When I interviewed with Bobby for the Managing Editor position almost a year ago, I showed up wearing tights, beatle boots, a high-waisted leather mini-skirt, and a short-sleeve, black and red turtleneck I’d thrifted for $3 in Downtown LA. I looked like a slam poet, not a chick who hangs out on Fairfax. I was up for a job at a major Streetwear brand, and as far as my wardrobe was concerned, I was ill-prepared. I don’t wear sneakers. I actually only own one lone pair and they are still encapsulated in dirt from the last time I went hiking in them. I also identify as a feminist. Run!!!
As I sat in my potential boss’s pristine white office being judged by collectible toys with x’s for eyes and trying not to visibly sweat through my finest synthetic fibers, I remember thinking to myself, “Why does this guy want me here? I have no business working in Streetwear.” He explained that The Hundreds is not just Streetwear brand, it’s a California culture and lifestyle company with the platform and megaphone to open doors and mold young minds. He lit up like a kid on Christmas when he spoke about his plans for the next phase of thehundreds.com (and he has maintained that contagious enthusiasm every day since, interspersed with bouts of sheer panic). Based on the published writing clips I’d sent him, and my prior professional experience navigating Liberal Corporate America (I did stints at The Huffington Post and American Apparel, among others), he assured me that I’d be a natural. I told him I thought he was crazy, and confessed in half jest that I’d made out with a handful of pro-skateboarders, so at the very least, I had that qualification. I interpreted his laughter as a good sign. As a general rule, the more nervous I am, the less I tend to exercise self-censorship. And due to my social anxiety, I am nervous quite frequently.
In that first meeting we talked about LA, art, music, culture, mutual friends, mutual frenemies, our favorite defunct print magazines, and most importantly, his vision to grow thehundreds.com from a daily diary he’d been maintaining single-handedly over the course of the last decade (with a little help from his jet-setting alter-ego Kazie Holiday) into a full-blown media site with a global presence. It was exciting. And daunting. Mostly it was refreshing to hear someone speak so passionately about something so out-of-the-box, and scary to think I’d have some part in it.
Bobby never once expressed concern over my lack of a Streetwear background; his big picture was and always has been bigger and more in your face than any 3D IMAX screen I’ve ever watched a penguin migration on. He never once vetoed a story idea, not even when it was about a converted hippie motel in Ojai or a female-run creative agency with no obvious ties to this male-dominated industry. Over the last ten months of working at The Hundreds and taking baby steps toward this milestone launch, I’ve collaborated with creative minds stationed around the world, interviewed esteemed artists and restaurateurs, and flown to San Francisco with a rap crew where I took mushrooms and somehow didn’t get fired even though it was my fifth day of employment and I was publicly tripping while wandering through The Mission with Scotty, who, I should mention, is a very bad influence. But perhaps my proudest accomplishment is learning the difference between a 5-panel and a snapback. I’m confident the lessons will keep coming.
As you become acquainted with the new thehundreds.com, it is my hope that you too will have your horizons broadened. So learn some cool shit. Make new Internet Best Friends. Go ahead and dig into it.