How I Became… Editor-in-Chief of Paper Magazine

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Growing up in Minnesota, where “there was no clear path made for [him] to arrive at the career [he] wanted,” Justin Moran got his first job at a coffee shop aged 15, “because making money meant that [he] could make [his] own decisions.” While working multiple jobs including on the shop floor at American Apparel, Moran secured a place at Columbia College Chicago to study fashion business with magazine journalism.

Here, Moran connected with fellow creatives in the city — “[college] was valuable for the community elements […] meeting photographers and stylists and musicians.” He became an arts and culture editor at The Columbia Chronicle, the school’s weekly student newspaper, and took on freelance journalism work at the likes of Nylon Magazine. He also completed an internship at Paper Magazine one summer — a publication then best known for its internet-breaking Kim Kardashian cover in 2014.

After graduating, Moran went on to become the content director at fashion and lifestyle brand Nicopanda, while still contributing to Paper and other publications. He then joined LGBTQ+ news platform Out magazine as their digital managing editor, before returning to Paper in 2017 as digital editor and then digital director, paving the way to take on the editor-in-chief role in 2022. Soon after his appointment, Moran steered the evolution of Paper from a print edition to an online social media-powered community platform. Though it ceased operations briefly in 2023, Paper was acquired by Street Media in June of last year, with Moran reinstated as editor-in-chief.

For the full interview, watch our LinkedIn Live, Building a Career in Fashion with Justin Moran.

How did your educational experience impact your career?

I look back on those years as a kind of tool — it’s where I built my value system and community: going out to parties; to gallery openings; to concerts; meeting creative people all over the city. Studying at Columbia College Chicago allowed me to have those experiences. I met my best friend, who is somebody that I rely on creatively still to this day.

Chicago was the middle ground to me then coming to New York. I don’t know if higher education is 100 percent critical in creative fields and, to be honest, I always joke that no one’s ever asked me where I went to school as I’ve moved through different worlds. But it was valuable for the community elements and specifically for me, learning about the queer community of Chicago, going to those parties and meeting photographers and stylists and musicians. And that, I always say, is the foundation on which I built my creative language and the way that I approach things still today, at Paper, for sure.

How did you make the most of your first editorial opportunities?

Sometimes we’re taught that we need to be experts in everything, but being focused is probably the best thing you can do as a freelancer. As an editor, when we’re thinking about assignments, we’re like, “We have an amazing hip hop artist in music, and they sort of lean into fashion — who do we know that’s an expert in that space versus just going wide?”

The best thing you can do is really have a focus on something that differentiates yourself in the freelance market. I look back and I’m grateful that I had conviction […] in the stories and subjects that I thought were interesting and really focused on those. That became what editors in New York would come to me for in Chicago.

When I was interning at Paper that summer, I really focused on nightlife and had a few viral hits that followed on specific trend pieces. The thing that caught everyone’s attention at Paper was a story that I wrote about [nightlife]. […] It was one of Paper’s biggest stories that year. And that brought a bunch of light to my head of, “Ok, I’m onto something,” and they actually gave me a trend column.

What advice would you give to someone living outside a fashion capital?

[While studying], I was an editor at a few other small magazines that no longer exist […] So, I was working on a bunch of different things at once while being remote in Chicago — [like] being the Chicago correspondent. This gave me a leg up above a lot of people […] and I’m grateful that I did four years in Chicago before coming to New York — it meant that when I got there, I was ready to go.

Anyone can talk about what’s happening on the runway, but what else is there? That’s what makes the fashion climate interesting — adding new ideas to the conversation.

We’re all on the internet, so it kind of doesn’t matter where you are. It’s maybe smarter to become a big fish in a small pond and then use the tools online to promote the work you’re doing. Especially in the 2024 media climate, we’re kind of all over the place — and it’s helpful to have more editors or writers working in more local markets.

Social media is such a powerful tool to make yourself visible and brand yourself and be singular. If you focus on that and that becomes undeniable, then the people who are sourcing talent and being smart with their hiring decisions, that’s the first place they look. When I rehired the staff at Paper under the new ownership, I looked at a lot of social media in the process. I focused on “whose work do I love online?”, [when] I didn’t necessarily know what their credentials were.

How would you advise developing your style as a junior writer?

A lot of fashion writers can fall into these cliché writing styles when they’re talking about a collection or a designer. The challenge is really digging in, […] being specific and diving deep. There are so many stories to tell — like a hyper-niche trend story that somebody’s doing in some random place — that are worth telling.

Going back to Chicago when I was an entry-level fashion writer, [my mindset was,] I want to talk about my friends who are doing cool things and give them a platform, because if I don’t do it here, who else is going to know about it? Anyone can talk about what’s happening on the runway, but what else is there? That’s what makes the fashion climate interesting — adding new ideas to the conversation.

What do you look for when interviewing junior talent?

You can tell very quickly if somebody is not actually interested in the things that they claim to be. You find that out by just asking a few questions — somebody who’s obsessed with fashion can talk about it for an hour and somebody who’s obsessed with pop culture could talk to you about weird [X, formerly] Twitter trends and be excited to talk about it. So, the more open you are and honest in that interview process, the better the end result.

It’s important that people who are hiring give people the space to learn and grow at the beginning of their role. That’s what everyone did for me and that’s how I’ve always directed things. If it isn’t a fit in the beginning, not everything is permanent.

How did you develop leadership and editing skills?

[When I lived in Minnesota], I was a key-holder at American Apparel and that was all about managing a team in retail […]. That is really where I learned how to manage [a team]. For editing, it was at my college newspaper, editing non-stop. I had never edited anything in my life when I started working there, but the more that you’re doing it, the more you understand and you start to see consistent errors that come through it. To this day, the way that I scan through something is oftentimes just pulling out the things that I see and have seen hundreds and hundreds of times when editing.

How do you stay ahead of trends and content in order to produce original work?

[At Paper,] we all work really creatively on [instant messaging platform] Slack, and we’re all just dropping things all the time that we see and love. It might seem useless in the moment, but then, in a few weeks, flipping back to this X thread that somebody dropped or a random TikTok or this random girl going viral that we’re obsessed with and you’re laughing at — that’s really important.

I remember being intimidated by feedback. But we’re all in the game of making the best final product as a collective. Nothing is personal.

Talent is really key and it’s not always the most famous person in the world. TikTok is a really good example. There’s so many people that go super viral on TikTok and they don’t get legitimised in the fashion space, in the editorial space, but you love to watch them and you think they’re funny. It’s something we’ve always done, taking those subjects seriously — these people are a cultural force and people are obsessed with them. So, if you can make something really cool with them, that’s how you win, from a talent perspective.

We try to be very collaborative with those subjects. We did Orville Peck in June, naked, riding a balloon ball, for example. That idea wouldn’t have existed unless we really got into understanding who Orville Peck is and what fans want to see from him. [We’re looking at,] how is that image going to go viral? Not just for the sake of clicks and people seeing it, but trying to add meaning.

How would you advise responding to feedback?

I remember being intimidated by feedback. But we’re all in the game of making the best final product as a collective. Nothing is personal. Everything is a step in the process to make the most successful result for everyone, not for one person. So, just remember that when you get feedback — it’s not a criticism of you or the way that you think or the way that you work — it’s the desire to make an incredible final product.

On the flip side, if there are certain things that you think are really important to the story, to whatever you’re working on, it’s definitely worth advocating for it. Whoever is above you, an editor or your manager — […] sometimes they’re not thinking about it that way, or they’ve missed that idea or perspective. I always value team members that counter back.

What is your one piece of advice for aspiring fashion creatives today?

The most important thing you can do is figure out who you are as a person and as a creative. Focus on that. Build that skill set, build that perspective, and then find the path where that focus is supported. It’s not about being everything to everyone — it’s about creating the things that you want to see in the world and making sure that aligns with who you are.