Rajpreet Heir, an assistant professor in the Department of Writing with a speciality in creative nonfiction, recently published four articles on beauty products: “Hydration Nation” in Shape, “Skincare as Self-Care” in People, “Serums, At Your Service” in Real Simple, and “Hyaluronic Acid Heroes” in InStyle. She has always been interested in writing about beauty products, but didn’t have the chance until her college roommate connected her with the company her roommate worked at, Foundry. The company, which connects writers with outside companies to write branded content, enjoyed Heir’s work so much, they continued to ask for her to write.
“The way you approach these kinds of articles is a nice distraction from the other forms of writing I do,” Heir said. “They’re really formulaic, and that’s not the case with the essays I teach.” They also help her with her writing in other disciplines. Not only was she researching the products she was reviewing, she was reading other beauty articles to try to understand their pacing. This led to her finding a typical rhythm that her articles should follow, and this rhythm of language has been helpful in other forms of her writing.
The language of these articles was also quite particular, so much so that she began a list of terms or phrases that she can pull from for her own articles. “I love collecting these phrases that don’t show up in my own writing and depart from what I usually do,” she said. Among these phrases were “BRB,” “right this way,” and “you’re gonna love this…”
Heir’s typical focus in writing is creative nonfiction. When she was working toward her B.A. in English Writing at DePauw University, her comfort zone was memoir, but she began to branch out into reviews, political commentaries, and other forms of essays as side projects. She taught literature and composition while pursuing her M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction at George Mason University. She is currently in her second year of teaching at Ithaca College.
She gave a few pieces of advice for anyone who is looking to write branded content in the beauty industry: First, read as many articles as you can, such as from publications like Vogue, Cosmo, and Allure. Secondly, try freelancing with companies you like by sending in cold pitches. This will allow you to build a portfolio, which she suggests starting to do so early on. College is the perfect time to because there often are many chances to network with other people who are already writing the content you want to write.
Heir teaches branded content writing in her Writing for the Workplace class. Students are given an assignment to create a piece like the ones she has written. Heir also invites her college roommate who helped her start her beauty writing journey to talk with the class. Ultimately, Heir believes it is always a good idea to try out different kinds of writing, and encourages her students to try writing that isn’t just narrative: “It doesn’t ever make you any less good of a writer to be able to write both.”
To learn more about Heir, her website can be found here.