Creator Mag.1: A Letter From The Editor
What most of my days (and nights) have looked like for the last four months
This letter is part of our first edition of Creator Mag. To read the rest of the magazine, click here.
I recently talked with one of my best friends and roommates from college. We talked on the phone for over an hour, but about thirty minutes in, he asked me a rather direct question: So, like, what are you doing right now?
The funny thing is, I’ve visited that friend multiple times, but I rarely talked about what I was cooking up with Creator Mag. Therefore, he was rightfully confused when I tweeted out the cover two days before it was set to come out.
There’s several reasons I kept it mostly under the radar over the last several months. For one, this thing has been an idea for so long that I was never really sure if it would come together. On the topic of turning things into a reality, the Godfather of Modern-Day Creators has this to say:
“Ideas are cheap....Everybody has ideas. Ideas are highly, highly overvalued. Execution is all that matters.”
Another reason — four months ago, I didn’t really know what I was gonna do with my life. I graduated from college in March, then proceeded to work a job that didn’t make me feel valued, lost as I moved on from the place I called home for the last four years. Luckily, I landed on my feet, working for a friend’s startup while moving into an apartment in Chicago, yet these marginal gains were a far cry from putting an entire magazine together.
Nevertheless, slowly but surely in the fall, I gained a lot of confidence back in myself, the type of confidence that had helped boost my original online publication I started when I was just a teenager. By the time I turned 21, I had published over 200 articles and interviewed creators, athletes, and entrepreneurs on my podcast — while also launching a parody debate series called The Hot Takes Show. I won awards, pitched for money, and even ended up on the other side of the mic getting interviewed.
Yet the last two years of college were really difficult to me as I struggled to define purpose in my life. The pandemic certainly didn’t make things easier for my peers and I, either; graduating after a year-and-a-half of isolation and constant anxiety about the future isn’t exactly something to write home about.
But I came out the other end stronger, and it was really powerful for me personally when I said as much out loud for the first time back in November. I have the most incredible support system in the world, from a family I cherish to a girlfriend I love. And while I used to find it tacky when people posted things saying “they couldn’t have done it without their friends and family,” I truly believe that when it comes to finding happiness for myself, I know I’m surrounded by the right people, regardless of where my professional career takes me.
And yes, I couldn’t have done it without my friends and family behind me.
That’s why this season is dubbed Transitions. Our third video essay serves as the emotional core of this overarching narrative, as many of my peers and I are at a stage where we’re going through rapid changes in our life. I wanted to showcase how, at the end of the day, we’re all running our own races while trying to figure this whole life thing out, and there’s no one right way to go about it.
On top of that, however, the meaning of Powder Blue has transitioned, from that original publication I started in high school to a “world-building” agency that works with creators to drop products and build things that last. Plus, Creator Mag has become really real, really quickly: I landed our first sponsor in October, along with some really exciting cover stories for our second edition in March.
Regardless of monetization, though…why a Creator Mag? Well, as someone who’s been creating things — and following the space — for a good chunk of my life, I always found it strange that there wasn’t much coverage. Creators like Mr. Beast draw in viewership numbers comparable to that of Sunday Night Football…every single day. Backed by venture capital, founders are building emerging technologies in the space, which is now valued at $104 billion. And in 2019, YouTube’s Partner Program contributed roughly $16 billion to U.S. GDP alone, the equivalent of 345,000 full-time jobs.
The mag started simply as an idea I wanted to see exist, then turned into a way to network, then turned into marketing for the agency side of Powder Blue, before ultimately becoming real, original IP in of itself. I was always striving to make the final product solid; after all, if you’ve been following my journey over the last several years, you’ll know that I’m really passionate about longform storytelling. And yet I couldn’t be happier with how the last four months have played out, and this weird, crazy journey I’ve embarked on — even if a day off sounds nice right about now.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. If you’re reading this, it means the online version of our first Creator Mag is up and ready to read on our website, and you can now pre-order a physical copy, too! Also, we dropped some new Powder Blue merch inspired by Season 1—our shop is now live, so make sure to browse (and purchase) the mag and merch for a limited time here. All proceeds will be used towards producing our content moving forward (including paying for plane tickets, freelancers, and more), so your support truly means the world to us.
To conclude, I wanted to thank Mateo Price for trusting me to share his story; Alec Ellin and Laylo for believing in me and sponsoring the mag; and the friends, family, and fans who have shown me so much support over these last five weeks (and beyond).
You all truly mean the world to me. And I can’t wait to show you what I have in store for 2022.
Coverage from Creator Mag.1 continues on! Plus, follow along with NGL’s work on Twitter here.