Jay Dixit - writing teacher

Jay Dixit – Resume

Highlights

  • Founder and lead instructor at the New York Writers’ Intensive, a Manhattan-based creative writing school.
  • Teach narrative writing as a guest lecturer at Columbia University.
  • Award-winning writer for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Wired, Slate, and Psychology Today.
  • Senior Editor of Psychology Today Magazine for four years.
  • Studied psychology at Yale University; graduated cum laude with distinction in the major.
  • Winner of The Moth, a live storytelling competition. My story “Fathers” appears on The Moth Radio Hour.
  • Conducted George Carlin’s last interview, which George Carlin called “the most complete” interview he’d ever done.
  • Covered comedy for The New York Times (samples here and here).
  • My work appears in the anthology The Best of Technology Writing.

Experience

The New York Writers’ Intensive. New York NY (2010 – present)

  • Founder and lead instructor.
  • Teach storytelling and writing to aspiring writers, journalists, bloggers, and startup entrepreneurs.
  • See course information and student testimonials at newyorkwritersintensive.com.

Signal Flare. Las Vegas, NV (2013 – present)

  • Founder and CEO of Signal Flare, a Downtown Project portfolio company tentatively scheduled to launch in 2015.
  • Designed a writers’ retreat style creative writing program for Downtown Project, an artistic community in Las Vegas funded by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
  • Developed business plan, including products and services, sales and marketing strategy, and financial plan.
  • Developed curriculum for nonfiction writing, fiction writing, and storytelling; designed pedagogical strategy for training writing instructors.

Psychology Today Magazine New York, NY (2006 – 2010)

  • Senior editor: generated, reported, and wrote feature articles, including 14 cover stories.
  • Wrote articles about the psychology of happiness, personality, love, dating, and procrastination.
  • Generated article ideas, recruited writers, and edited articles from first draft to final page proofs.
  • Interviewed research psychologists about experimental research and covered breaking news in psychology and neuroscience.
  • My cover story “The Art of Now” was the most e-mailed article of the last two years.
  • My cover story “Scents and Sensibility” generated the highest newsstand sales in the magazine’s history.
  • Interviewed celebrities such as Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Roth, Willem Dafoe, Tony Robbins, Will Shortz, Donald Trump, and Spike Lee.

PLJ Educational New York NY (2001 – 2006)

  • Tutored writing, English, history, math, science, and SAT.
  • Helped students brainstorm, write, and edit application essays for college, law school, medical school, business school, and dental school.
  • Helped students get into Yale, Princeton, and Cornell.
  • My students saw remarkable score improvements, including one student who went from a 1260 to a 1540 on the SAT.

The Princeton Review (2000 – 2001)

  • Taught and tutored SAT and LSAT.

The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Wired, Slate, etc. New York NY (2000 – 2014)

  • Writer/reporter: Wrote feature articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Wired, Slate, Salon, Psychology Today, and The Village Voice.
  • Wrote front-page stories for The New York Times City Section, including “Take My Life, Please,” and “Saving a Comedy Club.”
  • My article “Cats with Ten Lives” appears in the anthology Best of Technology Writing 2006.

eHelp Corporation San Diego, CA (1999 – 2000)

  • Marketing strategy: represented the company at software trade shows and industry events nationally and internationally; gave presentations and product demonstrations to groups of 500.
  • Analyzed market trends and competitive landscape; formulated strategy; established product positioning.

Philadelphia Magazine Philadelphia, PA (1998)

  • Research editor: led the seven-person, magazine-wide research department. Verified all factual information.
  • Generated story leads, conducted research, interviewed sources, and wrote articles.

Education

Yale University New Haven, CT (1994 – 1998)

  • B.A. cum laude in psychology with distinction in the major, 1998.
  • Won the Anti-Defamation League’s Bess Myerson Journalism Award.
  • Wrote two articles, “www.nazi.com” and “Gangbuster,” that are still required reading in Yale classes.