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Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb 1, 2003

Byline: THE 'FOLIO:' STAFF

COME SAIL AWAY

KIM KAVIN EXECUTIVE EDITOR, YACHTING

With her travel itinerary, you'd think Kim Kavin was a multimillionaire bon vivant. In the past year, she's taken yachts - typically booked for $25,000 to $250,000 a week - to locales including the Caribbean, Maui, and Spain's Balearic Isles. "I was very lucky when my editor-in-chief assigned me to this beat," she says. Indeed.

Kavin doesn't just vacation for a living; she writes about the best custom holidays money can buy. "When you charter a yacht, you're getting this fantastic vacation - whatever you want it to be," she says. She's gone on trips ranging from a Raiders of the Lost Ark-type jungle expedition to a more glamorous, less adventurous cruise on a yacht with gold-plated handrails: "My job is to go out and explain what makes the boat and the destination unique." She's not always sitting in a Jacuzzi of a 171-foot yacht, Kavin insists. But her work does take her to places she could never afford otherwise: "A lot of these trips cost more than my first house." - STP

COMPENSATION: No comment.

DOWNSIDE: "Believe it or not, I get a little seasick."

UNEXPECTED PERK: Gets to take a guest along for the ride.

WORKWEEK: When she hasn't set sail, 40 hours.

THE SPORTING LIFE

CHRISTINE ROSA DIRECTOR OF ATHLETE AND TEAM RELATIONS, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Christine Rosa is no starry-eyed sports fanatic. Sure, she was invited to Muhammad Ali's daughter's birthday party. And she's been a guest at the home of the Giants' star sack artist, Michael Strahan. But those are simply testaments to how good she is at her job.

Rosa is responsible for wrangling superstar athletes. She books them for the Sports Illustrated brand - guest spots that include everything from the magazine's pre-Super Bowl party to events with top advertisers. But when she was up for this job, Rosa says she was the least athletic, least starstruck of all the applicants - qualities that apparently landed her the job. (She began at Time Inc. 18 years ago, answering phones at Life, before shifting over to SI to manage events.)

Rosa has since become friends with Ali and Strahan as well as with Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, and countless others who would make any sports fan swoon with envy. But she remains all-business when it comes to negotiating appearance fees: "My goal is to get the best possible person and come in under budget." - ML

COMPENSATION: "Traveling the world and gaining new friends? That's priceless."

DOWNSIDE: No complaints "about going to the Olympics in Australia for six weeks."

UNEXPECTED PERK: All the bobbleheads you can carry.

WORKWEEK: "Forget about 9 to 5. It doesn't exist!"

GO, SPEED EDITOR, GO

KIM WOLFKILL ONLINE SERVICES EDITOR, ROAD & TRACK

Kim Wolfkill has found the perfect job to satisfy his high-velocity personality. Not only does he get to test drive new hot rods for Road & Track and its Web site, but he also gets to race them.

Wolfkill - who has raced professionally at the Daytona 24 Hour, the American Le Mans Series, and the Speedvision World Challenge - is the magazine's unofficial staff racer. He spends the summer months (prime racing season) out on the tracks as a participant, turning his experiences into features. "The team gets coverage, the reader gets an education, and I get to go racing," he says.

Being part of R&T means Wolfkill does not have to lay out the cash it normally takes to finance this high-priced pursuit. (Races like the Daytona 24 Hour cost $50,000 per driver.) "Racing is hugely expensive; the only way to do it is to be independently wealthy or get sponsorship," he says. "Working at the magazine has enabled me to do more of them." - STP

COMPENSATION: "Can't completely 'go professional' based on what I make."

DOWNSIDE: "Too much travel is hard on the family."

UNEXPECTED PERK: Job fulfills the need for speed, thereby reducing speeding ticket potential.

WORKWEEK: 40 hours, except during racing season.

BEACH BOY

SAM GEORGE EDITOR, SURFER

If a monster wave breaks anywhere in the world, Sam George knows about it. As editor of Surfer, based in Dana Point, California, he spends every workday writing copy and catching waves. "Some people love their work," he says, "but it's even more fortunate when, essentially, you are your work. What I do here is who I am, and that's a wonderful state of affairs."

This job was a matter of destiny, says George. In high school, a guidance counselor once told him he'd end up "barefoot, sitting under palm trees writing poetry." After he started writing for surfing magazines in 1983 (the 46-year-old has been with Surfer for 10 years), he sent that counselor a copy of his paycheck. "I told him, 'I'm barefoot and sitting under palm trees. And I get paid for it!'" - STP

COMPENSATION: "I'm wearing flip-flops. This afternoon I'm going surfing. You can't put a price on that sort of freedom."

DOWNSIDE: "Occasionally having to miss good surf because you have a deadline."

UNEXPECTED PERK: "I've never used a single day of vacation time since I've worked here. This is a vacation."