Name: Morgan First
Age: 24
Location: Boston, MA
Education: B.A. in Marketing Communications from Emerson College in Boston; minors in entrepreneurship, photography, and publishing
Job Title: Founder and editor in chief of First Publications
What She Does: Morgan’s main publishing project is a combination planner and guide to Boston called the Motion Affair Planner (MAP). The idea came when she was traveling around Europe and got tired of carrying her planner and Let’s Go guidebook. “It’d be perfect if they were the same thing,” she realized. So Morgan created a planner whose weekly pages feature a different location around Boston with a description, subway directions, and other info, encouraging readers to get out and explore their city. It was originally targeted at local college students, but young professionals around Boston and others who are new to the area have also gotten excited about the guide.
How She Got Her Gig: A magazine lover from a young age, Morgan always knew that she wanted to work in publishing. But she had an epiphany during her junior year of college. “I’m probably the worst speller you’ve ever met,” she admits. “I really wanted to go into publishing, but the way most people break in is through the production route or through copy editing. I just don’t think my eye is design- or production-oriented, and no one would want to hire me as a copy editor.” Instead, Morgan graduated a semester early and persuaded her father to let her use the money he would have spent on tuition as seed money for her start-up company. He agreed, and the first edition of MAP Boston came out in the summer of 2006. “Everything came together and I was able to skip that middle step,” she explains. “It’s like grad school.”
Entrepreneurship 101: Morgan credits her entrepreneurship professor, Karl Baehr, with encouraging her to take the idea and run with it. “I e-mailed him saying, ‘I’m terribly sorry, but I won’t be returning.’ He e-mailed me saying, ‘We will miss you, but that is fantastic. That’s the best news I could get.’ After I graduated, Karl let me come back and attend just that one class.” Morgan has also been mentoring students in Emerson’s entrepreneurship program and will return in the fall to teach social networking and social media.
On-the-Job Advice: Morgan is a big believer in networking, both online and in person. She says it’s so important to “connect yourself to other networks so you have the support of other people. When you’re working those long hours, you want to talk to someone who works those hours too and sees the rewards.” She’s a regular on sites like Facebook and Yelp (where many of her friends are also MAP fans), and she joined the Mayor’s Advisory Board, the Boston chapter of Ladies Who Launch, and Boston Young Entrepreneurs.
Gender Bender: Morgan admits that she sometimes felt uncomfortable networking or doing business with so many men. But as the business grew, Morgan became more comfortable and gained confidence with all types of people. “Don’t get discouraged when you’re the only female in the room,” she advises. “I felt like I had to change my personality, and it made me realize that [being myself was actually] my strength. Don’t feel like you have to change your personality.”
This Job’s for You if: You have the confidence to “walk into a room and know what you’re doing,” she says. A positive attitude helps too. “Regardless of their industry, the most successful business owners have an infectious energy that they can pass on to other people.”
