When 'associate editor' just doesn't cut it

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan, 2002

WHEN 'ASSOCIATE EDITOR' JUST DOESN'T CUT IT

If your magazine duties are a little, um, unconventional-think
"cultivation editor"- you're not alone. Here are some other quirky lines
on the masthead.

 WHITNEY JOINDER

 JILLIAN AMBROZ


NAME: HEATH ROW            WHAT? "I run a reader's  network-the
TITLE: Social Capitalist   Company of  Friends. We've got about
MAGAZINE: Fast Company     42,000 readers around  the world
                           the world organizing local discussion
                           groups and problem-solving teams, and
                           and they use the magazine as a way to
                           meet other like-minded business leaders
                           within their communities. [My job is)
                           kind of like community-oriented
                           journalism meets ombudsman meets rabble
                           -rouser/community organizer."

NAME: CHRIS SIMUNEK        WHAT? "High Times has a horticultural
TITLE: Cultivation Editor  section. I'm in charge of pulling
MAGAZINE: High Times       together all the marijuana growth and
                           cultivation stories from various
                           people-how to propagate clones and what
                           sorts of lights you should use for your
                           garden. So I deal with sort of the
                           hardcore criminal elements of our
                           readership. It's funny, some of the
                           people I deal with: crackpots and
                           paranoid nut cases. But I also usually
                           use a core of writers- people who do
                           this regularly. So over the years I've
                           found stable ones and weaned off the
                           winguts."

NAME: BOB DEIERLEIN        WHAT? "I cover the trucks-the beverage
TITLE: Truck Editor        fleets. Naturally Coke, Pepsi-all of
MAGAZINES: Beverage World  the companies-have truck fleets. I
Waste Age, among others    write articles telling them how to
                           purchase [trucks) and maintain them,
                           and what's new and what isn't. I was
                           with the largest truck fleet in the
                           country for 23 years. And the Mafia
                           took them over and put them in
                           undereath- put them in the ground."

NAME: IAN BAECHT           WHAT? "We have a private kitchen with
TITLE: TLC Specialist      catering. We do breakfast and lunch for
MAGAZINE: Wired            the staff. We've been doing this for
                           five years. It's highly subsidized. We
                           ask employees to pay $2 for breakfast
                           and lunch. TLC is what we call our
                           department. What we do is not about
                           food, but about creating a space
                           where people from different departments
                           can talk about work, or not. Officially
                           I was sous chef-which is a ridiculous
                           title for my role-so I changed it to
                           TLC Specialist. It's sort of a joke,
                           but my new business card says TLC
                           Specialist. My boss calls himself
                           executive chef."