When Aaron Edwards started as a journalism major at Ithaca College, he hadn’t so much as written a newspaper article. Nevertheless, he became the editor-in-chief of the college’s student paper, The Ithacan. And when he graduated in 2012 thinking he’d become a news reporter, he didn’t expect that he’d become an editor for a digital media company, or that he’d be named one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30.”
Along with fellow alumnus Tariq Meyers ’14, Edwards is one of 600 talented young people identified by Forbes as stars to watch in their industries for 2018. Others on the list include actor Zoe Kravitz, R&B singer Khalid and baseball player Jose Altuve.
Meyers, who is the first-ever head of inclusion and diversity at Lyft, was named to the consumer technology list. Edwards is on the list of media professionals.
“It’s a vote of confidence to keep trying and striving for meaningful and interesting work,” Edwards said.
Edwards is the special projects editor at The Outline, an online outlet covering power, culture and the future. He was picked personally by the organization’s CEO to help develop its editorial strategy. In his current role, he helps shepherd stories through to publication by supporting collaboration between editors, designers and developers.
“That can mean sitting in on a meeting with developers about what they’re building, it can mean working directly with an editor on a piece to give it that extra push, or it can mean working with a designer to make the story pop,” said Edwards. “I really love sitting at the intersection of all those different pieces and helping those groups talk to each other.”
Before joining The Outline, Edwards helped to develop the Buzzfeed News app, worked as a news producer for Digital First Media and was a James Reston Reporting Fellow for The New York Times.
Edwards credited Ithaca College student media advisor Michael Serino with helping him grow intellectually and journalistically. When Edwards was writing entertainment and theatre reviews, Serino challenged him to try writing news.
“He pushed me to go to the next level and helped me to envision myself in roles that I never would have seen myself in,” Edwards said.