Eleven years ago, I walked into the Martha’s Vineyard Magazine office to interview for the position of senior editor. I’m prone to fretting and psyching myself out before an interview, but on that day I felt oddly calm. That is, until five minutes before the meeting was set to begin, when a piece of lint became lodged in my eye. 

Red-faced and teary, looking like I just had an emotional breakdown, I introduced myself to Paul Schneider, the newly appointed editor of the magazine.  

“Nice to meet you; I’m Vanessa,” I sputtered. “I haven’t been crying – I swear.” It wasn’t exactly the positive first impression I had rehearsed in my mind.

Those awkward early moments aside, our conversation went well and we hit it off. Paul impressed me with his background – author of five books, a stint at Esquire magazine, a successful freelance career – and his plans for the publication. I, apparently, scored a few non-embarrassing points too. He offered me the job, which I readily accepted. Soon after, I joined the small team that included him and the magazine’s longtime art director, Alley Moore. One year later, Nicole Fullin joined our tight-knit crew. 

For the better part of a decade, the four of us crammed into the small, sloping magazine office on South Summer Street in Edgartown. We spent hours and weeks and months brainstorming stories, creating pie charts about pies, and devising insane and inane ideas involving human seagulls and Christmas prep counts that, probably for good reason, never made their way to print. We hired and fired countless fake editors. We started a bowling team and later abandoned it. We shuffled and stomped and playfully bickered and pocket-vetoed one another. We set up our desks like dueling pianos. We laughed so hard that the rest of the folks in the building begged us to stop. 

It’s a wonder how we were able to get any work done at all. And yet we did, and we did it well. All told, this incredible team produced some seventy-four issues together, each of which provided us with ample reasons to be proud. 

No good thing lasts forever. Time lurches forward; people move on; new and exciting changes take place. We have plenty of the latter in store. Still, it saddens me to say that one month after Alley Moore’s retirement, Paul Schneider is now following suit. This issue will be his last. 

His departure is a long time coming. Paul served as editor of this magazine for fifty-nine issues, from the end of 2013 to the beginning of 2022. Wanting to step back but not entirely leave the magazine, he transitioned into a part-time contributing editor role. I, in turn, took over his responsibilities. I promised not to drop the ball. 

It was a weird arrangement, but it worked for us. Besides, I joked at the time, everyone should be so lucky to become their former boss’s boss. I didn’t know yet how lucky I was about to become. As much as I liked and respected Paul before I became editor, my appreciation for him grew exponentially when I stepped into his shoes. Paul is so effortlessly quick, talented, witty, and unflappable that for years he fooled everyone into thinking that his job was easy. I know now that it was not. 

It takes an extraordinary person to produce greatness year after year, to inspire a staff to stick around, and to make it all seem like so much fun. I could wax on and on about how grateful I am, but I don’t have the space and it wouldn’t suffice. 

Besides, I have to run. I once again have something in my eye.