Aspiring Chef to Axios Associate Editor With Spencer Bokat-Lindell, Axios [re-release]

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Spencer Bokat-Lindell is an Associate Editor* at the online media outlet Axios, Greek for “worthy.” But well before he was simplifying expert opinions to make them worthy of the public’s time, he was peeling white asparagus at Colicchio & Sons restaurant in Manhattan where he interned one summer during college. Spencer has worn many hats since he began his collegiate career at Yale University: he started his freshman year as a Chemistry major and aspiring chef, then realizing neither was the right fit for him, switched to a French major with a heavy load of writing and extracurriculars. Case in point: he spent three years with the nation’s oldest a cappella group, Yale’s “Whiffenpoofs,” including a gap year in which he and his fellow singers performed across the globe on a world tour. He then returned to school to graduate with a French degree in May 2017. Today he’s thriving at Axios, where he’s living proof that going with the flow can help you end up where you want to be professionally, at least for now!

*Spencer is now a Staff Editor at The New York Times.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• What the day-to-day of an Associate Editor at a major online news publication looks like
• How not to be totally intimidated when you’re in an entry-level editing position and are working on stories written by famous policy wonks
• How to approach complex foreign policy stories to make them more understandable to the general public
• How to change gears in college when you realize you’re not on the right career path
• How extracurriculars in college can really change your life for the better
• Why you often don’t have to major in the field you want to work in