The Hustle Issue

Fresh out of college, I moved to London to embark on my career, offering to work for free as a fashion assistant just to get my foot in the door. Strapped for cash, I traded nightly housekeeping duties at a hostel near Victoria for a bottom bunk in a room with seven Australian and South African Guys. In the hostel’s lobby was a pool table, and with some coaching from my new roommates, my skills became fairly decent. My hustle was even better. Good enough on most nights to relieve the American travelers who happened by of 10 to 20 quid – money for food and a tube ticket each day.

Before long I landed my first paying job in the fashion world. The way I see it, I've been hustling in one way or another ever since. And I’m not the only one. Americans are a nation of hustlers. Always have been.

In London, where I honed my game, the European aristocracy was still very much a thing. People were born into the upper class, or they weren't. America may not be quite the meritocracy we like to think it is, but it’s long been a hustler’s paradise – even more so since the Internet hummed to life, turning seemingly anyone with a smartphone, a social media account, and a healthy dose of bravado into an overnight millionaire and a small-screen superstar.

Even in this golden era of hustle, there are no guarantees. But there is a chance. You figure out what you've got, and you exploit it to the hilt. You take your shot. Then you take another. You hit every angle. And sometimes you are a little shameless. You want it bad.
.
.
“Hustle is what separates the good from the great,” my creative director aptly pointed out when we discussed ideas for the issue. It’s working harder, faster, and smarter, or sometimes just having more swagger than the next guy.

Whatever strategy you land on, the key is to work it. From one hustler to another: respect.

Kate Lanphear, Editor in Chief
Maxim Magazine
Former Style Director at T: The New York Times Style Magazine and Elle