By day, they work in major positions in the publishing industry. By night, they are often in the classroom, helping NYU M. S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media students understand the intricacies of publishing. But away from work or school, the new faculty members joining our program this semester have some surprising hobbies, passions, or legacies. A business manager who has a belly dancing background? A publisher and chief revenue officer who was a competitive/sponsored skateboarder and snowboarder? A designer who sidelines as an acoustic guitar player? Read on to find out some surprising fun facts about the new faces at the front of the classroom:
Jesse Ashlock (Introduction to Magazine Media) is Executive Editor for Travel + Leisure at Time Inc., where his responsibilities include planning and overseeing all magazine content, managing editorial staff, serving as the primary point of contact for sales and marketing, and driving digital and video strategy along with other growth initiatives such as affiliate commerce. Previously, he was Features Director for the media brand. Prior to joining Time Inc., he was Online Director at T: the New York Times Style Magazine; Articles Editor and Deputy Editor at Condé Nast’s Details; Contributing Editor and Editor-in-Chief of F+W Media’s I.D.; Editorial Director of the Tribeca Film Festival; and Editor at V Man. Jesse earned his degree from Wesleyan University.
Once, on an assignment, Jesse swam to the very edge of Victoria Falls, in southern Africa, and peeked over.
Adam Bookbinder (Advanced Desktop Publishing) is an award-winning creative director and brand strategist with over 15 years of experience in the media industry. Most recently he was the creative director of Travel+Leisure magazine. Previous positions include design director of Saveur and creative director of Departures, a luxury-lifestyle magazine produced by American Express Publishing. He helped earn the magazine its first-ever national magazine award for “Best Single Topic Issue.” He has also earned numerous Henry Luce awards for creative direction and design including multiple “Best Design Magazine of the Year” and “Best Cover of the Year” awards. He has held positions and consulted on the designs of several other titles including Vanity Fair, Details, Spin, Interview, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, and Dr. Oz Magazine.
Adam is an extremely good fingerpicking-blues acoustic guitar player.
Cameron Connors (Media Advertising) is Publisher and Chief Revenue Officer for Popular Mechanics at Hearst Magazines, where he oversees P&L, brand strategy and revenue generation across print, digital, mobile, events and brand licensing, and is responsible for development and execution of a brand repositioning strategy to diversify revenue across all platforms. Before joining Popular Mechanics, he was Director of Marketing Services for Hearst Digital Media; President of PAPER magazine and ExtraExtra at Paper Communications; and Digital Creative Services Director, Associate Director Integrated Marketing, Senior Marketing Manager, and Managing Director of The Studio at Condé Nast. Cameron received his degree from the University of Colorado.
Prior to his move to New York, Cameron was a competitive/sponsored skateboarder and snowboarder.
Gail Gonzales (Capstone Thesis) is Publisher of Rodale Books, where she is directly responsible for two imprints publishing 60+ titles per year across adult and children’s lines; oversees and develops branded books with iconic magazine brands Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Runner’s World, Rodale’s Organic Life, and Bicycling; launched the Rodale Kids imprint in less than a year with limited resources and a start-up mentality; and launched rodalebooks.com and rodalekids.com. Prior to joining Rodale, she was Director of Integrated Marketing, Corporate Marketing at Simon & Schuster; Director of Marketing, Publicity, and New Media at Hay House; and held positions at Asset Marketing Systems, LLC and Latino Sports Marketing, LLC. Gail earned her degree from Boston University College of Communication.
A quirky hobby of Gail’s is letterpress printing; the process of typography and letterpress requires full and undivided attention, serving as her method of meditation – an atypical stress reliever!
Patrick Hainault (Media Consumer Marketing and Audience Development) is Group Vice President of Marketing for Inc. Media at Mansueto Ventures, where he has established a culture of testing, analyzing and optimizing; launched Inc.edu, a fast-growing online platform for classes and workshops; created tiered membership programs centered around exclusive content and access; increased revenue, transactions, and downstream sales for the Inc. 5000 list; devised and launched international expansion of the Inc. 5000 franchise. Prior to joining Mansueto Ventures, he was Consumer Marketing Director of the Canadian edition of TIME, Director of Agency Marketing for the News & Entertainment Group, and Director of Business Development for This Old House and Popular Science at Time Inc.; he has also held positions at American Family Enterprises, Weka Publishing, and MBI, Inc. Patrick received his M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Patrick was on a French Canadian version of The Dating Game.
Faye Penn (Capstone Thesis) recently took on a new position as Vice President, Editorial for Lifetime, where she is involved with establishing a digital editorial division and spearheading enterprise journalism projects across a range of topics. Previously, she was Executive Editor, Special Projects at InStyle, where she helped set editorial voice across all departments and drove growth through cross-title content programs, e-commerce affiliate initiatives, and events and licensing partnerships. She also created her own startup in 2009, Brokelyn, a news-breaking web magazine, so she is qualified to speak to the entrepreneurial mindset from a very personal perspective. Faye earned her degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Faye received the funding to seed the startup Brokelyn from Susan Smpadian, the cab driving, New Yorker-to-the-core, zippy, colorful writer Faye wrote about in her first story for the New York Post; Susan bequeathed Faye money (for reasons that continue to mystify Faye), so it made sense to start a site about the city!
Michael Sebastian (Website Production: Managing a Digital Brand) is Site Director for Esquire at Hearst Magazines, where he manages all aspects of Esquire’s digital presence: website, social media channels, video efforts, and Snapchat Discover, as well as a staff of 20 editors, writers, video producers, and designers. He previously was News Director for Hearst Digital Media, as well as having been a Media Reporter for Advertising Age and Managing and Founding Editor for Chicago’s PR Daily. He began his career writing for newspapers in Chicago. Michael received his degree from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In high school Michael was part of what was called a Constitution Team—like a debate club except that they focused on the U.S. Constitution; in 1999 the team debated before Congressional staff members why the Equal Rights Amendment should be passed into law, helping to propel the team to a national championship.
Tessa Shanks (Multimedia Financial Analysis II) has been the Business Manager of W.W. Norton’s College Department since 2016, where she oversees forecasting, financial and sales analysis, and inventory management for the group. Previously she worked in the corporate finance department of Perseus Books, where she focused on budgeting and analysis for the Running Press, PublicAffairs, and Avalon imprints. Prior to her career in corporate finance, Tessa spent nine years working in publicity at Knopf and PublicAffairs, where she rose to the rank of Assistant Director of Publicity, working with authors such as former Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm, and writers Gay Talese and Joan Didion. Tessa received her degree from Oberlin College.
Before starting her publishing career, Tessa toured with Oberlin Steel drum band, playing Double Seconds – and was a belly dancer in the Aicha Middle Eastern Dance Troupe at the same time!
Shimul Tolia (Management and Leadership in Transitional Times) is Chief Executive Officer of Bonnier Publishing USA, where she oversees children’s imprints Little Bee Books and Sizzle Press, both start-up imprints of which she was formerly President, and adult nonfiction imprints Weldon Owen and Blue Streak Books. She establishes business strategy and drives aggressive expansion, leads the executive team, oversees a 50-person staff in New York City and San Francisco offices, and collaborates with leadership in UK and Australia divisions to determine strategy for the company’s English-speaking book business. Prior to joining Bonnier Publishing USA, she held positions from Trade Sales Assistant up to Editorial Director at Sterling Publishing, which is a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble. Shimul studied Marketing and Spanish at Rutgers University.
Shimul can do the voice of Stitch from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch.
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