By Macy Mullins
Rolling stone associate editor Angie Martoccio, 30, knew she always wanted to work at Rolling Stone magazine since she was a kid. The Miami native attended Baruch in Brooklyn where she studied journalism and graduated in 2018. She was hired there as an editorial assistant. She then landed a job as an associate editor at the company in 2021 and now leads a team of journalists. In this interview, she talks about her time in New York, music, and her challenges as a young woman in journalism.
Q: When you began college, did you know that focusing on music and pop culture is what you wanted to do with your journalism career?
A: Yes, I’d been wanting to work for Rolling Stone since I was a child. I was always interested in entertainment journalism but for me, it is more about music. I was open to other music outlets but for me, Rolling Stone is the holy grail.
Q: Some people already have a job lined up or they take a few months off before starting a full-time job. Did you already have your job lined up?
A: I know stories of people that have jobs lined up and I am very envious, but that was not me. I got my associate’s degree in Miami, and I transferred to Baruch for the last two years. I interned there when I wasn’t done with school yet. A lot of the people around me already graduated college. I took my internship there for class credit.
Q: You said you transferred to a school in New York. Did going to college in the city make finding a job easier because of all the accessibility to companies or a lot harder?
A: It was a lot harder. I thought it was going to be easier. On paper, it sounds like it would be super easy. When I got there, it was the first time I wasn’t living under my mom’s roof. Having to work, go to school, and manage my internship was very tough. It was also competitive because the interns I was around were finished with college; they were sitting there just waiting to be hired. I was called to interview at Rolling Stone for the job three different times before I got it.
Q: What does a typical workday at the office look like for you?
A: I haven’t been to the office in quite a while; most of us are remote. Since the pandemic, I will go a couple of times a week. My day is all over the place because I am a music editor, but I also do a lot of my own writing, website maintenance. I am also a managing editor, so I have to make sure all the ‘trains’ are running on time. I do a crazy number of things, so every day is very different.
Q: Is there anything you wish you would’ve known before the start of your career?
A: A lot of my life I only listened to rock music; I wish I would’ve paid more attention to pop music like Katy Perry. I was a late bloomer to that side of music.
Q: Have you ever felt overlooked or disregarded in your field by other editors or people just because of your gender?
A: All the time. Not so much recently; the industry has been getting better about it. You can imagine, not just Rolling Stone but being in music journalism is a very male-dominated area. There are a lot of guys who will try to correct me on Neil Young or Led Zepplin. It happened more often when I was first starting out. I didn’t have the confidence so going on radio talk shows I felt very inferior. As time went on, I grew more confident and began standing up for myself.
Q: Before the pandemic, what was the gender ratio at the office?
A: Now we’re pretty even, or there might even be more women. Rolling Stone has had a long history that is widely regarded as a very ‘male oriented’ kind of company, but it is not like that anymore.
Q: Is there an artist or celebrity you have interviewed who made you step back and think to yourself that you’ve made it as a journalist?
A: Having Neil Young speak to me and tell me that he liked my questions made me feel really good. I am a big fan of his. Interviewing all of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young was amazing, I never thought I’d be able to do that.
Q: I look up to you, Rob Sheffield and Joan Didion a lot. Are there any journalists who inspire you?
A: Growing up it was Rob Sheffield for me, too. He is now a close friend of mine but when I was younger and didn’t know him, how I learned to write was by reading his work. Learning how to have a critic’s voice was me reading Rob.
Q: Do you have any advice for young female journalists who want to go into the same field as you?
A: Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and email people. When I was younger, I was very envious of the journalists who pitched everyone and everything. They are really good at networking. Network and write as much as you can and send those emails out.