Young Guarde Profile: Cord Jefferson '04
April 11, 2008
BY ERIC W. PESOLA
He's in New York City now, and Cord Jefferson '04 is making the most of his multiple gigs in the media. He's a true jet-setter, who wears jeans to work -- which could be a California beach or an airport in Europe. He's interviewed Janet Jackson, Common, A Tribe Called Quest and many other big names in entertainment. We caught up with him recently and tried to pin him down with a few questions...
Tell us about Mollygood.com and Stereohyped.com ... and explain exactly what you do there. What is the most fun part of your job?
At Jossip Initiatives, which publishes four separate blogs, I am the lead editor of the site Mollygood and a contributing editor to the site Stereohyped. Mollygood reports on entertainment news and celebrity gossip and Stereohyped is a black interest blog focusing mainly on African-American politics and cultural developments. Almost every day I contribute and vet content for both the sites, and intermittently I participate in minutiae like feature scheduling and editorial meetings. In a word, I'm a writer.
The most enjoyable part of my job is the freedom it offers. I've worked from a beach in California, a bar in New York, a cafe in London and an airport in Germany, and I can usually start and finish my day when I please. I have an office, but I don't need to be there, and I can wear a t-shirt and jeans to work. I've also got a tremendous amount of creative control. There are few limits to what I can publish, so it's an exciting environment in which to write.
What sort of feedback have you received from readers -- or celebrities?
Many, many readers enjoy the sites and tell us they read them every day, and I think that's because our sites are quite different than those of our competitors. We put a lot of effort into distinguishing ourselves from the millions of other ramshackle operations on the Internet, and we try to maintain a sense of decorum and professionalism without losing our sense of humor. Intelligent gossip and smart blogs might sound like oxymorons to some, but not me.
Once, a major director threatened to sue me for a piece I had written. His attorneys e-mailed me and I sent a response asking them how we could settle things without litigation. The next day they replied telling me that the director had reread what I had written, thought it was funny and wasn't going to file suit. It's a perfect anecdote to explain how I'd like the sites to be considered: smart and interesting enough to take notice in, but funny and whimsical enough to not sue into oblivion.
Tell us what you're working on for Filter Magazine?
I work for Filter as a regular contributor. I contribute feature items for every issue and just finished my second cover story for the magazine, this one on A Tribe Called Quest.
Tell us about some of the "names" you have interviewed thus far.
Just about every month I interview a famous musician for my job at Filter. Last year I went into the studio with Common, a few months ago I talked to several members from the Wu-Tang Clan for an article and last week I spoke with Janet Jackson. Her voice is unbelievably soft -- almost a whisper. She said she liked my name.
Sometimes -- like in the case of Common -- it's so surreal, because I remember getting one of his albums when I was 11-years-old. To sit down with him 14 years later and talk about music put me on cloud nine.
The site posted a tribute to actor Heath Ledger shortly after his death. What kind of discussion did your staff have leading up to that decision?
Some topics are humor vacuums and Heath Ledger dying was an instance of that. As a company we decided to cover it like standard news, being careful not to make fun, but also being careful not to languish. It sounds calloused -- and we're certainly here to mock the dead -- but it would be very disingenuous for us to passionately grieve a celebrity's passing, because the tone of the sites is never, ever like that. It would be so faux and transparent and I think our readers would know that. By the same token, if I'm writing and I find something off-color very funny, I generally choose not to publish it if I think a lot of people would be offended. There's a fine line that I try to respect between being provocative and being self-indulgent.
You were in L.A., now you're in NYC... which place, in your opinion, is it easier to bump into a celebrity?
I think each city has its own celebrities. For instance, in New York -- America's publishing hub and an important place for global politics -- I've seen Al Sharpton three times and once bumped into the author Christopher Hitchens. Many people might not recognize those men's faces, but I certainly consider them celebrities. But L.A. definitely has New York beat if you're out to see people regarded as famous by almost everyone in the world. The actors and musicians have the run of L.A. I once used the restroom right next to Hugh Hefner and was intimidated by his bodyguards. And Paris Hilton once approached me at a party in the Hollywood Hills, which was weird.
Which do you enjoy living in better -- New York or L.A.?
To me, New York is inarguably better, because at any time of day an alert person can see either something beautiful to look at or something revolting to look at. Be it people, acts, art or weather, New York is a city of extremes, which electrifies everything. I've had tense moments here while buying a bagel, which is great because it forces me to stay on my toes. Also, it's very important for me to not drive, so I love that I can take the subway everywhere.
Los Angeles is moderate. The temperature is moderate and the whole city follows suit. I think all the soup there is lukewarm.
Do you bump into many W&M grads in New York?
I see Scott Miller '02 quite frequently. He's an actor up here and he and I have recently started writing a play together.
How do you spend your free time?
I write because I love it, so even in my free time I sometimes work, writing articles and stories that might some day be published. I like to seek out good, old music in thrift stores. I like to buy vintage suits. I'm not very good at it, but I really love to DJ, and I've actually tricked a couple bars in New York City into letting me play music. When it's warm I play tennis, and last summer I joined a Senegalese soccer team. I like to read non-fiction books. I also spend an inordinate amount of time on airplanes, trying to fall asleep.
