How did your education at Flagler College prepare you for your current career and professional journey?
In my final semester in the Sport Management department, we had to do a 40-hour-a-week internship for our final 12 credits. I landed a full-time internship with Transworld Surf Magazine in San Diego and moved out there for my last semester. I worked for 40 hours a week for free, finished the internship, graduated, and was offered a full-time role with them.
Back then, free internships in media were the norm, but mine was extreme. It worked out, though, and it helped give me a solid base of learning and experience that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
What inspired you to move to the New York City metropolitan area (NYC), and how did your journey lead you there?
I grew up in South Jersey, so I’ve always been in the area. I knew that to work in media like I wanted to, I’d eventually end up in the city. After moving back from working at a surf magazine in California, it took me about a year to land a media job in NYC (through a former colleague in California).
What is your current role, and how has working for Hearst in NYC contributed to your professional success?
I am currently the Senior Gear and Commerce Editor at Men’s Health, though I just started in this role in September.
I see it as finally getting my foot in the door at a large media company, something I had not done in my career. I feel I've hit another peak in my career that I had been trying to reach for so long.
What advice would you give to Flagler students who are considering starting their careers in NYC?
Learn how to live with roommates. My wife and I bought a home in South Jersey in the fall of 2021, and until this April, I was working fully remotely for Gear Patrol. After the company had a round of major layoffs, I had to reassess and knew I’d be commuting back into NYC. Being able to afford to live there nowadays is so much more difficult, and it’s just tough to make it work without multiple incomes sharing a lease.
Can you describe a turning point in your career that was influenced by living and working in NYC?
Landing a job at a big-time publication like Gear Patrol (this was 2018). I left the job I moved to NYC for in 2016 to do freelance writing and editing. It wasn't easy, and I struggled to pay the bills. So, getting on the staff at a media company I admired and was on the up-and-up was a turning point. My growth was pretty exponential there for a while.
How has living in NYC impacted your ability to build and leverage professional networks?
Building a professional network in NYC is easier, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy by any stretch. Leveraging that network for the right opportunities is tough because everything is so competitive in NYC that you need that “in” to get a meeting. Keeping in touch and getting together with people you’ve worked with along the way is crucial to growing that network.
What are some unexpected challenges you faced when you first moved to NYC, and how did you overcome them?
NYC is very much a city with lots of distractions. If you aren’t focused and don’t have routines, it’s very easy to slack off and go down the road of those distractions. Getting caught up in those dynamics can make excelling at work challenging.
How do you balance work and personal life in a city as dynamic as NYC?
It’s important to have a good work-life balance on both ends. It’s just as easy to stay out till sunrise any night of the week as it is to stay in the office working away till 10 at night. My problem has always been working too long and staying in the office way too late. Making plans and forcing myself outside the office was always crucial.
What are your favorite aspects of living in NYC, both professionally and personally?
These days, I’m really just doing my long days in the office three days a week and then back on the bus home after each day. But I miss being able to get together with friends on a whim. Walking everywhere is one thing I still enjoy every day in the city for work. I try my hardest not to get on the subway unless I absolutely have to.