By Lauren Farberman
Staff Writer
When he graduated high school, Mira Costa alumnus Daniel Riley’s skills in journalism helped him write his way to New York City, where he landed his current job at GQ Magazine.
Riley was a member of the Costa 2004 graduating class. He has been interested in journalism since he was 10 years old, when he first gained an affinity for reading magazines and newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times.
“Growing up, I loved to read, especially newspapers and magazines,” Riley said. “What really interested me about magazines and newspapers so much was that I could gain insight of the world outside the community around me.”
Riley was involved with Costa’s newspaper publication course throughout high school. He spent one year as a staff writer and the remaining three as an opinion editor. Riley says his involvement in journalism during school aided him in finding his passion.
“I don’t know how or why exactly, but I was interested in being a writer by the time I got to high school,” Riley said. “I grew up loving to read and write, so it was something that felt natural to me.”
After graduating from Costa, Riley went on to study at Duke University, thinking he wanted to major in English and write fiction. Even though Riley planned on focusing on different areas of study besides journalism, some of his classes were able to give him more exposure to the writing styles seen in magazines or newspapers, which further drove him to pursue his current career.
“College was the first place I moved into magazine-esque feature writing, and I also took a few magazine and narrative non-fiction courses,” Riley said. “I was also able to intern at a magazine called Radar in New York the summer going into my senior year of college.”
After interning at Radar, Riley interned at Slate Magazine, which is also located in New York City. Riley’s work at Radar and Slate Magazine eventually landed him a job at the men’s fashion and style news magazine Gentlemen’s Quarterly, or GQ, as an assistant editor.
“Landing the job at GQ was pretty standard for many magazine jobs in that I initially sent a resume and cover letter,” Riley said. “It was a good job that was available, but I didn’t realize at the time how good and how rare it was.”
Riley has been working at GQ since August 2008 and is currently a senior editor. His job consists of primarily editing and occasionally writing. Riley’s main obligation is to edit stories for GQ’s contract writers, those who write solely for GQ. Riley edits for every section except fashion.
“I like a lot about the job, but probably the thing that gets me most excited, even after seven years, is having a fixed amount of time to pull together an experience for a reader that’s as good as or better than every issue before it,” Riley said.
Riley says when he is writing a story the total process, which includes lining up interviews, traveling for reporting and writing itself, can take anywhere from a day or a month, depending on whether it is for the website or print magazine.
“I have been fortunate to have written about people prevalent in today’s culture,” Riley said. “I’ve never been starstruck, but it’s pretty cool to say that I have interviewed Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, among others.”
While Riley said he has found his niche through his job at GQ, he still is highly interested in fiction writing. In November 2015, he sold a novel to the publishing house Little Brown that is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2017. He hopes to continue his job at GQ as well as writing fiction novels in the future.
“Once my first novel is published, I would like to get a second one published a few years after that,” Riley said. “I definitely love all different forms of writing and storytelling whether it be narrative, non-fiction, fiction, film or TV.”
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