Helmsman alum dives into magazine career

Sitting in the window of a tiny studio apartment in New York, a young Lindsay Goldenberg looked out on to the city. She was a summer intern for Rolling Stone magazine, and it was the first time she had ever lived on her own.

A Patti Smith CD playing in the background, Goldenberg thought to herself, "This is exactly what I want to be doing right now."

But before her lifestyle as a magazine writer in New York, Goldenberg was a reporter and Editor-in-Chief of The University of Memphis' independent student newspaper, The Daily Helmsman.

"Working at The Daily Helmsman was, without a doubt, a pivotal moment for me in choosing a career path," she said. "It gave me the knowledge, insight, drive and determination that I would need after college, and in every job I've had since then."

After graduating from The U of M, Goldenberg joined the Rolling Stone staff in 2000 full-time, and later wrote for Teen People, Maxim.com, Blender.com, OutdoorLife.com. She is now the NewParent.com editorial director.

Goldenberg said she learned the "nuts and bolts" of journalism in the classroom, but in The Helmsman office, she gained experience that a book can't teach.

"You also learn how the entire process works from start to finish by being in the thick of it. Those lessons are invaluable," she said.

Sometimes it was hard for her to juggle working at the paper and keeping up with school, but Goldenberg said the entire experience was fun because she enjoyed what she was doing.

"Never have I had such a good time staying at work until one or two in the morning on deadline," she said. "There was a sense of ownership you had when working there, that this was your ‘baby,' and you wanted to put out the best newspaper you could. I wish every job was like that."

Though she has not been in The Helmsman office for more than 13 years, Goldenberg can still recall big, blue Mac computers, a source of frustration to staffers when they would frequently crash.

She also remembers becoming Editor-in-Chief of the paper and redesigning the whole publication, one of her proudest moments at The Helmsman.

"I really loved being able to see something come together from start to finish. I was proud of myself for being able to fill those big shoes of being an editor and being able to work with the writers and put together the best product we could," she said. "I'll always be proud knowing I was a part of The Daily Helmsman."

As a journalism student, Goldenberg said she loved newspapers and the chasing stories like the time she broke the story of a tuition scam perpetrated by some U of M students and their supervisors at FedEx. All the newspapers and TV stations in Memphis were trying to get the story, but The Helmsman was the only news outlet to get it.

But despite the fun of newspaper work, Goldenberg loved magazines because she loved entertainment. She said she knew she had to get to New York, the hub of entertainment magazines.

"I highly encourage anybody who wants to make it in journalism to plan on moving there if they can," she said. "It's the center of the publishing universe, and the experience, both career and life, is incomparable to anywhere else in the world."

Goldenberg not only found her career in New York City, she met her husband. She and Cory Jones met in 2007 when they were both editors at Maxim.com. They married a year ago and now live in Nashville, where they moved for their jobs.

In college, Goldenberg was determined to be a magazine writer, applying for as many internships as she could, including the American Society of Magazine Editors internship program, for which she was initially turned down.

"When I got my rejection letter, I followed up with a letter that I faxed that explained why I thought they made a mistake," she said. "That persistence got me into the program when a space became available."

She was accepted into the program and interned at Reader's Digest.

"That magazine and its location are so unique. You essentially have to take a train from Grand Central out to Pleasantville, N.Y., where they are based," she said. "A Reader's Digest van picks you up at the train station, and they bring the workers without cars to the headquarters. It looks like a hotel resort, with lakes and ducks roaming the grounds."

Each week Goldenberg worked in a different department.

"One week I was in the humor department, the next week I was in the research library. It was a totally different experience," she said.