Industry icon Jean Turner joins the Dirt Bike crew. Life sure has a funny way of bringing things full circle when you least expect it. It was over 20 years ago now that I first sat in my cubicle in the Primedia building on Wilshire, the proud new Online Editor at my favorite motorcycle magazine. One year out of college and I had “made it!” I had business cards and everything! My early years in the powersports industry were interesting to say the least, full of ups and downs, incredible opportunities and some hard lessons learned. The subsequent two decades were even more wild as my career path wove its way through different publications, evolved with the economic downturn, PR, marketing, agency work, copywriting, copy editing, COVID years, back to editorial, freelance, photography, video, influencing, international clients, international travel, five continents in one year, more economic ups and downs… It’s been quite a ride.
At this time last year I thought my wild ride had calmed down. I had pulled onto the highway and was about to hit cruise control, but it wasn’t to be. Orange cones and a big “Detour” sign put me off at the next exit. Where to now? The last six months have been a bit rocky, getting back to freelance work, seeking new clients and opportunities and for the first time in years, not having any idea where I might find the next path. Fortunately, the path found me (or at least Ron Lawson and Mark Tilley did). It’s a familiar path—or should I say single–track… I’m proud to announce I’m back in editorial as the new Associate Editor at Dirt Bike Magazine.
I feel blessed to have experienced the publishing empire back when magazines were king. I came in at the tail end of the glory days of print (early ’00s). The books gave way to websites. Web gave way to social media. Social media gave way to influencers, ad dollars went the way of Google… it all went pear-shaped. My aspirations of ever returning to a print publication grew slimmer as the odds whittled away. But lo and behold, the job I would have killed for ten years ago has landed back in my lap.
I look forward to twisting a lot more throttles, packing more bags, pressing more shutters, long hours at the keyboard, and panicking about deadlines and word counts. It’s incredible to be back where my moto-head aspirations began. To have a second go at the dream job still feels a little surreal. The dynamics have changed a lot (right now looking at a “Rewrite with AI” prompt on my screen… but that’s a different can of worms) and the demands of the job have only grown. I’m already worrying if I’m too old for this $#!t, but the malignant optimist in my head says I’ve been ready for this for 20 years. Let’s GOOOO!!
