Profile on Mark Stenberg: Editor-in-Chief at Study Breaks

From a cell phone call in the middle of busy Austin, Texas, Mark Stenberg answered my interview questions, handling business in the way he’s used to—on the go and around the clock. 

Since Stenberg became the Editor-in-Chief of Study Breaks Magazine in 2015, he has spent his whole life dedicated to the challenge of revamping the publication into an online platform that amplifies youth voices while still managing to be profitable. Now, after four years of success, he’s looking forward to what the future might hold for both himself as a professional away from the magazine, and for a Study Breaks without him.

Stenberg describes what he calls the “elevator pitch” of the magazine as “a college lifestyle and pop culture magazine that’s written, photographed and edited by college students across the country.” All of its content is created by college interns who provide writing, editing or design work in exchange for experience in the publishing world and a collaborative, mentorship-based experience. But Study Breaks wasn’t always this way. 

In fact, when Stenberg initially joined Study Breaks as a college intern himself, he describes it as being “proto BuzzFeed, but with less momentum,” and “tabloid-y.” He admits he wasn’t proud of creating the content that was part of the magazine’s then-brand. But he was able to learn something valuable.

“[Study Breaks] was a casual environment, with five or so student writers sitting around in bean bag chairs writing joke quizzes,” he recalls. “It was then that I realized, writing doesn’t have to be academic; it can be approachable and fun.”

Before this, Stenberg wasn’t necessarily interested in becoming part of the magazine industry. He grew up reading only books as a kid, and eventually started out as a journalism major at the University of Texas at Austin. When he realized writing for newspapers wasn’t for him, he changed his major to study English and History. 

At this point in his life, Stenberg was splitting his time between cooking and writing—sometimes mixing the two—in order to feed both of his passions. “I always thought I’d be a food anthropologist or chef writer,” says Stenberg. “I’ve had a huge interest in food for most of my life.”

He was juggling food, freelancing and schoolwork when he came across Study Breaks. “At the time, there were issues of it in kiosks and bins all around campus,” Stenberg recalls. “It was basically inescapable as UT students” 

He started out as an intern, and eventually saw a job opening for editor-in-chief. “What used to work at Study Breaks was no longer working [at the time],” says Stenberg. “The proposition was: ‘You can have this position, only if you change the magazine substantially.’” 

“It was definitely like giving the keys of a car to a 16-year-old,” Stenberg says, chuckling. But it was more like receiving a car that was half-broken, and not knowing how to drive. When Stenberg took on this role, the magazine was barely profitable. The heyday of print was ending, and their readership was decreasing. Stenberg had to come up with a plan on how to re-conceptualize an entire publication, practically on his own. 

Gal Shweiki, Study Breaks’s CEO, has had a hands-off role at the magazine since Stenberg has been there. From when Stenberg inherited the position, it took about five or six months before he and the rest of the magazine’s small staff—the art and marketing directors—came up with the financially feasible company structure that exists today: a staff of unpaid, temporary college interns producing weekly content funded by advertisers. 

“Something I worry about most is definitely the stigma associated with unpaid internships,” says Stenberg. He didn’t want to exploit students for their labor, even if that’s something that’s become more socially acceptable in the workforce. He wanted to provide something to the students in return. 

“I can justify, in my mind, giving a value proposition to the students, generally in the form of mentorship, coaching, workshops and becoming better writers and editors when they leave,” he says. “It’s a more worthwhile use of their time.”

Once the new Study Breaks was up and running with its full staff of college students, Stenberg was still doing most of the work in producing the magazine. A normal work week for him might sound very unusual to most nine-to-five Americans. 

Throughout the week, he hosts individual feedback sessions with each writer in the program, which averages at 3-4 hours per day; he works on top-editing of each article, or “editing the edits”; he handles business inquiries of the company, such as talking to potential advertising clients; he’s also constantly and actively looking for the next crop of student interns. 

“I’m just a dude that wears a million hats, and that has its pros and cons,” says Stenberg. “But that’s a real champagne complaint. I’ve learned a lot.”

Stenberg says one of the most challenging aspects of his job is watching his students, or mentees, leave. He finds it “emotionally difficult” to work so personally with these students for only four months, watch them grow and then watch them leave. “I can’t help but think...If I can make you this good in four months, what if you worked here for a year?” he says. 

At the same time, Stenberg recognizes the benefits to this structure. “I love thinking of all these writers and editors as being seeds cast out into the world,” he says. “And there’s this sense of building a huge network of potential writers and editors for the future.” 

When it comes to his future, Stenberg says he’s ready to leave Study Breaks and take the next steps into his career—eventually hoping to start a media company of his own. He will be starting graduate school in the Fall, which means he’ll be passing the role he worked so hard on to someone new. When asked how he felt about leaving his baby to a stranger, he let out a laugh.

“I am nervous,” says Stenberg. “The scary thing is we’re looking for someone really unique.” His replacement will have to wear lots of hats like he did, and be ready to work around the clock. “Ultimately I think we’ll find someone and it’ll be fine...they’ll learn and continue to improve.”

As for Study Breaks—which recently became online-only in February—Stenberg sees a stable future. “We now have a system where the cost of labor never goes up... traffic increases every day, [and] it would only grow more profitable from here,” says Stenberg. 

“I would love to see its reputation become that Study Breaks is where the best student writers in the country go to write. And to a degree we’re already like that,” he says. “We’re getting there.”