10 lessons learned from pitching, reporting, and writing my new Teen Vogue story

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May 02, 2025

I’m sending this week’s newsletter post from Massachusetts, where I delivered a talk yesterday at the Multi-Service Eating Disorders’ national conference. Titled “Inclusive Healing: Exploring ‘the Middle Place’ of Eating Disorder Recovery,” the talk explored the middle place between acute sickness and full recovery and the importance of giving a voice to the many people who inhabit this gray space.

Fortuitously, my first-ever freelance article for Teen Vogue was published right as I was ending my talk. The piece looks at AI’s role in therapy and mental health support, with a focus on those struggling with disordered eating or eating disorders.

It’s a deeply reported piece that explores the possibilities and pitfalls of AI, with a recognition that it’s neither all good nor all bad. And it’s a change of pace from the reported personal essays that I typically write. I debated whether or not to include myself in the story, but I ultimately wanted it to focus on others who have more direct experience using AI. My lived experience with anorexia informed my thinking around the piece, but it didn’t need to be in the piece.

I learned a lot during the reporting and writing process and am sharing 10 related tips below. They’ll be especially helpful for those of you who are journalists, or who want to break into freelance writing.

1.) Be open to PR pitches.

This story originated with a pitch from a PR professional who went to college with me. The company she works for, Graphika, had come out with a new report looking at how people with eating disorders are turning to AI character chatbots to create “anorexia coaches” that encourage them to engage in extreme disordered eating behaviors through demeaning rhetoric.

As someone who has lived experience with anorexia, I thought there could be potential to write a story highlighting the ills of character chatbots, so I followed up on the pitch and interviewed the report’s lead author.

The PR pro had reached out to me because she knows I write a lot about eating disorders. The more you establish yourself as a writer on a specific topic, the more likely you are to get pitched on related stories. The pitch I got was the best type you could hope for: it provided a nice level of detail, and above all else, it was personalized. The best pitches feel like they were written just for you, even if you were one of many people pitched.

2.) Consider your target audience when pitching.

As I thought about the key audience for the piece, teenagers came to mind. I’ve always wanted to write for Teen Vogue, so I reached out to the editor of the Identity section and made my pitch. I didn’t know the editor, and I had never before written for Teen Vogue (let alone a magazine), so I wasn’t sure how she would respond.

A week later, she got back to me to say she was interested and wanted me to pursue the story. It was a reminder that it never hurts to aim for what may feel like “reach” publications — ones you’ve never written for before but want to be published in. It’s hard to land freelance pieces these days, but all it takes is one “yes.” If you get a series of no’s, keep trying, or revisit your pitch to see if you can strengthen it — by being more specific about the reporting you’ll do, sharpening the focus, or finding a stronger news-peg. (I shared more specific pitching tips in this previous Write at the Edge post.)

3.) Check your biases.

As a journalism professor, I don’t allow my students to use AI for writing purposes, and I won’t use it for my own writing. I know that it can be an incredibly helpful tool, but I cringe whenever I hear people talk about frequently using it as a replacement for original writing.

As journalists — as humans — we all have biases and can’t pretend that we don’t. The important thing is to acknowledge these biases before reporting and writing a story so that you can challenge them and be open to considering different perspectives.

I had to check my own biases early on and keep an open mind during the reporting process. I went into my reporting wanting to be challenged and surprised and wanting to learn something new. That’s one of the beauties of reporting; it’s a process of discovery that helps us grow as writers — and as people.

4.) If you feel like giving up on a story, keep believing in it.

Shortly after getting the green light to pursue the Teen Vogue story, I started to worry. I didn’t want the piece to unintentionally offer tips on how to use character chatbots in harmful ways, and I didn’t want it to read like a “guidebook” for people with eating disorders. I was also frankly a little worried about exploring these communities myself; I knew that if I were writing a story primarily focused on harmful chatbots, I would need to check them out to get a better understanding of how they work.

At one point I told my husband: “I don’t know if I can write this story without causing undue harm to myself and others.” I was saying this as someone who writes pieces intended to help the eating disorder community and who is sensitive to any language or messaging that could prove toxic.

By the end of the conversation with my husband, I decided I needed to do two things: 1.) Do more reading and reporting on AI’s role in mental health to understand it better, and 2.) Be open to where my reporting took me.

5.) Read as much as you can about the topic.

Before reporting, I read about 20 articles and research papers on AI’s role in mental health. I wanted to get a better understanding of the topic as a whole, and I wanted to find nuance. It was important, I reasoned, to look for reading material that would highlight not just the pitfalls of AI but also the possibilities.

As I read, I jotted down the names of potential sources to interview. And I highlighted passages, findings, and quotes that I would want to ask about if I got the chance to interview these sources. In doing this preliminary research (or “pre-reporting,” as we say in journalism), I learned about researchers who are developing AI chatbots aimed at helping people move forward in their eating disorder recovery. I loved stumbling upon research that was strength-based, partly because it challenged my initial biases.

I also read several Teen Vogue stories to better understand the voice of the publication. We all have our own voices as writers, but publications also have a collective voice. Put differently, it’s important to understand what the choir sounds like so that you can figure out how to be part of it and stand out as a soloist.

6.) Use reporting as an avenue for growth and understanding.

I interviewed 13 people for this story, including teenagers, clinicians, and researchers. I’m not used to interviewing teenagers, so I turned to social media and also mentioned the story idea to a student who I thought might know of peers who would be willing to chat.

I also interviewed an eating disorder psychologist who talked about the barriers to traditional eating disorder care, researchers who are developing recovery chatbots for those with eating disorders, and a psychologist who is developing a specialized chatbot to help primary care providers assess and screen patients for suicide risk and who’s writing an American Psychological Association guidebook on putting AI into practice. Every interview taught me something new and deepened my thinking around how to approach the story with care.

7.) Be transparent with sources (especially teens).

I didn’t end up including all 13 sources in my stories, partly due to space constraints but also due to the reality that not every source fits in every story. I tried to be transparent about this with my sources, especially my teenage ones who seemed excited to be interviewed for a Teen Vogue story.

I always tell my sources something along the lines of: “I’m not yet sure how the story will pan out, or who I’ll include. But every interview I do expands my scope of understanding, and I’m grateful to have learned from you.” Ultimately, every interview matters, even if it doesn’t end up appearing in the story or only ends up being a tiny part of it.

8.) Remember that your idea may evolve.

As I did my reporting, I realized that the story was going to be less about harmful character chatbots and more about how teenagers are using AI for mental health support and eating disorder recovery — and how clinicians are responding. I still included the report that I had initially framed my pitch around, but it ended up being part of the story instead of the whole story.

As I tell my students, “pitches are living, breathing documents that are subject to change.” It’s important to be open to changes — and to communicate them with your editor. I gave my editor a heads up about the shift a few days before sharing my story with her so that she wouldn’t be caught off-guard. If time is on your side, you can share the news even sooner. This communication is important, especially when writing your first piece for a publication.

9.) Be open to edits and fact-checks.

It’s important to be open to edits and fact-checks, which will help make your story better. Be ready to share interview transcripts and answer related questions. So long as your reporting is iron-clad and accurate, you’ll be fine. And if you’ve done your own fact-checking prior to submitting your piece, you’ll be in even better shape. I always highlight names and facts in my story as a visual reminder to double and triple check these details.

During the editing process, realize you may need to part with passages that you like. Most of the time, it probably makes sense to part with them. But in instances when it doesn’t, or if there are other edits you don’t agree with, have a conversation about it. So long as you’re not disagreeing with every edit, editors are typically open to considering your feedback. Approach every writer/editor interaction with a spirit of collaboration.

10.) Ask to see the final version.

I always ask to see the final version of a story before it gets published. It gives me peace of mind to give it one final read and to ensure that all of the necessary edits were made. I also ask to see the headline and subhead to make sure they accurately reflect the story. This is especially important when writing about sensitive topics, including mental health and eating disorder recovery.

Whenever possible, I also like to see which photos will accompany a story. I try to discourage the use of stereotypical eating disorder images — such as stock photos of scales, measuring tapes, or emaciated bodies. Such images don’t do anything to advance the storyline and are usually more harmful than helpful.

Fortunately, Teen Vogue did a great job selecting a headline and images — and the overall story ended up being one I could be proud of.

Questions? Thoughts? Please feel free to share them in the comments section. I’d love to hear from you!

Write at the Edge