I don’t talk about my job much here. I don’t kiss and tell. But in this case I’m making an exception. Andre the editor at M2 magazine was smitten by my cover story I wrote about Zac Efron of all people. I’m not exactly a high school music fan but the cover story eventually turned into an exercise of introspection. Checking our preconceptions against new facts. People are always changing, and if our opinions of people don’t change our perception of reality becomes outdated. This idea tickled Andre and he dedicated his Editor’s Letter to writing about me. I started working at M2 in 2013 and I’ve changed a lot.

This is what he wrote. Issue 143, April 2017


Some four years ago a fresh, starry eyed graduate from design school showed up as an intern just as we were launching New Zealand’s first iPad magazine. It was immediately clear that he had some serious design capabilities and he was also a bit of a geek when it came to coding so it was perfect timing. When he first sat in my office he was slouched by a weight of uncertainty and shyness. The beginning of his career ahead of him. Today he holds a different posture. He is married and remarkably for an Auckland millennial, he is a home owner. Since starting at M2 he has helped to create some of the most innovative interactive titles in existence, he has helped us pioneer what is one of New Zealand’s most innovative digital publishing arms and he has taken everything that he learnt in design school and become one of our full time writers. As I read the first draft of Isaac Taylor’s cover story for this issue on reinvention I got the distinct sense that he was talking from experience – it’s also an experience of course that most of us should be familiar with. It’s universal. There would be something very wrong if you looked back over the last few years and didn’t see some form of reinvention within yourself. It’s what keeps the journey exciting. I feel the need to end on a quote from President Trump but I’ll give the honour to Isaac. “You think about yourself right now as the final version of yourself. Look back ten years however and you probably think ‘I’m glad I’m not that dweeb anymore’”.