Culture Snack Magazine
Culture Snack Magazine started as a love letter to my hometown of Norfolk, VA. It quickly evolved into a cultural hub in the Hampton Roads region that ran for two years while I was in college.
Culture Snack Magazine was a free quarterly publication distributed throughout the 757 area code. We covered food, art, music, and general cultural happenings. It started small at first as a picture I had literally drawn on a sticky note and a list of interviews that I had intended on getting. The region was in the beginning stage of a cultural evolution, with lots of interesting businesses, restaurants, and artists springing up from what seemed like nowhere. I just so happened to be in the right place at the right time, so there was a lot of interest in what I was doing and it grew quickly.
Early on I had hooked up with an ambitious alcohol rep that wanted to help promote Brugal Rum and Cutty Sark Scotch Whiskey, which had just undergone a re-brand in the hopes that they could target a younger demographic. I secured a deal with the parent company of the two brands for advertising in four issues of the magazine, which basically paid for all of the issues that I put out over the two years that Culture Snack Magazine was running. Every cent I made after that was put towards paying rent while I was in school.
To help me produce the magazine I enlisted the help of my then girlfriend and now fiance. I also pulled together a team of writing and photography interns that were looking for a place to get published work for their portfolios and grow as artists. Managing those relationships in addition to advertisers, my printer, my distributors, and my school work was a huge challenge, but it taught me discipline and time management skills that have served me well to this day.
Other skills I developed along the way…
Event planning
Sales
Negotiation
Writing
Photography
Interviewing
and Graphic Design
Below are the covers of my two most favorite issues and an ad I designed for Cutty Sark when their ad agency was running behind on our print deadline.
