Alumni
Classmates Reunite at Phoenix Magazine By Carolyn Carver
W
hen Adam Klawonn learned he had just been hired as the associate editor at Phoenix Magazine, he called an old friend from college. “I hear we’re getting the band back together,” he told Stephanie Paterik, the magazine’s managing editor and a colleague from their days on The State Press, ASU’s student newspaper. The “band” includes the person who hired both of them — Phoenix Magazine Editor Ashlea Deahl, another Cronkite School graduate. The three of them started their careers together in what State Press students have for years affectionately referred to as the “dungeon” in the basement of Matthews Center on the Tempe campus. Deahl spent the better part of 10 semesters working for The State Press and the State Press Magazine, which she edited. She jokes that she probably holds
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Stephanie Paterick, Ashlea Deahl and Adam Klawonn started out together as college journalists. Photos by Deanna Dent
the record for longest time spent in the dungeon. And she remembers thinking that if she could just keep working for the magazine after graduation, she’d be perfectly happy. “And that’s kind of what I did,” she said with a laugh. “This is kind of like working for a grown-up State Press Magazine.” At 29, Deahl is the youngest editor Phoenix Magazine has had in its more than 40 years as the largest city magazine in the Valley. Shortly after taking over the magazine last year, Deahl launched a new look and added content. She said she was going for thoughtful and fun pieces with a more modern look. “We want people to open the magazine up and see something surprising,” she said. Deahl’s first exposure to Phoenix Magazine was as an intern during college. After graduating from the Cronkite School with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, she took a job as an editor at McMurry, a Phoenix custom publishing company, but she continued her association with the magazine, contributing freelance pieces. In 2005 she moved to the magazine full time as the managing editor. She was only 25. When she had the chance to build her own team, she turned to her former classmates. Paterik was working as a business reporter for The Arizona Republic when Deahl approached her. Klawonn, who had gone on to report both in Phoenix and San Diego, Calif., after graduation, had been freelancing for the magazine for a year. Klawonn said it was Paterik who hired
him at The State Press, and it was there that he learned the fundamentals of good journalism. “We all learned how to report together,” he said. “We all went out to learn more, then came back together.” “It’s a perfect mix,” Deahl said of her editorial team. “I didn’t hire them because they are my friends; they’re damn good at what they do.” But when the three gather around a granite conference table to brainstorm ideas for the magazine, their shared history quickly becomes apparent. Paterik spills her Jamba Juice on the tan carpet, and while they try to clean it up Deahl recalls that Paterik used to bring the same kind of Jamba Juice to editorial meetings for The State Press. “It’s a Jamba Juice Catastrophe,” Klawonn intones as he watches the other two clean up the spill. All three remember with fondness the countless hours they spent in the newsroom and in classrooms together and the hours they spent at Casey Moore’s in Tempe after meeting a tough deadline. They have all signed on to help get The State Press Alumni Club off the ground. They hope to offer scholarships and networking opportunities for the next generations of State Pressers at ASU. But for now, the three have put in a long day, and it’s time to head home. First they’ll stop for a drink — not at a hip Scottsdale bar, but back to where it all began — Casey Moore’s. “Old habits die hard, I guess,” Deahl said.