Alumni Spotlight

BEYOND THE GATES: ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Alexandra Mack Macon ’95

1. You’re currently a contributing editor at Vogue.com and the founder of the weddings focused e-commerce website Over The Moon. You’ve also worked for Ralph Lauren, Brides.com, Domino Magazine, and Interview Magazine. Please describe some highlights and favorite assignments you’ve worked on in your career.

I always wanted to be an editor and feel very lucky that I’ve been able to work for magazines and brands that I love. Career highlights have included: Starting out as an assistant at Vogue in the early 2000s, launching Vogue.com in 2010, attending and reporting from the Met Gala, covering Serena Williams’s wedding in New Orleans and Caroline Wozniacki’s wedding in Italy, traveling to Scotland to write about Outlander, which is one of my favorite TV shows, and then finally, starting my own website.

2. After earning your Bachelor’s degree in English from Vanderbilt University, what did you do next? Has your career been a straight path?

Alex with her daughters, Catherine (’29) and Eleanor (’27).

After graduating from Vanderbilt, I actually went and taught English in Japan for a year through the JET Program. I had been dating a guy in college who thought it would be fun for us both to join the program. We applied and then he broke up with me and got back together with his high school girlfriend! I was ultimately accepted into the program, and he wasn’t — it felt like a sign, so I decided to go on my own.

I lived in Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu and worked at Shuyukan High School. It was one of the hardest, most challenging years of my life — but also an incredible experience that I will never forget. My time in Japan led to my first job in New York City. I started out filling in for the head of international marketing at Ralph Lauren while she was on maternity leave. Her main market was Asia, and I had just returned. When she came back from maternity leave, I moved over to the advertising department before landing a job as the assistant to the managing editor at Vogue. After that, I went to Domino magazine, which sadly folded at the start of the financial crisis, and then Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Ultimately, I returned to Vogue in 2010 as the managing editor of the website.

3. How has the wedding industry, and therefore your writing, changed in the past year since the pandemic began?

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has had a huge impact on the wedding industry. Couples have had to downsize, postpone, and cancel their weddings and vendors, planners, and photographers have had to figure out ways to pivot their businesses. On Over The Moon, we’ve shifted our coverage so that we’re highlighting the safe ways couples are choosing to celebrate right now. We’ve also tried to provide as much information, support, and even escapism as we can for couples having to navigate this difficult time.

4. Can you talk a little bit about Over The Moon — the lifestyle and wedding shopping website you started?

I originally started Over The Moon back in 2015 as a blog while I was the managing editor at Vogue. com because I thought there was a hole in the market for authentic, fashion-forward wedding content focused on real couples that felt aspirational but also attainable. This past September, we re-launched the site as an e-commerce shopping platform with 130 brands and 4,000+ SKUs. We still produce content, but now we also have a curated assortment of products from tried and true, established brands, small businesses, and niche artisans, as well as exclusive collaborations that embody the OTM aesthetic across the categories of fashion, bridal, jewelry/ accessories, kitchenware, homeware, and a little bit of maternity and baby. Even amidst the pandemic, the response has been incredible, and now we’re gearing up to launch our wedding registry this spring.

Illustrator LouLou Baker and Alex Macon promoting a book collaboration.

5. When you were a student at Charleston Day School, what do you remember most? Were there teachers and/or events that helped shape you into who you are today?

Attending CDS had a large impact on my life, and I have so many fond memories: Learning to love reading with Mrs. Cathcart’s pirate map in second grade, how to really write in fifth grade with Mrs. Rhett, the speech contest, working on The Clarion and The Scorpion, engaging in service via a “Clean Up Colonial Lake” project in seventh grade, the responsibility list, and painting a class mural in the gym are memories I look back on fondly and feel had a direct impact on the career path I chose and the person I’ve become.

6. Your daughters will be ettending Charleston Day in the fall in first and third grades. What advice would you have for a CDS student?

Enjoy and take advantage of the small class sizes and the nurturing environment—and thank your parents!

7. What do you do in your free time?

There isn’t a lot of free time right now as I’m pregnant with my third child and due at the beginning of April, but I love to go to the beach, horse back ride, and play with my two daughters.

8. Last question: Red or Blue—which are you?Blue Team Forever!

Alex Macon reporting from the Met Gala in 2019.