Thanks so much for all your feedback on Part 1 of our conversation with Joe Zee last week! As we mentioned, he gave us so much great work, and he’s shown us so much amazing work, that we couldn’t keep it to one episode. So here’s Part 2 in which we go back to where Joe started – how a Chinese Canadian kid from Toronto made it in fashion publishing in New York and… yes… there are some celebrity mentions here too. Because Joe’s worked on some memorable magazine covers including Beyoncé, Britney, and this one:
Joe was Anna Wintour’s counterpart at ELLE for many years. That’s New York City. It’s the fashion business. It’s cutthroat. It’s relentless. We talk to him about style and leadership style. How did he manage in that environment, both personally and professionally? Because that’s two separate things – holding his own and also being a proper manager, managing a brand. There are some big work takeaways here in how to be a team player and a team leader and also? How to enjoy yourself at the same time. That might be Joe’s best secret – and, yes, of course, there are so many people who don’t have the privilege of loving what they do and he’s lucky and he knows he’s lucky and he’s not squandering it: he works all the time, he can’t stop working, and why would he stop when he’s having so much fun?
Once again, we thank Joe for sharing his time and experience and wisdom with us, for not being tired of our endless questions, for indulging our curiosity, and for being a Work Ambassador, for opening up his work archive – we learned so much!
Thanks so much to all of you for listening and for your messages about Joe’s work and, always, for supporting the work we do on this podcast. We look forward to hearing more from you @duanaelise and @laineygossip on Twitter. Please subscribe where you get your podcasts and leave comments and reviews! We are so honoured to be part of this work community!
