As a journalism student, Cole Louison ’00 wrote for the Ithacan, helped found the independent student-run magazine Buzzsaw Haircut (now Buzzsaw), and freelanced for the Ithaca Journal. Since graduating, Louison worked for a small newspaper in Martha’s Vineyard and temped at different magazines in New York City (mainly answering phones, he says), until eventually landing a job at McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, a literary journal, and then GQ, plus freelancing for other publications.

In April Louison visited campus to talk about his career. Networking, he says, has been key to his success. “The magazine world is fairly small,” he says. He encouraged students to write as much as possible and enjoy the time they spend learning. Of his own career as a writer, he says, “There have been some bumps along the way. There will be more. But that feeling [of making connections with people] is still there, so I’m still here.”