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Margaret Kennedy wasn't sure what she would do after Clark. "Yes, I was going to go work for a magazine, but what that would lead to, I didn't know," says Kennedy, who has built a long and successful career as a magazine editor for such publications as House and Garden, House Beautiful, Victoria and Elegant Bride. In her career, Kennedy ascribes to the Clark ideal of challenging convention, surprising readers—and herself—by doing what hasn't been done yet. She is currently pursuing her first passion, art, earning a post-graduate degree at the National Academic School of Fine Arts.
I wanted to be an artist. I was an art major at Clark, and I wanted to go to graduate school. At the time, I got a studio on campus and realized that when I painted by myself, it was just too solitary.
I was very interested in magazines, just because I was a fan. Mademoiselle, which was in business at the time, had this great competition for guest editors. If you entered, you had the opportunity to be in New York for a month and contribute to their August issue, which is their big college issue. So, I entered and won. Twenty of us were there and it was an interesting experience. We were interviewing artists and writers and going to the theater. We were taken to Rome for a week and visited the American ambassador. I thought, "This is something I might like to do."
Mademoiselle was owned by Condé Nast and once you were a guest editor, you got a job just by calling the director. So I did, and I started out at House and Garden. I was immediately thrown into helping with photographs, working with photographers behind the camera. It was very related to my visual arts background, so it was not a tough transition. I found that I really enjoyed it. I was also an English minor and I had done a lot of creative writing, but I had never used my writing until 25 years later.
One of the things Clark helped me with was looking at possibilities, the creative element of thinking, "What can we do that hasn't been done?" At House Beautiful and Elegant Bride I wanted to do things that were surprises. I think there's nothing worse for a publication than not giving regular readers a sense that when they open it the next time, there might be something they haven't seen before. People get into a rut if you don't see inspiration coming from new directions. You have to keep your eyes open at all times for what the possibilities are, to expand the horizons of whatever it is you're working on. The world moves forward every single day, and your challenge is to move forward with it.
When I was in college, I had no idea what I was going to do. I also told myself that I couldn't be an artist. The ironic thing is that now, after years of being behind the editor's desk, I am finally pursuing my first love—art—getting my post-graduate degree studying with several talented artists in water color and oils at the National Academy School of Fine Arts. I'm painting sites all around my hometown of New York City and am utterly happy to be able to do this now.
Everything is a learning experience. You are learning something new every single day. Keep that channel wide open, because it all fits together. You have no idea, as you go along, how all the parts that you thought had no relevance whatsoever will fit together.