Goodbye

It's been a while everyone...

Almost two weeks ago, Gourmet magazine folded. The news was shocking.

I had been home in Atlanta for the weekend for the UGA vs. LSU game (which was hideous by the way.) My flight back to NYC was early Monday morning. I completely passed out for the entire flight. As the plane made it's landing at LaGuardia airport, I reached for my phone and turned it on, expecting no messages as it was still early.

There was one message from my roommate: "Gourmet folded."

I gasped. There had been talk since January of this year that the magazine might fold, but it's the publishing world. Rumors fly like wild fire, and so many times those rumors bare no truth.

My roommate and I met when I worked at Gourmet. It was an incredible first job. As I processed the news, my memory flashed to the two years of my life that I spent at Gourmet.

A lump in my throat grew and as I swallowed back tears, I thought of my interview. Three years ago this passed August I arrived in NYC ready to work in the magazine world. I had an interview with David Gaspin who at the time was with HR at Conde Nast. I had met David in February of '06 when I came to NY for "informational interviews" in which I attempted to get my name out into the publishing world. David and I spoke about an opportunity at Gourmet magazine. I was immediately interested. after all, I'm a self proclaimed foodie. He sent me over to interview with Susan Keena, the Advertising Director. The interview was great, so she passed me along to Tom Hartman, the Associate Publisher.

Tom was terrifying. He kept me waiting in the Gourmet conference room for 45 minutes. When I finally sat down with him, he took one look at my resume and said, "Hebrew. Hmm. You speak Hebrew?" Then, silence.

A few moments later, without looking up from my resume he asked, "How are you at Excel?"

"I'm great at Excel!" I lied. "I took a few courses in college dealing with Excel. I'm confident with building equations and spreadsheets. I may need a refresher on a few things as it's been a year since I've used the program, but I'm really comfortable with it." Where was this all coming from? Equations?

I was relieved when Tom asked if I would be willing to take an Excel course. I can now confidently say, I'm great at Excel.

My first day at Gourmet was a whirlwind. I slicked my into a tight bun and wore a classic black suit. I put my glasses on and felt like such a professional. I would find out a year later that the art department deemed me "Lilith". It took me three months to let me hair down, literally.

My roommate Stephanie and I had too many good times while working at Gourmet together. We bonded over our love of food, long distance relationships, want to run marathons (which we did!), and our appreciation of all things awkward.

Susan Keena was my boss for a brief moment, before the Associate Publisher and my other boss was made Publisher and I moved with him to be his Executive Assistant. I will never forget my second week at work. Susan pulled me into her office, closed the door and said, "Monica, take in this moment. You are in a special place right now. This team is more than you can ever imagine and you will probably never have such an amazing experience as this again in your life." Boy was she right.

If I talked about Tom I would need 1,000 pages and unlimited words to find the right things to say. Let it be known, that Tom and I still email and speak on a regular basis. I will be forever thankful for everything he taught me. Tom Hartman will forever hold a piece of my heart that no one will ever be able to take.

Working with Ruth Reichl was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Her name was thrown around in my home for years, so when I got the job at Gourmet, my father was beyond ecstatic. At least once a week during my time at Gourmet my mother would ask, "How's Ruth? Did you speak to her today?" I didn't have the heart to tell my mom that I usually did not speak to Ruth. However, when I did she was warm, kind and had the most soothing voice I've ever heard. For the holidays one year I had Ruth sign a cookbook for my mom and dad. In it, she wrote a beautiful message to my parents about me. I would never be able to express to Ruth how much that meant to my parents.

Gourmet was a moment time. I'm so lucky that I got to be a part of such an incredible magazine and work with such an astonishing group of talented people.