How did I get in Seventeen?

I’ve received a lot of questions lately on how I actually got into Seventeen magazine. Many people assume I submitted my story and they chose mine, which is not what happened.

One night as I was getting ready for bed, I checked my facebook and noticed I had a message from someone I didn’t know. I checked the message and as I started reading, this is what it said:

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Hey, Nicole--

I'm Jess, one of the editors at Seventeen Magazine in NY. I know it may seem sketchy to get a message from someone claiming to work at Seventeen, but I promise I'm legit--you can see my name and articles in any issue of the magazine.

Anyway, I'm writing an article about driving-while-texting, and I'm looking to interview a girl (over the phone) who totaled her car driving-while-texting--would you be interested in finding out more about my article, so that you can decide if you'd want to be interviewed for it?

If so, please just let me know the best phone # to reach you at, and I'll give you a call asap.

I'll hope to hear from you as soon as possible (unfortunately, I'm on a tight deadline), and I appreciate you considering my message.

Thanks a lot,
Jess
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After reading this message, I totally thought it was a scam. I thought, there is no way someone found out about my story from Seventeen, how did they even know how to get a hold of me?

Long story short… Seventeen magazine, from what I understand, was asking people all over facebook if anybody knew a girl my age that had totaled their car from texting. I have absolutely no idea who told them I did, but whoever did told them my name and what network to find me on.

To this day it is still a mystery who told Seventeen about me, and I wish somebody would tell me! But regardless, I got in the magazine. They loved my story because I mentioned I had an iphone, which is now one of the most popular cell phones people have. They thought it was important people understood the danger in not only cell phones, but touch screen cell phones, where you can’t feel the buttons you are pressing.

Anyways, I just thought I would confirm that I did not go to Seventeen begging them to put my story in their magazine. If it wasn’t for Seventeen, I would have never thought to get my message out to people. To be honest I didn’t think much of it until they interviewed me over the phone, that made me realize what I stupid thing I had done. After realizing how stupid, it was eye opening to how many people do text and drive.

So a huge shout out to everyone at Seventeen. I couldn’t be where I am today without you all.