Happen another time

Chrissybil Boulin (15C)

Professional puzzle maker Trip Payne (90C) started solving crossword puzzles before some kids his age could even write their own names.

Payne, who is a three-time American crossword champion, was drawn to the game as young as three years old. His parents bought him puzzle books, and the hobby stuck.

He graduated from solving crosswords to writing his own. By age 15, he started submitting his self-proclaimed “terrible” creations to magazines, which accepted “one or two out of every 20.”

By the time Payne started his first year at Emory College as an English major, he knew he wanted his childhood hobby to be a career.

He noted that the University had a “general accepting vibe” — Emory had a gay and lesbian alliance while Payne was on campus, which he said was a rarity in the 80s. Although he did not come out as LGBT until 1991, Payne said students felt encouraged to discover themselves.

Two days before graduation, however, Games Magazine, where he was set to work in New York, took away his job offer. Payne moved to New York anyway, where he edited “not great” puzzle magazines before going freelance and securing a job as an editor for the app Crosswords with Friends.

Payne still writes crossword puzzles, sometimes for publications as big as the New York Times and the New Yorker.

Payne knew working in crosswords was risky. However, he said he would congratulate any graduates willing to take the same risk for their “boldness.”

“If it’s really what you want to do, then don’t let your parents make you feel guilty that you didn’t become a doctor,” Payne said. “You have one life. Use it right, and if you really are a talented, creative person, the world will thank you for it.”

Courtesy of trip payne When the songs New York Times Investigative Reporter Ellen Gabler (03B) performed parodies of during Songfest come on today, she can still remember the Emory University-themed lyrics.

Gabler spent her four years at Emory in the pool as a member of the swim and dive team. She said the long hours spent preparing for meets taught her how to work hard, a lesson that she continues to apply to her career.

“That gives you grit and makes you tough,” Gabler said. “I have definitely applied that grit to my reporting.”

Although Gabler, who studied business and journalism, was initially interested in Emory because of the swim team, she said it also felt right academically.

Gabler got a job at a small daily newspaper in Minnesota upon graduation. She climbed her way up the ranks in journalism, eventually completing an investigative reporting program at Columbia University (N.Y.) and securing a job as an investigative reporter at the New York Times.

While at the Times, Gabler was a “small part” of the team of reporters who won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for public service for “Harassed,” a series of stories covering the sexual harassment of women at the hands of powerful men

Gabler credited Emory for inspiring her to become a journalist, especially former James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism Catherine Manegold, who formerly worked at the New York Times and was the first professional journalist Gabler ever met, exposing her to the field. She also was inspired by Senior Associate Dean and BBA Program Director Andrea Hershatter, who recognized that Gabler was not interested in business and pushed her to pursue journalism.

“The truth of the matter is, it doesn’t actually matter what your classmates are doing,” Gabler said. “What matters is what inspires you.”

Courtesy of ellen Gabler

Jump Start Tutors Founder Chrissybil Boulin’s (15C) path to Emory University began over 5,000 miles away. She was studying abroad in Italy as a Florida State University sophomore when she first met Emory students.

“They seem to have so much vision and a lot of great resources at Emory that allowed them to think outside the box,” Boulin said.

Boulin transferred to Emory the following year and traveled to India, where she studied girls’ education and economic development.

She was inspired to start the Merkabah International Foundation, a nonprofit supporting schools in Haiti.

“My parents were from Haiti, so I’ve always known that kids in Haiti were struggling,” Boulin said. “To realize this is happening on a mass scale all around the world was a big insight.”

Boulin later worked as a global youth ambassador for the United Nations before getting an internship at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, where she was offered a full-time job. She felt like she wasn’t making a difference and turned it down.

“My boss was like, this is going to be the biggest mistake of your life,” Boulin said. “I just took a leap of faith, moved back to Florida, did what I’ve always done, and that’s tutoring.”

Working with students inspired her to create Jump Start Tutoring, which aims to “democratize the college entrance process” by making tutoring more accessible.

“I took a lot of ebbs and flows, but I always followed my passion,” Boulin said.

Boulin credits Emory for helping her find her path.

“When I went to Emory, I thought that I was going to become a lawyer and a politician, and that’s not how things went at all,” Boulin said. “I think that’s beautiful.”

Courtesy of emory university