In 2006, I had the opportunity to help create and launch Pop City, one of the country’s earliest online city magazines, in partnership with Issue Media Group.
As Pop City’s first publisher, I worked with the launch team to develop its name, visual identity and editorial direction. Our mission was simple but ambitious: tell a different story about Pittsburgh—one that celebrated its innovators, entrepreneurs, neighborhoods and the people quietly reshaping the city.
At the time, much of the national conversation about Pittsburgh was still rooted in its industrial past. Pop City looked forward. Week after week, we highlighted new ideas, emerging businesses, adaptive reuse projects, community leaders and creative people who believed Pittsburgh’s best days were still ahead.
Looking back nearly twenty years later, I’m struck by how many of those stories helped foreshadow the city’s transformation. This work also reinforced something I’ve carried throughout my career: changing places often begins by changing the conversation.
Below is one of Pop City’s early editions, preserved here as part of my professional archive.
