Tavi Gevinson | Interview outtakes

Tavi Gevinson

Tavi Gevinson

Tavi Gevinson, the 16-year-old Oak Park resident who, at age 11, became an Internet sensation with her fashion blog The Style Rookie, is now busy being the sensational editor-in-chief of Rookie, a website for teenage girls. She started the online publication in September 2011 out of a desire for a Generation Y version of Sassy magazine. One year later, it has established its own distinctive voice, as well as a seriously devout fan base. (The comments section below most articles brims with lively conversation, all-caps adulation and heart emoticons.)

I recently interviewed Tavi about Rookie Yearbook One, a print anthology of the website's inaugural year. Here's more from our conversation, in which the high school junior discusses great expectations, glitter-specific criticism (Rookie gets that too) and world domination.

Looking back on your first year of editing Rookie, what would you say has been one of the more rewarding things?

This summer was really amazing because we got to do this road trip with Urban Outfitters. We got to go to 16 cities and meet our readers and hang out with them. Once we got to Los Angeles, we were able to create an art installation that included souvenirs girls had brought us from their own rooms and memories on the road. It was very surreal. I feel like for a couple years I had all these interests that I was so obsessed with, sometimes in a very isolating way, and then they went into Rookie and now they're real. The installation was such a solid manifestation of everything I've liked in the past few years.