Jessica Minkoff: The Maestro of Pivoting in Her Career While Staying True to Herself

“I just like to wear what makes me happy even though it might be polarizing for people,” says Jessica Minkoff, a 36-year-old fashion editor and NYU adjunct professor based in New York. On a Zoom call, Minkoff is comfortably sporting a hand-painted neon pink and black cropped hoodie from the LA-based brand Myrrhe. Her preference for graphic tops, pink-forward pieces and chunky jewelry doesn’t exactly align with a fashion circle that currently favors pared-back aesthetics like “coastal prep” and “corpcore.” 

But Minkoff is at ease with her decision to renounce trendiness and normalcy in fashion. Her unique approach is a testament to her persistence and self-confidence. “I don’t need to be everything to everyone,” she says. 

Despite spending the first twenty years of her life training to be a professional ballerina, Minkoff’s heart was always in the world of fashion publishing. Her fascination with fashion’s universality and ability to unify people was not just a passing interest, but a deep-seated passion. She religiously read Teen Vogue and Vogue issues while stretching before classes and saved their vibrant pages for her personal collages. 

While studying journalism at New York University, she realized she could turn her passion into a career and landed a digital internship at Vogue. Despite being married to the idea of being a print editor, Minkoff entered the workforce at a time when digital media was taking off, leading her to take a position in 2011 as an Editorial Coordinator at style.com (now known as Vogue Runway).

Minkoff soon realized she had stepped into “the pinnacle of runway reporting”at style.com. She received copies of runway reviews from industry legends like Tim Blanks and Nicole Phelps. She got a first look at unreleased photos from shows. She even heard conversations between renowned designers like John Galliano and then-editor-in-chief of style.com, Dirk Standen, whose office she sat right outside.

“It helped me develop my understanding of how the industry works but also to gain insight on all of the brands and the designers behind them and the models of the moment,” says Minkoff. “It was the perfect introduction into the fashion industry.”

After working as an Assistant Editor for the website until 2013, Minkoff started exploring other avenues within the industry. She held positions as a Market Editor and Fashion Features Editor at Marie Claire for nearly two years before becoming a Senior Fashion Market and Accessories Editor at Teen Vogue in 2014. While showcasing the trends of the season excited her, Minkoff was wary about boxing herself in as a writer. She went to the then-Fashion Features Editor, Esther Adams and stressed her passion for writing and interest in contributing to future feature stories. 

“I just wanted people to know that I could do more than one thing,” says Minkoff. 

Minkoff’s unassailable faith in herself proved to be rewarding. She received a few feature story assignments, one of which spotlighted the ballet dancers from the second season of Teen Vogue’s YouTube series, Strictly Ballet. In an industry that was distinctly siloed and delegation of creative efforts was limited, Minkoff says it was gratifying that people were championing her versatility as a writer.

However, Minkoff was not safeguarded against shifts in the publishing industry, as revenue was dwindling by 2015 and she was laid off from her job at Teen Vogue. While Minkoff describes the experience as “disheartening” and testing, it strengthened her resolve. She found a freelance position at Harper’s Bazaar, which gave her spare time to consider her options for the future.

“I really took a lot of time to think about what I could do,” says Minkoff. “I thought, ‘What do I enjoy doing, and where can I work that could utilize my skills and not be a ship that’s sinking?’ Because I was in my early 20s, and I was like, ‘I can’t give up on my career. There has to be some other way.’”

Minkoff saw the need to transgress the industry blueprint of pursuing a straightforward career journey and had the imaginative energy to understand there were myriad avenues at her disposal that could benefit from her creative talents. 

Rather than staying trapped in one lane, she directed her ardor to other industries. In 2016, Brooke Kroeger, the former head of NYU’s journalism department, contacted her after Minkoff suggested adding a fashion course when she graduated. To Minkoff’s surprise, Kroeger offered her a position as an adjunct professor teaching the new fashion journalism class. Minkoff was grateful for the position because it afforded her the chance to supply the mentorship she did not have in college.

“I wish that I had a teacher in the industry I was trying to go into so that I could have specific help and guidance around my career decisions and an entry-level way of seeing how it actually is,” says Minkoff.

But teaching was not the only new job Minkoff tried. She spent her free time emailing employers in the retail sector and insisting that hiring someone with an editorial background to help create storytelling opportunities with their products would be a boon for the company. 

Minkoff’s perseverance paid off. In 2016, she landed a job as the first Editorial Director at the luxury boutique Kirna Zabête. Still, due to her lack of experience working in retail, she had to work hard to be taken seriously.

“I really had to prove that there was a reason for me to be there and that what I was doing was valuable for both the store and the brand,” says Minkoff. 

After sharpening her retail expertise at Kirna Zabête for a year and a half, Minkoff began a pivotal role as the Fashion Content Editor at the luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman. The job satisfied her to a degree she had never experienced, motivating her to work from daybreak until late at night. It ultimately generated significant success for the company and fostered her sense of self.

“I really grew as a person, and I also started to realize that I had a point of view that was respected,” says Minkoff. “I became more comfortable with who I was and being different, and the way that I approached dressing and styling was very specific to me. I felt for the first time that I could confidently walk out and be amongst the fashion set and feel like I was accepted for who I was.”

However, Minkoff discovered the cost of dedicating her attention to one place when the pandemic hit in 2020. She was let go from her dream job, losing her sense of fulfillment.

“I felt very empty because I had put so much of my time and energy into my job, and I never wanted to feel that way again,” she says.

While Minkoff is proud and appreciative of her rich career history, she says the loss of the livelihood she threw her entire spirit behind forced her to reckon with the fact that success for her transcends shiny titles and affluence.

“It was a really good learning experience of developing a sense of balance in your life and making sure that all of your buckets are full and that you’re not putting everything into one because you never know what’s going to happen in life,” she says. “Things change all the time, and you just have to be prepared.”

Now, Minkoff is still involved with freelance consulting for fashion brands and publications, most recently overseeing social media strategy and content creation for the ready-to-wear brand Cinq à Sept. Currently, she is mostly focused on her personal independent projects, which give her creative freedom and don’t compromise her sense of self.

“If I could give advice to my younger self I would say, ‘Don’t let [your job] overcome you to the point where you lose who you are,’” Minkoff says.

Minkoff has held herself accountable to that advice. Aside from her position as an NYU adjunct professor, she has been focusing on content creation on her Instagram. She transformed her Instagram into a cohesive embodiment of her individuality: her page is a neon-lit metropolis that marries defiance with femininity. She showcases her affinity for denim and tie-dye, wearing them in photos in front of graffiti-covered walls throughout the city. She displays her impressive collection of designer purses, clutching them with her neon flame gel fingernails. She compiles archival images of YSL collections and pays homage to Kate Moss, her fashion muse.

Minkoff’s eye-catching feed has allowed her to amass more than 93,000 Instagram followers. The platform remains a place for her to express herself and build her personal brand.

Minkoff also started a Substack newsletter last October called “Trendless.” The title is a nod to Minkoff’s tendency to deviate from fashion fads and intent to stay true to her personal style. She offers readers a guide to navigate getting dressed without following trends and a peek into her thoughts on the latest state of the fashion industry. First and foremost, the blog allows Minkoff to practice self-expression and writing freely without being confined by the industry’s expectations of her. 

“I don’t necessarily think I have to be my job,” she says. “I can be me and have my job.”

Minkoff’s track record of unwavering resilience in the face of hardship makes her less wary about the future. She avows to keep doing what she has always done. She will welcome opportunities that come her way rather than be hyper-focused on one thing, aware of the redemptive power of being nimble. Most importantly, she will do it all leading with authenticity while proudly sporting a pair of neon pink heels along the way.

“I think failure was something that I feared until I endured it, and failing has made me stronger and equipped me with a stronger personality to navigate life’s unexpected twists and turns,” Minkoff says. “I think that your career ultimately ends up the way that it’s supposed to, and you just might not know what the journey is going to look like from the beginning. You have to be open and welcoming to what life actually throws your way because it ultimately could be what is meant for you, and you just didn’t know.”

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