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As part of our Ten Years of Nerve retrospective, we bring you a series of interviews with the people who made, and continue to make, the publication happen. Today, Nerve editor Gwynne Watkins talks to Emma Taylor and Lorelei Sharkey, the former Nerve editors, advice columnists and authors of The Big Bang and Nerve's Guide to Sexual Etiquette.
How did you both end up at Nerve?
Lorelei Sharkey: I was working at a small literary arts magazine in Boston. It was hellish. A few months after Nerve launched, a college friend of mine wrote me and said he was working for the company that was serving the ads for Nerve. And he was like, you have to check it out, it's totally cool, this job was made for you. So I looked at the site, loved it. That night I started putting my letter and resume together, and sent it down. Within a week they had called me.
Emma Taylor: I was working at Tripod.com. I'd been reading Nerve since the day it launched and wanted to work there. One day Gen and Rufus had made an appointment to meet with the CEO of Tripod. The CEO had totally forgotten them and was out of town. I was the head of the editorial department, so the receptionist called me and said can you come talk to
these people, please? Which I was totally psyched about. So I had this meeting with Ruf and Genevieve and was telling them why a partnership with Tripod might work for them, but I was telling them about a community space, and how that would be good for Nerve, and kind of dropping into the conversation that I had experience in that. A few days later, Rufus emailed, and was trying to find out if it would be bad form for him to recruit me. Everyone at Tripod knew I was ready to leave and move down to the city, so I interviewed with Nerve with Tripod's blessings.
How was the interview?
Lo: I definitely remember not knowing what to expect. I read everything that they had published up to that point which was possible back then, because it had only been a couple of months. I read that one story "How to Screw a Coot," which has the characters Genevieve and Rufus, and it was unclear how much of it was fiction and how much was nonfiction, if any. I didn't know if they were going to be dressed provocatively, if they were going to conduct the interview with Genevieve on his lap. Or if they were going to ask me questions about my own sexuality. So I came prepared for anything. I was so relieved when they were so charming and sophisticated and cool and laid back and not perverts.
Emma: Like Lorelei, I printed out every single article Nerve had ever published and read them all and got my little stock of anecdotes ready.
"Somebody once told us that they liked our advice because we had morals but weren't moralistic."
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I was convinced they were going to ask me stuff, like, you know, "How did you lose your virginity?" or the craziest sex things you've ever done. And I was thinking, I don't really have many stories; I guess I could tell them I just bought a vibrator. And then, of course, we just sat there and drank tea and talked business strategy and editorial content, and it was really sophisticated.
What was the daily vibe in the office?
Emma: My first day at Nerve, Rufus had said people usually show up at around ten or so. I showed up at ten to ten, because I was nervous and wanted to make a good impression. Rufus took a long time to come to the door, and I'm pretty sure he answered in his boxers. It was clear he had been asleep when I rang the doorbell. And he was like, "I'll be right back," and ran and put on some clothes. It was an hour and a half before anybody else showed up to work.
Lo: I came there in December of '97 and Em came a year later. And Jack came soon after me, a month after me I think. When Emma came, it was still really small, just like five to seven people. And it really was the greatest job you could have as a twentysomething in New York City. We worked hard, but we were so psyched to do it. And we had access to all of those industry internet parties that had open bar. At twenty-five, that is a huge deal.
Do you think Nerve was typical of what was going on with the dotcoms at the time, or do you think it was a more unique sort of office?
Em: There were definitely ways that Nerve was similar, but there were so many other young people working for them who were like, "I can't believe I'm in this job, it's so great." I think the difference was that a lot of these other companies seemed to have a lot more money, and that's
why I think Nerve parties were so good, because we would just have to be a little more creative to make it so that Nerve parties were the talk of the town.
What Nerve parties do you remember most vividly?
Em: The first one at 520 [Broadway, Nerve's current office] was my first big Nerve party, which was really fun, I thought. That was their first one with the exhibitionist booth, right?
Lo: Yeah, people got totally into that. There was always a huge turnout. It's really easy when you're in New York to feel that you're not in the cool group. No matter where you go, there's always these ridiculously supermodel-beautiful people doing cool things. And it was really great to feel like an insider at those parties.
How did you become Em and Lo?
Em: It started from day one. We were working together launching NerveCenter, sharing a desk, sharing a phone line, kind of on top of each other. Fortunately we got along straightaway.
Lo: I was so nervous when she came: "Oh, please, don't let her be a bitch!"
Em: NerveCenter was such a bonding thing, because it was so many crazy late nights. We would work nights, and then we'd go out to all the internet parties together. NerveCenter's voice was different from Nerve's voice: a little less highbrow, a little more welcoming, fun, relaxed. We started developing this voice. Then, once the Nerve Personals were up, somebody suggested, "Hey, it would be fun to have an advice column to go along with the personals." Before anyone could suggest hiring somebody who had some experience, we offered ourselves up.
Em: We came up with the Em and Lo Down.
Lo: We wanted it to be from women but not sound like your typical uptight women's magazine sex advice. We wanted to be fun and funny and female positive, but all-inclusive, for gays and lesbians and straight people. And have a conscience. Somebody once told us that they liked our advice because we had morals but weren't moralistic.
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