In 2001 I quit my job at Cartier in New York, burned out after a decade in fashion publicity and ready to try something new. That summer, pondering my next move, I took a two-week vacation to Spain with close friends when, in my hotel room in Barcelona - where we'd stopped for a few days of recuperation and hydration following a week of dancing in Ibiza - I flipped on the television in anticipation of a nap to find instead live news coverage of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, and most people in them, being shattered to rubble. I realized that day my life, too, could be over in the blink of the eye, so if there's something that I want to accomplish, then I must set aside my fear and get to work.
Cars have, emotionally speaking, always been my beginning, middle and end, and 9/11 gave me the shove I needed to make them my career, too. Once back in New York later that September - after a few days waylaid in Sitges as all international flights, including my return to JFK, had been grounded due to the terrorist attacks - I made it my mission to work for a car company. I found a job at Mercedes-Benz USA in New Jersey that November, thus beginning my professional journey in the world of cars.
I now live in Los Angeles, and The Car Crush is a passion project where I write about my lifelong love. There’s an old saying repeated in the lyrics of my favorite Kate Bush song, "Moments of Pleasure:" every old sock meets an old shoe. For me that means that there is a place in this world for all of us, and that love, and meaning, and companionship finds us all in time. These words are about my continuing journey and, if you'll allow me, we'll car crush hard here together.
xoxo and thank you for stopping by,
Joe
