Annie Scott '99

I'm a professional writer and editor in NYC. I work for AOL's travel and luxury blogs, and I edit for Tonic.com. My job includes not only filtering and showcasing all the info out there on the internet, but traveling the world (just got back from Holland yesterday) and meeting with industry leaders (like Tim Gunn, David Yurman, Sylvia Earle) to bring original content to the world wide web. I would say that Breck definitely helped prepare me for these roles. Mr. Moos in particular was always very encouraging in regards to my writing; I have a unique writing style and while some teachers would push back with me and try to make me sound like everyone else, Moos let me run with it. The other teachers were helpful, too, of course. I learned you sometimes have to wear different hats when writing, and that you have to know the rules to break them. Fortunately, I've carved myself a career where I can write whatever I want. Most of the time.

I owe a lot to Moos, as well as Lisa Doering and Tom Hegg, who encouraged and truly pushed me in the performing arts. My degree from Paul McCartney's "fame school" (The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) has proved invaluable; I studied trends in pop culture, and well, entertainment. I don't get up on stage (very often) anymore, but I do have a drama desk nomination (not for me in particular, but a show I worked on called Surrender) and several favorable New York Times reviews under my belt, and learning to entertain is what led me to this career in online entertainment. It's the same as writing a TV show — you want two laughs per page, etc. I wasn't always the most popular kid, and if I hadn't had Hegg and Doering in my corner, I'm not sure I'd have had confidence in my ability to entertain. I don't think I'd have even pursued a higher degree in theater if I hadn't felt I was good at it, and had my appetite for learning more about the art whetted.

I'm very proud to be in a creative profession. I was a really depressed and bored kid in public school, and when I moved to Breck in 9th grade, I honestly believe it saved my life. I still use what I learned at Breck all the time. Just ask Mr. Eichten, who I wrote during college because I needed help pronouncing an equation that a character I was playing had to say, or Mrs. Doering, who helped me prepare songs to sing at a Guthrie audition. I just reviewed Rosetta Stone's new language program last month, and naturally I chose Chinese, to see if they had a leg up on Mrs. Wong (it was a fine program, but they didn't).

As for the future, I'm certainly not content yet. I'm currently teaching myself several computing languages to broaden my skills; I want to be able to do everything. I'm lucky to be in that less-than-1% of online voices who are actually heard, and even luckier to be on the forefront of a new career path, paving my own way. Perhaps I'd have wanted this job back when I was at Breck (in fact, I'm sure I would have), but it didn't exist yet. Now I'm in a position to imagine my own future and make a path for others.

And, as you may know, write goofy top ten lists for money.

Best wishes,
Annie