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At the wee age of 25, David Haskell has made a name for himself as the editor of Topic magazine, an old-school, anti-glossy magazine that publishes nonfiction writing and photography on only one topic at a time. In this exclusive IMterview, David tells us what it takes to be a takes media social climber (lots of gay coffee dates, apparently), how to survive a childhood without John Hughes, and of the superior singles scene in Barcelona.

Jessica: Alright, you're a cute guy. You're personable. Why are you doing boring old print stuff?
Jessica: I mean, you could TOTALLY work the hottie-on-tv thing, or be a new media whore...
David: Right. Media whore. That is absolutely not what I was planning when we started this magazine...

Jessica: Ha. Never what we intend, now is it? But what were you planning?
David: Well, something that I'd want to read that didn't sound like the other magazines I like.
David: I think the idea of the smart magazine is sort of sexy, but I felt like reading the current crop of smart magazines was a little like sitting at the grown-up table at your parents boring dinner party.
David: At the same time, my parents had some weird thing about shielding me from pop culture (never saw Jaws, Sixteen Candles, you name it), and so I have no relationship with the trendier lifestyle mags like Esquire and GQ.
Jessica: Why did they do that?! NO SIXTEEN CANDLES? MY GOD. My parents made me throw out all of my Baby-Sitters' Club books in third grade, and I thought that was harsh...but life without Molly Ringwald...
David: I think they said that we'd get enough real life from real life, which is fair. I have no complaints. But my boyfriend just rolls my eyes whenever there's an 80s movie reference, because chances are I don't get it or I'm faking it.
Jessica: I don't know if I should pity you or not. Have you at least seen the Breakfast Club? For Sociology 101 or something?
David: When I was 19 or something. Surrounded by people who had each seen it 19 times. It felt weird (and looked stupid, I gotta say). All of this is not to say that my parents didn't like culture. On the contrary, I think my dad took me to every heel-kicking Broadway number that opened between 1983 and 1990.
Jessica: So a childhood spent around Broadway — did you know you were gay at an early age?
David: Not well enough, apparently. I came out my sophomore year of college, and that basically came about because a boy turned around and kissed me. We dated for two years after that.
Jessica: That s a good way for it to go down. Moving on Topic kind of reminds me of the lit mag Granta, if Granta had frosting and came with little prizes. How do you think you compare?
David: Well-spotted. We really wanted to be like Granta when we started. In fact, one of the guys who started Granta (Jon Levi) gave us a pep talk about shooting big and being ballsy. But from the very beginning we had no interest in fiction, and more and more we ended up taking the opposite approach of Granta. They publish the Best Writers Alive and let them write on pretty much any topic. We publish one topic at a time, exclusively, and we are much less interested in the style of the writer than in the voice of the contributor.
Jessica: Interesting. I m glad you mentioned Jon Levi... How'd you get in touch with him?
David: He spoke at Yale right before I graduated. I think we stayed in touch because we tracked down his email address. That's pretty much how we do anything here.
Jessica: So you just approached him once you went to graduate school at Cambridge?
David: Yeah, and then we got coffee one morning when I was back in NY for Christmas. I got very good at reminding people that they had agreed to coffee a few months before.
Jessica: A good skill to have... What about your acquaintance, Talk magazine man David Kuhn? How'd you come into contact with him?
David: Let's see. I also got very good at asking people I met who else I should meet, so I think there were a few different connections. But name-dropping in an interview is like farting in public, don't you think?
Jessica: Yep. And we're doing it.
Jessica: Because, basically, you are remarkably well-connected for 25. And I think it's worthwhile to talk about how you got to that point.
David: Sure, okay. For starters, I wasn't living in New York for the two years of starting the magazine. So that made an enormous difference. Who wants to meet someone living in Brooklyn who has a great idea for a magazine and is really excited and is just planning their first issue? That's everyone in my neighborhood.
David: Secondly, this whole email thing is a fantastic invention. everyone has one! And often the people who are most interesting/powerful/etc are the least likely to know how to hide their email from the public.
Jessica: I know! Like, Anderson Cooper? C mon, think of a better email handle, like Spanky911 or something.
David: You get good at spotting a writer who posted a note - with his email - on some auction site about a cd he bought in 1997, and you're golden. Then, you write an email, and you don't feel bad because if they don't want to respond, they dont.
Jessica: So you literally just emailed people, met for coffee, and worked as many connections as you could?
David: I think that there are a lot of people out there in the media world, especially based in NYC, who know Topic and have a nice and happy feeling associated with it (a "those young kids are neat, aren't they?" sort of thing). But that's not the same thing as "working connections," because we weren't really asking for much. There are a few people who really pulled through and had coffee and gave us some advice, and I'm very grateful to them.
Jessica: Like who?
David: Well, I tried to email Victor Navasky, publisher of The Nation, but something got fucked up. So someone was like, call him, and I thought I would leave a message w/ his secretary to ask him to check his email. But then he picked up, which scared the shit out of me. But I asked if we could meet and he said yes, so we met the next day at his office.
David: The other two people who have given me a lot of coffee time are David Kuhn and New York editor Adam Moss. David hosted our recent reading, which was enormously nice of him. But, in both cases, they have been most helpful as advice-givers. I had never worked at a magazine before. There was a lot to learn.
Jessica: And, again, you just got in touch with them, said you needed help, and they came to your side. Did you send them a picture of yourself too?
Jessica: It s just, well, I'm looking at your circle of big supporters and I'm really wondering: is there a Gay Mafia?
David: Right, the Gay Mafia. It's true that every time you turn around in New York, and especially in media-New York, and especially in the top jobs, all these homosexuals keep popping up.
David: And I also think that one looks after one's kind
Jessica: Agreed. So what's a straight girl like myself to do?
David: I think the best superficial thing I've got going for me is my youth. I think it's like: look, he's nice, this is cool, and he's only 25. But that's fleeting, and if you don't become impressive in your own right soon, then it's over. So all I'm saying is sure, it's a brutal world, and I'll shower before I get coffee w/ anyone. But if someone's just interested in what I look like, it's not a very interesting breakfast.
Jessica: Well, I'm 24, I can pretend I'm nice in person, and I can work the cute thing with the proper makeup application But it s a big gay media world, so how do I get myself a media sugar daddy?
David: Don't worry - you're not really at a disadvantage. Anyone who's going to get coffee with me just because I'm gay will probably get bored soon anyway, and I have NO CLUE about how to get any sugar. Topic's broke!
Jessica: So, if Topic is broke, how are you putting issues out?
David: Like a lemonade stand. Pitcher by pitcher.
Jessica: And how do you support yourself personally?
David: I waited tables for a year when I moved here last august. Then I couldn't bring myself to do it anymore, so I edit application essays for earnest Indians applying to Harvard Business School. I'm not sure it's any better.
Jessica: Basically, a lot of people on the proverbial "inside" see you as a lesson on making it in NYC. Do you see that in yourself? Or are you just a really awesome flirt?
David: Yikes! I'm not an awesome flirt, first of all. Thank God I've got a boyfriend, because meeting people in NYC is a shitshow (it was much easier in Barcelona, where I didn't understand them and they thought I looked like an American porn star). And as for the lesson on making it big, I'll keep that in mind next time I edit another essay on another Burmese village that received another $4K from another college charity.
David: I'm not complaining; I think Topic's the best job I could have right now - but I think it's a little misplaced to see me as "making it."
Jessica: Well, we ll just say you re on your way, then. Now, on to the important questions: What grooming products do you use? You're a Kiehl's guy, I know it.
David: My boyfriend's got this fantastic collection of stuff in his bathroom - it's sort of like a playground. There's definitely lots of Kiehl's products, including something that keeps my hair from looking dumb.
Jessica: Ha. Great. So, television...now that you're a grown-up, I assume you indulge in some pop culture trash?
David: VH1 is candy, but honestly I can't remember what the last thing is I watched. In one ear, out the other. I tape Charlie Rose like the dork I am, though.
Jessica: We all do. And your final question: what's your one piece of advice to all the people under 30 who want to be be-loved and be-published?
David: Leave New York, or at least leave the New York scene, and do something that's different. Then come back and show your stuff.
Jessica: Okay, great. So that about wraps it up
David: Oh, I forgot. I just want to say that The OC is totally gay. Does anyone else see that? It's literally just a gay love story with a lot of hot chicks running around.
Jessica: Totally, Seth and Ryan are going to do it.
David: Totally. Series finale.