exciting.”
People Magazine published Ross’ first cover story about “Today” fourth hour co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager and her twin sister Barbara in March.
“It was my first People cover story for the print magazine, which is something I have wanted to do since the moment they hired me with absolutely zero magazine experience,” said Ross. “It was surreal. I got to go to Barbara’s townhouse. The article was about Jenna and Barbara’s sisterhood and what it has been like to raise their kids together. They had just published a children’s book, and Barbara had been co-hosting the fourth hour of ‘Today’ with Jenna for a couple of days. Since Hoda Kotb left, Jenna has had all of these different people come on to co-host until they name an official replacement. She has had her friends and family on, and Barbara was one of them.”
Ross said she has gotten to know Hargitay, Guthrie and Bush Hager after covering the three women.
“I can’t believe that they all know me now,” said Ross. “Mariska has liked my Instagram posts, and Jenna and Savannah sent me flowers with the nicest note after the cover story was published. I framed the note in my apartment. These things are so surreal. The fact that they even know I exist and know my name, who I am and I have a relationship with them is really cool.”
In addition to writing about entertainment, Ross has been able to branch out into different areas while working for People. Last November, Ross was working on two vastly very different stories while she was on assignment in Nashville.
“People sent me to Nashville to cover the Country Music Association Awards, which was a dream come true because I got to do it on camera,” said Ross. “I got to do this thing that I have wanted to do for so long for this brand that I love.”
While gearing up to cover the CMAs, Ross was also sitting in her hotel room preparing to interview Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, who survived the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, but tragically lost her then-boyfriend, photographer Simon Atlee.
“I was prepping to cover this big, flashy and glamorous CMAs red carpet, and at the same time, I had to use the other side of my brain to do this really intense human interest story for the magazine,” said Ross. “It was one of those moments where I was doing a little bit of everything, and that was really cool.”
Ross has also covered the last two Super Bowls.
“We are fortunate enough to get a lot of access to these really cool events and parties, but we don’t always get tickets to go sit at the Super Bowl,” said Ross. “In the two years I have gone, I have managed to sneak into the Super Bowl twice. I got there, found an open seat, watched the game and sent in my observations, my reporting and the whole nine yards. It has become a running joke that, ‘leave it to Alex to sneak into the Super Bowl.’”
Ross said her experiences working as a journalist has taught her “not to be afraid,” which she admitted wasn’t always the case.
“My mom always tells the story about when she took me on a tour of BU,” said Ross. “I was so scared that I didn’t even want to go into the dormitories, and she said ‘let’s go in, we will check it out and will go as far as they let us go.’ I said we were not supposed to be in there because it wasn’t part of the tour, and she said, ‘come on, it’s fine.’ She always jokes about how far I have come.”
Ross said she has benefitted from learning from a group of colleagues at People who have worked as journalists for two decades.
“I am on the reporting team, and I work with a team of women who have been doing this for 20-plus years and most of them have spent their entire careers at People,” said Ross. “I feel really lucky because not everybody gets the exposure and the chance to be mentored by all of these great people. I am really fortunate to have all of these opportunities.”
While Ross is still new to the journalism profession, she has been working to pay it forward by mentoring summer interns at People the same way her colleagues have been mentoring her.
“We have summer interns right now, and I led a seminar on how to work a red carpet for the interns,” said Ross. “I have been having one-on-one coffees with all of the interns, and they have been asking me questions to get advice. The advice I gave them is the same advice Savannah and Mariska gave me that I carry with me. At one of the very first red carpets I worked when I was working for ‘E!,’ Mariska came down the red carpet and she put her hand on my heart even though she had no idea who I was. She said to me, ‘everything you need is already inside of you.’ I always call upon that and I always give that piece of advice. When I was an intern at ‘Today,’ Savannah came to talk to the interns and said any time she gets nervous when she has a really big interview coming up, she says a little prayer for sincerity. It’s this idea of being a good listener, being authentic, showing up as your whole self, be a curious human and have an honest conversation with whoever the interview subject is. I always give that piece of advice too. That has really helped me.”
Ross graduated from Lynnfield High School in 2018, and also attended Summer Street School and Lynnfield Middle School. While attending LHS, Ross served as class president and played field hockey and softball. Her mom, Traci, is a kindergarten teacher at Summer Street School, and her brother Jack just graduated from Endicott College.
“I loved every minute of growing up in Lynnfield,” said Ross in an August 2022 interview with the Villager. “I have friends from high school and college who said they couldn’t stand high school and middle school, but I absolutely loved it. I still keep in touch with the majority of my teachers. I loved school, and I have always loved learning. I think that is why I decided to become a journalist.”
Residents can read Ross’ articles by visiting People.com or buying the magazine. She also noted that People has just launched an app, and is looking into developing podcasts.
“I might show up on a podcast on the People app at some point,” said Ross.