Today’s feature is…pretty close to the coolest. Melissa Lafsky’s spends her day as Newsweek‘s iPad editor, scooping handfuls of M&Ms while she helps the publication churn out content all day long. She is a Beatle groupie, a Brooklyn foodie, and a lover of horror films–Jaws to be specific. In an effort not to speak over this incredibly talented, wildly respected, and utterly witty lady, we encourage you to get to know her yourself. Follow her on Twitter @Lafsky and download the Newsweek iPad app for the 411.
What are your top 5 restaurants in NYC? I’ve become so Brooklyn-centered, it’s ridiculous. They’re almost all in my neighborhood:
- James
- Frannys
- R&D
- Spotted Pig: The only burger I will travel into Manhattan for.
- Flex Mussels: My husband and I are obsessed. The pun was enough to get us in the door, but the mussels are ridiculous. Try the Thai broth. There are a couple locations, but we like the one in Chelsea.
Where are your top 5 places to shop, in store, in NYC? I’m at the office so much, most of my shopping consists of sample sales at Chelsea Market – I do a lap through whenever I get a break.
- Intermix: When you’re ready to pony up some cash – each location has a slightly different selection, so I tend to avoid the one in Soho since it seems to cater entirely to models and trophy wives.
- Barneys co-op: It’s a great for work pieces – even if you hate the annual sale, the store has a good sale rack on any given day.
- Joe Fresh: Impressed me.
- WiNK: Fun boutique.
What are your top 5 places to shop online?
- Bluefly: It was my salvation during grad school, and it holds an eternal place in my heart.
- Bergdorf Goodman: I bought wedding shoes on Bergdorf.com, and it was a pretty exceptional shopping experience – though honestly it should be, for the price.
- Ebay: It’s still great for bizarre things you’re not sure why you need, like art deco candelabras with beaded fringe.
- Foundforthehome.com: I’ve been nesting, so it’s a fave destination.
- Potterybarn.com: We just bought a bed from and it was a fantastic experience – they called me several times to make sure everything was correct, scheduled delivery when I wanted it, showed up early and assembled everything, then cleaned up afterward! I was floored.
What is the last piece of clothing or makeup you purchased? I had to replenish my supply of J Brand jeans. Suffice it to say the old ones no longer fit (I blame all those free M&Ms in the Newsweek office).
Are your purchases planned or spontaneous? Since I hit 30, shopping has gotten more planned every year. As has just about everything else.
When shopping online, do you purchase from your iPad, desktop, laptop or phone? iPad of course! It’s where I spend a huge chunk of my day. I haven’t fully bought in to mobile – a lot of the platforms still aren’t great. In a few years, that’ll change. Also, mobile wallet!
What song are you currently listening to on repeat? We recently finished a special issue for iPad all about the Beatles, tied to the band’s 50th anniversary. It was basically the happiest few weeks of my life, since I’m one of those obsessive stand-outside-the-Dakota-on-
What is your standard 4pm desk snack? You can tell what kind of day I’m having by my snack choice.
- Calm day: Smartfood popcorn (also free in our office – one of the few healthy choices) or a piece of fruit.
- Crazy day: fistfuls of M&Ms.
When was the last time you laughed so hard your stomach hurt? Yesterday on a flight back from New Mexico to New York. The flight attendant announced that they’d found an absurdly embarrassing CD, like “Ultimate Banned WWF Theme Songs” or something, and did anyone want to claim it at the front of the plane? My husband then pantomimed the whole event. I laughed ‘til other passengers started to look worried. We joke that I married him because he cracks me up. It’s not entirely untrue.
You are a horror writer for The Awl. How did this come about? I’m friends, of a sort, with the Awl’s brilliant founders, Alex Balk and Choire Sicha. When they launched the site, they sent an email saying they needed writers. I’d written movie reviews for them before, so I said I’d do a movie column – but I’d only write about horror films.
Have you always taken interest in horror films? Horror is such an under appreciated genre. People always say that about the things they love that not everyone else does, but this time it’s true!
What’s your favorite horror flick? Jaws. And I’m always looking for a movie that will leave me genuinely scared. Watching horror is a way of getting to know humanity better. Even if it’s sick, sick stuff, I just marvel that someone thought this up, and executed it (pun intended). And chances are, they weren’t the first!
Since launching Newsweek’s iPad edition in 2011, what have you learned about readers’ wants when consuming information and images on the iPad? Once you’ve got people reading mags on the iPad (or tablet) they’re hooked. The people who download Newsweek every week on their iPads spend an astonishing about of time reading it – they look at literally millions of pages and they’ll even spend time looking at ads (which can be interactive and fun).
People love the pagination – you’re still turning pages, or swiping to them, as it were. It’s not like reading a website at all. It’s a cohesive reading experience. And people love to see what they’re reading about – when we have a story about how amazing Julie Taymor’s work was on The Lion King, people want to see highlights from the show – costumes, opening numbers, etc.
If you could interview anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why? I just want Christopher Hitchens back. If only to see what he has to say about Mitt Romney.
Your resume is very impressive! What is one story that stands out to you as a piece that shaped your career as a journalist? Thank you! My favorite reported story was a piece I did for the New York Times Science section. It was about anesthesia awareness – people who undergo surgery, then say they were “awake” the whole time, but imprisoned and unable to move or speak in their own bodies. They say they felt the whole procedure. It’s horrifying, to say the least. I wasn’t trained as a reporter – I quit law to start a media career. This was the first piece that I took from start to finish – I pitched it to the editor, he accepted it, I reported it out, made edits, and then there it was, in the Times. And it made the “Most Emailed “list. At that point I realized “ok, I can do this.”
If you could write about anything, what would it be? I don’t love writing about my personal life (anymore, that is), but I do like expressing an insight that I think can help us all live a happier life. There’s a lot of unnecessary misery lying around that we could eliminate pretty easily. Why not target that?
