Articles
One of the most gratifying aspects of reporting is being able to meet inspiring people and learn what makes them tick. In writing this June 2020 cover feature for American Banker magazine, it was fascinating to piece together the trajectory of a twenty-something tech-savvy marketing consultant whose efforts helped turn around a troubled community bank under regulatory scrutiny.
As senior editor at Road & Track Magazine, I was in charge of the back of the book, called The Boot (British speak for “the trunk” of a car). This was in addition to helping edit and oversee the rest of the magazine. It was thought of as a “magazine within a magazine,” with its own cover page and unique content.
Writing about Porsches can be intimidating—they are so hallowed. Writing a test drive of one for Road & Track magazine all the more so. R&T prides itself on being the definitive driver’s magazine, so there is a lot of pressure to get things just right. This requires a high level of technical expertise not just on the cars themselves, but on how they drive.
This profile was part of a large feature package called The Dreamers. It ran in the November 2017 issue of Road & Track and focused on key visionaries and disruptors doing truly innovative things. Mate Rimac’s story is fascinating—from an anonymous Albanian teenager winning science fair projects to the founder and CEO of one of the leading electric-car manufacturers in the world.
This test drive of the Lexus LS ran in the Dec. 2017/Jan. 2018 issue of Road & Track. The car is a monumental one for the Japanese luxury brand. Its design celebrates Japanese craftsmanship with artful styling cues.
White papers and custom publishing content are usually so dry that they compel us to stop reading. That’s why my goal for massive projects such as this one, which I undertook for Forbes Insights, was to apply key feature-writing techniques that make the copy digestible and, dare I say, compelling with a good flow.