So there’s this story that my mother loves to tell about me that somehow feels appropriate.
When I was a kid, my mother used to drop me off at preschool for a few hours twice a week. Apparently, whenever I would walk into the room I was instantly saying hi to everyone around me, and being quite the social butterfly. In those days, my mother used to refer to me as a flirt, but my father would say that I was a born networker. As a salesman himself, he recognized my ability to talk to people naturally, even though I wasn’t old enough to tie my own shoes. Strangely enough, that skill didn’t translate to meeting women when I was single, but that’s a whole other story.
Today, as the new editor of Arizona Jewish Life, I’m tasked with doing lots of networking. In the process of making this issue, I met Alissa and Peter Cohen, a married couple who hit rock bottom a few years back and decided to start a photography business. Today, they’re one of the premier companies in the area, and have become famous in the community for their quality mitzvah work (something you can read more about in this issue).
A few days later I met Ricky, the mother of twin girls who were doing their own mitzvah projects. Their ideas were great, and I knew it was going to make an excellent story, I just needed a few pictures to go along with it. “I’ll ask the photographers if they’re OK with giving me some shots,” Ricky said. I crossed my fingers in hopes it would happen.
The next day, Ricky called me back. “Hi Kevin, I spoke to the photographer and they said they’d love to send you some shots. They also say hi.”
The photographer? Well it was Peter Cohen.
My job here as editor is to tell the stories that you want to read, and to do that, I need to go out and meet lots and lots of people. If you have a story to tell — or know someone that does — then you’re one of those people I want to meet.
In the next few months I expect to get to know lots of Peters and Rickys, plus a few hundred others. Sure, I’ve grown a bit since I was the social butterfly back in preschool, but I guess that’s just one of those talents that you never grow out of.
Oh, and I did eventually learn to tie my own shoes.
Welcome to Arizona Jewish Life magazine.
Kevin Whipps
[email protected]
