Creator Mag.2: A Letter From The Editor
This letter is part of our second edition of Creator Mag. To read the rest of the magazine, click here.
“Life is ridiculous, so why not be a good guy?” — Harold Ramis
Every once in a while, I’ll have one of those days where I sit back and reflect on a productive day, thinking to myself, Dang, this is why I do what I do.
Sometimes, those days can feel few and far between. But when they do come back around, ablaze in triumphant glory, they work overtime to put all of my doubts and insecurities to rest.
February 18th was one of those days, as I walked around Lower Manhattan, taking it all in with a mild-mannered Midwesterner who’d moved there only a week prior.
I grew up visiting New York about once a year, though attending events at Madison Square Garden hardly prepares you to navigate around the city. So here I was, flipping between Google Maps and notes I’d typed out on my phone, all while trying to record audio and avoid bumping into any pedestrians.
And I was loving every second of it.
My interview with Dylan only ran about two hours before we took the subway back up to his apartment and said our goodbyes. Yet it felt like it lasted so much longer than that. Here we were, on a Friday afternoon, welcoming in 50-degree weather and basking in the collective ridiculousness of his journey.
Dylan will be the first one to let you know, too. That it’s been a ridiculous couple of years. “The [equivalent of the] entire population of New York City follows me on TikTok,” he told me in our first interview — which had been conducted over Zoom in November — before quietly following up to say, “plus another million people.”
Still, no one looked twice as we made our way down the street. It’s the Big Apple, after all, where everyone’s the protagonist of their own story.
You have to be a certain kind of crazy to spend your 20s editing away at your computer, clicking your mouse late into a Saturday night.
If there was ever any doubt, any open crack in the door, people will shut it for you. “I like to read, but it feels strange that you’d make a magazine about influencers when everyone else would make a YouTube channel or blog instead,” one LinkedIn DM greeted me recently. “I don’t hate your idea, but I am curious.”
Yet life is crazy, and you’ll never know what might happen next. Sometimes, it’ll take you to the first-ever TikTok ice cream shop. Other times, one of your favorite interviewers might watch your video about him, then turn around and thank you via tweet.
Moments like these live rent-free in my head. They remind me why I uploaded my first video to YouTube in 2016 and started my original publication the following year. And they encourage me to keep pushing on those long Saturday nights because, quite frankly, I simply love the magical feeling of creating things, weaving threads together in order to build evergreen worlds through my work.
What about my new friend on LinkedIn, though? He’s not wrong — most people would just make a podcast, or a blog, or a newsletter.
Which is exactly why I launched Creator Mag in the first place. The content world is crowded. In order to stand out, you need to do what others don’t.
There’s more to it than that, however. Our physical magazine is a tangible product that — between design, packaging, and collaboration — allows us to flex our creative muscles a little bit. Instead of talking about what we do, I just hand people the mag.
Additionally, executives who work with some of the world’s largest creators have told me that even they struggle attracting more traditional media (“Journalists look down on my clients,” one person told me). The first rule of entrepreneurship: identify a pain point – in this case, a lack of coverage – and solve that problem.
Finally, a modern magazine isn’t just words in print; it’s a living, breathing brand. Complex Media, one of my biggest inspirations, started as an indie streetwear mag in 2002 before evolving to digital. They then launched beloved YouTube shows, sold limited-edition apparel, and hosted massive conventions, selling for $300 million in 2021.
“Starting with distribution is the wrong way to think about it,” former Complex CEO Rich Antoniello recently told media industry newsletter People vs Algorithms. “You have to start with innovation in narrative and format.”
That’s the vision with this thing. It’s not so much that magazines themselves have never been done before; rather, it’s the fact that we’re choosing to take creators and their trade seriously by covering them. We’re telling really unique stories about the next great wave of entrepreneurs, stories that would otherwise need to be pieced together through Reddit rabbit holes and deleted Instagram posts.
We want to foster a brand that creators trust and love, collaborating with us while celebrating each other. As the creator economy goes global, we aim to build something the greater community can be proud of.
You have to begin somewhere. For us, that starting point is a magazine.
Even with these lofty ambitions, deep down, I know I have to hit the pause button every once in a while.
So it worked out perfectly that — after wrapping up with Dylan in New York—I decided to relax for the rest of the night, getting drinks with my girlfriend and some other friends. It was a rare occurrence for me, taking the time out of my schedule to go out and have fun, but it only made me appreciate the moment even more.
Not long afterwards, I messaged a friend about the experience that night, writing, “One day at a time, one mag at a time, one story at a time…really just the only way to approach it. Along with treating people with respect, of course — you never know how important relationships might be down the line!”
She responded the next day: “Love it, dude! I’m the exact same way. My brain is in planning mode 99% of the time, but it’s always good to have those moments where we sink in & notice what’s happening around us.”
To accomplish our goals, we need to stay in the game long enough while simultaneously not losing sight of what’s truly important. That’s what this season of Creator Mag — “Welcome to World-Building” — is all about, as we analyze how creators and founders are building sustainable worlds around their unique brands.
And we’re practicing what we’re preaching, too! Our last essay sums up all of the ideas, insights, and theses presented and flips them back around, showing how we’re implementing them in our own strategy.
To conclude, I wanted to thank our interviewees for sharing their stories; Karim Noorani, Vicky Woodburn, and Mateo Price for their contributions; partners like Walker Williams at Fourthwall and Andrew Degenholtz at eMags for their support; and readers such as yourselves for showing us so much love over these last several months.
All in all, I’m excited to keep growing alongside you, seeing where this ridiculous, crazy ride takes us!
Coverage from Creator Mag.2 continues on! Plus, follow along with NGL’s work on Twitter here.