In Conversation with Carrie Berk: Writing, Love, and Lessons from a Published Author

By Mary Routh

Published author, social media influencer, and Fordham senior Carrie Berk spoke to Professor Reich’s “Writing for Digital Spaces” class last week about her relationship with writing and where she hopes to take her career.

A football enthusiast and avid runner, Carrie Berk studies journalism with a minor in Fashion Studies at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. She always wanted to pursue journalism and tell other people's stories, so when she discovered the reputation of Fordham’s journalism program and realized she could incorporate her interest in fashion, she saw that Fordham could be a great fit. 

A constant in her life, writing has enabled Carrie to combine her passions with her professional interests. By age 16, she had written a series of personal essays that served as a form of self-therapy while navigating high school. A few years later, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, she revisited these essays with the idea of turning them into a book. She released My Real Life Rom-Com: How to Build Confidence and Write Your Own Relationship Rules on September 19th, describing the lessons she learned about dating, love, and self-confidence as a teenage girl. 

For her book, Carrie aimed to present an honest and detailed account of heartbreak devoid of clichés. Writing openly and vulnerably, she sought to provide her audience with tools and guidance for navigating dating rather than saying, ‘this is what you should do 100% of the time.’ She wanted to create something for teens, by a teen, rather than middle-aged ‘experts’ who produce much of today's dating literature. Carrie explained that your real-life rom-com is defined by all the experiences that shape your life, especially the lows- not the cheesy Hallmark movie moments widely portrayed in the media. 

One topic her book covers is dating during the digital age. She recounts her experiences meeting people on TikTok and dating apps through various personal anecdotes. Carrie told the class that TikTok consumed much of her time during the pandemic, something many of us can relate to, but that she readjusted her priorities after some self-reflection. Posting primarily product review videos, she has amassed 3.8 million followers on the platform. As a result of this exposure, she was introduced to the world of TikTok dating. Carrie talked to one TikToker for a few weeks before meeting him and realizing his online persona didn’t align with his in-person one. She explained how meeting people on TikTok taught her the importance of face-to-face connection. Although she expressed that it is perfectly okay to meet someone online, she communicated the importance of cultivating relationships in person. 

Carrie now views TikTok as more of a side hustle and spends much of her free time running and writing. She currently works as a freelance journalist, reporting most consistently for the New York Post. Her classes at Fordham have aided Carrie in both writing her book and advancing her journalism career. In her Fordham journalism courses, she learned in depth about tone, style, and other foundational skills that she uses to execute compelling articles for the NY Post. For one assignment, she had to produce 42 articles in a single weekend and said that a timed exercise from Professor David Joachim’s Intro to Journalism course at Fordham enabled her to accomplish this task in time. One of her articles on fashion inspired by the popular show The Summer I Turned Pretty came out this July and explored how fans can dress like their favorite characters from the show.

Carrie took the pandemic to reflect and write, completing her book in full over three years. Having authored children's books with her mom from age 8, Carrie had ample connections to the publishing industry but wanted to produce this book independently. She applied to several publishing agencies and received countless no’s before connecting with a woman who saw her vision. Because her writing process wasn’t linear and her book is comprised of essays written at different points in her life, Carrie didn’t read her book in full until this stage of the publishing process. Preparing her book for copyediting involved multiple re-reads of some of her most vulnerable work. Reliving her adolescent experiences, even through her own words, was a highly emotional component of the book’s production. 

In addition to refining the text, she had to execute her artistic vision for the book’s cover image. While planning the cover, she met Nigel Barker from America’s Next Top Model at an event and later contacted him on Instagram about shooting it. He enthusiastically agreed, and together, they deliberated between different ideas and took several shots from which Carrie ultimately selected her favorite. She told the class that seeing all of the props for the cover shoot laid out in the studio made her both emotional and incredibly grateful because it caused the reality of her book to set in. 

She felt overwhelmed with joy and support during her launch party, but the book tour became emotionally draining. She made several television appearances during the tour, where she spoke about difficult parts of her book, such as the concluding chapter on anxiety. Having non-stop public-facing conversations about intimate details of her life quickly began to wear her out. Interview after interview, she verbally rehashed parts of her life that she only felt comfortable writing about. She explained to the class that she processes her emotions through writing, not talking, and didn’t anticipate how draining conversations about her own book could be. As for many writers, the pandemic created space for Carrie to dedicate more time to writing and working through her emotions. 

She spoke to the class about the importance of work-life balance and her efforts to prevent burnout, such as having a daily routine with dedicated personal time. She tries to consistently ask herself, “What will make me happy today?”. Luckily for Carrie, writing brings her a lot of joy.

Carrie ended our conversation with some pieces of advice that I’d like to share with you: 

Don't be afraid to waste your time for the sake of finding someone that you want.

Go for it, but be ready to fail along the way. 

No matter your resume, you will get a million rejections.

Let your past experiences inform your present.

It's important to stay grounded, especially when you’re busy.

The class asked Carrie about her plans to write another book, and she told us that she doesn’t plan to produce another book in a similar vein. She explained that this one served its purpose and intends to keep her future personal writing private. Carrie articulated, “Whatever is to come in the future is unwritten, and I want to keep it that way.”