Lizzy Okoro
Lizzy Okoro
Founder and East Coast Editor
BUNCH Magazine
Los Angeles & New York
bunchmag.com
instagram/lizzyokoro
lizzy@bunchmag.com
So, what do you do?
“I am the Founder and East Coast Editor of BUNCH Magazine. BUNCH is a limited print magazine that serves as a guide for daring creatives.
We’re living in a time where creatives aren’t starving artists, they’re kick ass entrepreneurs, and we get to tell those stories, evoke inspiration, and give you tangible tools so that you can be kick ass too.”
If you have multiple jobs and/or skills, which one do you wish you could do more often?
Building brands from the ground up. By meeting and interacting with so many emerging people and projects for articles in BUNCH, I’ve been exposed to so much. It’s helped me create brand partnerships that work to achieve many goals on both sides. I’ve also been able to thread together the constants that get creatives from launch to success. I would love to have an agency that focuses on helping creative companies be the best version of themselves using the tools I’ve picked up...hey...not a bad idea...
Give us a specific example of how you do your job like a BOSS.
Lots of coffee. Otherwise sleep, and lots of it. I don’t believe in “Team No Sleep”. If you’re not rested and healthy, how can you ever be truly productive?
Other than that, I believe in creating task lists, setting weekly goals, and checking in with my accountability partners (friends and loved ones who are not a part of my company and bring honesty and tough love) because they make sure I work efficiently. You’ll notice that if you use your time properly, you’ll have plenty of time for sleep, maybe even a nap!
What are all the tools you use on a regular basis?
Google Docs - I really think that if you utilize it correctly, there’s little need for much else.
iCal on my iPhone - without it, I would never remember anything (where am I? who is this? jk!)
Boomerang for gmail - I can schedule emails to go out and receive reminders for emails that deserve special attention or were never responded to.
A chalkboard wallpaper that I can write on, I’m extremely visual and somehow things just make more sense when I write them down
We love Boomerang as well! We just started using Streak to help with workflow. It’s like Trello meets Gmail. Also, they have saved messages which is a plus when you’re dealing with a lot of the same questions/follow up stuff.
What are you working on right now?
Production of Issue 4 of BUNCH, and right after that, issue 5.
What is frustrating you right now? What is making your job/business/project hard to move forward?
I wish everyone knew about BUNCH and understood it. It’s lovely when I meet people one-on-one and get to give them my schpiel and I see their eyes light up because it clicks and there’s a newfound appreciation for who we are. But I can’t have one-on-ones with everyone in the world. I wish I could, that would move things right along.
What are you putting off right now, but you know you have to get to, but you haven’t had the time?
Sending emails about a LOT of stuff. And hiring an intern.
If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Respond to emails. I’m buried in them all the time and can’t believe it when I’ve forgotten to respond to someone I really should have remembered to respond to.
If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
How the publishing industry works. Every nook and cranny, every corner of it.
What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for right now?
It would be fun to do more events (parties, workshops) and it would be great to collaborate on a project. I’m not sure what yet, so if you have any ideas, email me! lizzy@bunchmag.com
How are you looking for these opportunities/projects right now?
Google, Instagram, and Pinterest are my best friends. I’m constantly finding people to reach out to. We’re inundated with emails (see my previous answer) with people wanting to be featured or collaborate. There’s no dearth of inquiries, it’s just finding the right people to collaborate with. I hope I’ll know it when I see it...
Describe your ideal collaboration. Even if it doesn’t actually exist!
Ideal collaboration: would love to meet a cool brand, maybe a fashion item, that we can BUNCH-ify. I’m a huge fan of sustainable and ethical companies like The Citizenry and Accompany; and brands who stand for art and creativity, like Artifact Uprising.
What is your preferred style of working?
I work perfectly fine by myself bc there are no distractions and I’m not constantly thinking “where can I get something to eat around here.” But it’s nice to have human interaction every once in a while, so co-working spaces are lovely.
Describe a client/job/partner you would rather not have. What are your deal breakers?
People who lack humility. When running a magazine, it’s difficult to foresee who will be a jerk, you usually find out once you’re on location. But to be honest, that has been a rare thing for us. I appreciate that nearly everyone we’ve worked with has been kind and gracious.
How should someone approach you about working with you?
Email is great! (disregard everything I said earlier about being inundated). Research what we’re about, send an email with links or samples of your work, and be specific about what you want from us. Don’t be shy! If you want us to write a feature on you and your brand, say it. If you want to shoot an original piece for us, say it. Vague emails saying, “we love you, let’s collaborate” means we have to do all the work to figure out what it is that you want to do and we’d rather just cut right to it, have an awesome shoot, and grab a cocktail with you after!
This member profile was originally published on December 2014.