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Aimee Malone’s pet peeve has always been when people use the wrong words and punctuation—a sign that she was destined to be a copy editor even as a high school student.

“I was one of those people in high school who’d mark up everyone else’s papers in English class and get dirty looks for it,” Malone said. “I like writing, and I like fixing things.”

When she came to Iowa State, her first major was political science; however, she realized she did not really enjoy politics and government and switched to journalism.

Malone’s most beneficial experience at Greenlee was working as a copy editor for the Iowa State Daily for her last three semesters of school. She was eventually promoted to copy chief during her senior year.

“Any experience you can get while you’re in college helps,” Malone said. “I know it’s a pain trying to fit it all in with classes and work, but having experience and good references were what got me my job.”

A lot of her Daily experiences were similar to her responsibilities and expectations at the copy editing position she landed at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette immediately following her graduation in 2013.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the state’s largest newspaper, is one of the few remaining statewide newspapers in the United States, according to its website. Malone’s favorite part of her job is that the type of content she sees changes every day.

“You’ve got similar stories running every single day, but there’s always something different going on,” Malone said.

Malone also likes working the wires on the copy desk, because she said it’s fun to get to decide what goes in the paper. Malone works 4 to 12 p.m. most nights.

“I’ve always been a night owl, so it wasn’t too hard to adjust,” said Malone. “The hours are about the same as I had to work at the Daily, but the best part is not having to wake up early the next morning to work at my other job and go to class like in college.”

In terms of her future career goals, Malone wants to stick with editing, but she hopes to eventually get the chance to work for a book publishing company and to continue to travel.