I got my big break at Cosmopolitan when I went undercover to audition as a stripper at Stringfellows nightclub, to report on what really goes on behind the scenes.

Before that, I'd started off doing the photocopying, like hundreds of others before me, when I came in on work experience. So when I saw the opportunity there I just had to pipe up.

Not surprisingly, no one else in the office would do the Stringfellows job. When I went, I had to dance around a pole for the audition - all the other girls were professional dancers, so you can imagine how embarrassed I was. I didn't get the stripper's job, but I did get to do a four-page feature spread for Cosmopolitan. And that's where it all started.

There's no such thing as a typical day here. Last week I flew to New York to interview Lenny Kravitz and stayed in a five-star hotel for three days to do a 20-minute interview. That was wow! I've had my hair cut by top stylist Nicky Clarke and gone to Venice to interview Kylie Minogue. Living in London means there's always celebrity parties, and a new bar or film opens every night.

There are great perks to the Cosmopolitan job. But there are hassles too. There's another side to the glamour. The parties are very exciting at first but you soon get bored of them. You are there representing Cosmopolitan, so you're always on the edge of the action because you are there to work, to observe and to get the gossip and latest fashion trends. But, saying that, we usually do have a giggle at all the celebrities "in real life".

My job probably appears more glamorous than it is. Most of day is spent doing research, talking to people on the telephone and tapping away on my computer.

Writing feature articles takes a lot of planning, and sometimes you could be chasing people for weeks to get the interview. For a recent feature article it took me 10 days to track down a scientist whom I needed to interview.

Then my article goes to the sub-editors who work on it further, then it comes back to me again - so the final product with the photographs and graphics is a team effort. We work well in advance - everything is really well organised. Last Monday we were planning the February edition! That gives us some flexibility.

One of my favourite articles was on the dangers of "drinking and dialling" - advising readers not to call ex-boyfriends when they are drunk, as it came be really embarrassing the next day when you remember what you've said! There was great reader response to that one.

Writing articles on sex has become like studying Spanish. I once had to read through 25 textbooks for an article advising readers on sex, but we always get a good response. I make sure that my Dad doesn't see them; my Mum thinks that they are great, as does my Granny, who just got married at the age of 75.

All of my family are Irish. I'm London-born so I'm one-generation-removed Irish but I still have close contacts with all my relatives in and around Newry and Armagh. I had a typical Irish in London upbringing and went to a convent school where all the other girls were exactly like me. We all looked Irish and it could just as easily have been a school in Cork. I studied English and Italian literature in college and freelanced for a few of the glossies before I got my break.

We are a young team at the Cosmopolitan office, and so we all hang out together at lunchtimes and some evenings. The weeks we go to press are very stressful and we could be working a 12-hour day, but other weeks are less hectic and so it all balances out.

I live outside London in Essex and get the train in every day. On the evenings when I'm not working or going to a launch or party, I usually go swimming or meet up with my friends.

In conversation with Sue Carter