Photo by Madison Boyce
Written by Richie Oliver
Have you ever wanted to know more about the team behind Legends of Tomorrow? In this new series, I will be sitting down with the different people that make up our publication, taking a deep dive into what inspires them, what lights their fire, and what it means to create.
In this first of the series, I sat down with Jennifer Moglia, editor for Legends of Tomorrow. When not writing and editing, Jen delves into the world of sports, writing about hockey for prestigious publications.
In 2019, Jen would deliver a TED Talk through the TED-Ed Student Talks Program, where she would share about how sports helped with her anxiety. I sat down virtually with Jen on March 22nd, and we discussed life, writing, music, and what it means to be seen.
Richie Oliver: Did you ever think you would accomplish so much by seventeen?
Jennifer Moglia: No, that's the short answer. I had a hard time growing up for a number of reasons.
Obviously, everyone has their shit, I say it all the time, and between family stuff and growing up where I grew up on Long Island...it's a very "uppity" kind of area. If you're not in with the "popular" group, you're an outcast.
I just grew up in an area where it was really hard to fit in. I had my own stuff with my family and I had my own mental health stuff as well...I started going to therapy when I was 12.
I had a really rough time growing up, to say the least, and I feel like that almost propelled me to accomplish a lot of the things that I've gotten to do. I very much had this attitude of “I'm going to prove everybody wrong,” which I wouldn't recommend. (laughs)
I feel like it's not the best way to go about things. You should do things for yourself and things that make yourself happy not to spite anybody, but it did really help me.
I would think to myself, “Okay, these people think I can't do this. Well, I'm going to do it anyway and I'll show them.” I think that attitude really pushed me and helped me to get a lot of stuff done.
That's a long version of the answer. I honestly have no idea how I even got here sometimes, but yeah, I'm just just happy to be where I am and happy to have experienced what I've experienced.
RO: I watched your TED Talk. Were you a theater kid?
JM: No! I wanted to be.
At my school and in my school district, drama is this super big thing. In middle school, literally, everyone did it. On days where they would have rehearsals, you would maybe have like two or three kids in the classroom because everybody would be there all day.
The reason why I never ended up doing it is because the first drama club meeting in middle school was the same day as the Community Action Club, which I was already a member of. The Food Drive was coming up and I couldn't not help with the Food Drive. (laughs)
I just never ended up joining. I did an after school drama program in elementary school, and I loved it.
That really influenced how much I love public speaking and how much I love events like that, and just being on a stage and talking and writing. I love stuff like that, obviously, and that that's something that really fueled it. I
've been going to Broadway shows with my grandma since I was three years old, too. I saw Mamma Mia in a little booster seat in the theater.
I'm a wannabe theater kid, but I very much appreciate theater kids. That's my stance. (laughs)
RO: Personally, you've crossed sports and music through journalism. Are there any other points that meet between sports and music for you besides journalism?
JM: I've made a lot of friends through both of those things, and both of those things are the reason why I'm on Twitter. I joined Twitter when I was 12, and I think my first username was something with Harry Styles in it. (laughs) I was very much a One Direction kid.
I initially really was only on social media for One Direction, Taylor Swift, and artists like that. I made a lot of friends that way when I was younger.
Then when I was really into hockey and baseball, I met a lot of friends through that on Twitter. I mean, I say it all the time, I wouldn't have gotten my first writing jobs if it wasn't for the hockey community on Twitter; like straight up. It's just a matter of following the right people and connecting with the right people.
That's a whole other conversation about why I think social media is so cool and why I think it's the future, but yeah, definitely have found friends through both and both have really been my entire life at certain points. I've had weeks where I was at a hockey game every other night. I've had weeks where I went to four Mets games in a row in four days, and obviously following tours is something that a lot of people in our kind of circles do, like traveling around for a weekend or a week or whatever it is.
I think that other places where sports and music overlap for me other than with friendships are with just traveling and getting new experiences, like there are places that I've been to that I wouldn't have gone to if it wasn't for sports or for music. When my mom and I went to Nashville a couple of summers ago, and I loved it, I think it's a beautiful city, but I would have never gone if I wasn't really into watching the Nashville Predators that year.
That's what really made me want to go when I was younger. Both have really opened a lot of doors for me career-wise, but also just like in my personal life and helping me experience things.
RO: What lights the flame for writing?
JM: On a surface level, I've always been somebody who's wanted to help people.
When I was little and people had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said a librarian because I love to read. I went to the library all the time when I was a little kid; these people just helped me find books and then I loved the books! (laughs)
As I was growing up, I didn't really know what I wanted to be when people would ask me. I would say, “I just want to help people.”
It was around that time that I got into sports journalism. I figured, "I just really like talking about sports, I really like writing, why not do both?"
As far as music journalism has gone, I've met a lot of really great people, and in that same vein, I've gotten to help out a lot of people that I care about. My first piece for Legends of Tomorrow was a review of Chris Russo Jr. from Highwind's song "Afterlife (Acoustic)." Now he's one of my favorite people in the world, I love him.
I think that's that's kind of what motivates me with music journalism. Aside from just liking writing about music, I feel like I am making an impact and helping people in some way.
I mean, you can see it on Twitter when we cover smaller artists. They love it, they reply to us, they retweet the reviews.
In terms of creative writing, I write a lot of poetry and I am very much a poetry slam kid. I'm the president of poetry slam at my school.
I had used it as an outlet for so long where if I didn't know how to verbalize my feelings or I felt like I didn't have a place to talk about it, I would just write about it. Poetry and spoken word came super easily to me where I would just write these rants and they would become poems.
To summarize it - on a professional level, it's about helping people and contributing to something that's bigger than myself. On a personal, more creative level, it's been a big outlet for me.
RO: You've done a TED Talk, you edit for Legends of Tomorrow, you write about hockey, you’re a fan of the WWE. How do you define the word “tenacity?”
JM: I think as someone who, like I said, had kind of a weird background and a hard time growing up, I feel like I've had to be really resilient. It would have been very easy for me to just lay down and die.
That sounds dark. I don't mean that literally, but I've gone through a lot of shit.
It would have been really easy for me to give up on a lot of things. One of those things is school. I am insane about my grades; if all my averages aren't above a certain number, my head explodes, because I'm just that kind of student. (laughs)
I feel like when things just kind of started getting bad for me, it would have been really easy for me to just be like, “fuck it. I'm going to fail my classes and not give a shit and everyone can deal with it.” I think about that with a lot of things in my life.
With writing, the first couple of places that I wrote for, I had an insane work ethic. I was turning out like three or four pieces a month that were thousands of words. Because I had that passion for it, that kept me going.
I'm a firm believer that tenacity and persistence is something that you need to have. It is tiring, like a thousand percent.
I even had this like breakdown last night where I was like, “I feel like I've been fighting for 18 years of my life and I just want to stop. I just want a break.” I think everybody gets like that sometimes.
I think it's a matter of what you do when you feel like that. Do you just like to stay in bed and rot all day and do nothing? I do that sometimes.
I think that, you know, having persistence, having tenacity, having that tendency to get up when you're knocked down is just something that's so crucial, especially for working in music. I think that throughout my life I've had to kind of show myself that yeah, the good stuff is worth getting through that bad stuff.
RO: What would you like your epitaph to say?
JM: I feel like I can take it in a really stupid direction or a really deep direction. (laughs) My serious answer to that is from a Rich People song because they're my favorite band.
My favorite song for them is called “White Mark,” and the main lyric in the bridge of that song is “I want to be all the way and unafraid to be,” which is my motto. It's in all my bios on all of my social media accounts.
The last time that I saw Rich People, which was the last normal show that I went to before Covid and also the last Rich People show with the original lineup, I had them all write that out for me. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, I don't know if I'm a tattoo person, I'm a child. (laughs) I don't know what I'm going to do with it but I wanted to have it.
That quote is how I try to live my life, being authentic, just being who you are and just doing everything to the fullest. Feel all your feelings.
If you're sad about something, go cry about it. If you're happy about it, go dance around your kitchen.
I try to live my life with that “all the way” kind of mindset. I'm going to live my life the way that I want to to the fullest. And the "unafraid" part too; I'm not going to care if people look at me funny or if people say stuff about me.
RO: What music are you listening to now?
JM: I'm listening to a lot of Father John Misty. I got into him late last year and I'm obsessed. “Mr. Tillman” is a song from his most recent album "God's Favorite Customer" which I really like lately. I’ve also been listening to a lot of The Maine, like "Love & Drugs", "Right Girl", and "We All Roll Along" after their virtual show that they did because it made me feel something for the first time in a year. (laughs)
I’ve been listening to a lot of Phoebe Bridgers too, I'm obsessed with her. She's so cool. I don't know if you've seen Julie and the Phantoms on Netflix. It's literally a children's show, but I watched it and loved it, and the soundtrack is so much fun to listen to.
RO: What are you listening to that isn't usually associated with your tastes?
JM: Oh, I love Waterparks. I feel like that's a sort of unpopular opinion to have.
I feel like they have a lot of fans who are super loyal to them and are like “Waterparks or die”, I feel like a lot of older people in alternative music think they're hot garbage, but I don't think they're hot garbage. I don't think they have a bad song.
Their new songs are called “Snow Globe” and "Numb", and I think they're so much fun. Oh, and I've been obsessed with 3OH!3 lately. I love 3OH!3. I think they're incredible.
To learn more about Jen, you can visit her Twitter @JENSESSION. Her writing portfolio can be found here.
Who do you want to see us interview next? Let us know on Twitter @lgndsoftmrw.
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