Caitlyn McGonigal

My Greatest Accomplishment:  Working with some of the content creators/influencers and musicians who got me interested in the music and content creation industries. There are people who I’ve been a fan of since I was a tween who I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with in some way, and it’s a very surreal feeling. I remember having posters of specific bands on my walls as a kid and watching certain content creators at the same time in my life. To know that I can call those people my peers, and that people have photos of those same bands that I have taken on their wall now is wild to comprehend, but I’m grateful for it.

How Drexel Helped Me:  Drexel gave me the opportunity to unlock passions that I didn’t know I had. I wasn’t interested in music journalism or music photography until I began to take writing and photography classes, and I started going to concerts in the city. A special topics class on game culture made me realize I’d like to dabble in that professionally, even though I was only taking it as an elective! Working with the Drexel Publishing Group and Creative Writing MFA on my co-op and work study also gave me the opportunities to manage publications at a larger scale than the one I had founded. By the time I had graduated I was able to transfer over much of what I learned to my own publication’s workflow. The culture at Drexel is wonderful as well. People support each other’s endeavors however they can; it’s a wonderful community to be immersed in.

My Greatest Source of Motivation:  Other people and a sense of community. Be it seeing someone else make something super cool and deciding I want to give it a try myself, or hearing kind words from someone who follows my stream, I find that those who surround me are who drive me. Just knowing that people care about the content I make, whether it be related to my magazine or my stream, makes me want to do better and better each time. They’re all right with me taking breaks now and then to slow down, brainstorm and avoid burnout as well. Knowing they’re so understanding and that they just care at the end of the day makes me want to be the best version of myself, providing the best version of my content for them.

Where I Hope to Be in Five Years:  I hope to be partnered on Twitch and editing videos/making art for other creators in my spare time. There’s a bunch of streaming-related milestones I’d like to hit, but in general I’d just like to grow the community around what I create as much as I can and continue to foster it as a positive and inclusive space. As for my magazine, I’d like to see us continue to give opportunities to those who are interested in entering the music industry, while also growing the roster of artists we work with. The future is always changing — so long as I’m happy with what I’m creating, then I’m content.

If My Life Were a Music Video, the Song Would Be:  “Stargazing” by The Neighbourhood. I always categorize periods in my life by the music I listened to during it, and that one’s been pretty consistent in my playlists over the past year!