Alex McCord
I was born in Washington DC; my father was a petroleum engineer who had worked around the world in the Middle East, France, Australia etc., and was at the time in Washington working for the Department of the Interior to help address the energy crisis. He started the Office of Energy and Data Analysis which later became part of the Department of Energy.
A few years after that, my parents grew frustrated with what they described as the pretension, corruption and red tape of Washington and moved the family from McLean, VA to their vacation home in St. Thomas, USVI. Two years of beach living later Dad embarked on a project that would occupy him the rest of his life. He bought several oil fields in a rural section of eastern Kansas, which at the time were documented as the shallowest wells in the world. His aim was to write a book comparing them to the deepest (in the Persian Gulf). As such we spent 12 years living in Fort Scott, Kansas, though we still had the homes in Dallas and St. Thomas and traveled to them often as well as accompanying Dad on business trips.
Those years in Fort Scott provided an ideal counterpoint to the urban experience. There’s a down-to-earth self-reliance that most people exhibit; if you want to do something and don’t know how…go out and learn. When we first got there we literally lived in the middle of one of the oil fields, and as a 6 year old there was nothing I liked better than to climb around on a greasy old pulling unit or help my father (gently) move snakes away from the pump jacks when they slithered in during cold weather to warm themselves.
When I was nine, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, a terrible blow to our family. My brothers (from Dad’s first marriage,) mother and I circled the wagons and supported him emotionally as best we could until his death two years later. There was talk at the time of going back to Dallas, but the decision was made to have Mom continue with the oil project and me with school.
At seventeen I left to attend Northwestern University. I had thoughts of engineering or physics but ultimately decided to study theatre. The next stop was Milan, Italy, for several seasons of modeling and later a tour of Italy with an English language theatre company. While there I traveled throughout western Europe and the UK, spending a good bit of time in Paris, then decided it was time to go back to the States to do something with myself. I went back to Chicago as that’s where I had left my furniture, did a little Shakespeare and a couple of short films, then a few months later headed to the big Apple.
Upon moving to New York I jumped straight into acting, and supported myself freelancing first in hospitality operations, the garment industry and thereafter as a graphic designer (I’d had a few coincidental graphics assignments and realized it was something I had a knack for and enjoyed.) I auditioned like mad and worked steadily over the years in theatre, soap and indie films. Graphic design work proliferated, including 3 years at Salomon Smith Barney. This side of my career has led me through various operations, management, graphics and visual work, which led me to my current job in visual merchandising and communication which combines them all.
At one point all the designers I worked with at SSB were internet dating (shocking – in 1999 so avant-garde!) and encouraged me to try it out. I logged on and created a profile that amongst other things made an obtuse reference to a mythical creature. A very witty, pithy and very succinct email came from one Simon van Kempen who picked up the reference (when no one else had) and ran with it. Intrigued, I wrote straight back and a few days later after returning from a trip out of town we met. That was a Thursday. By Saturday we were inseparable, and… nine years, one wedding, four continents, twelve countries, 3 homes, 3 cats and 2 children later…we still are.
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© Jay Sullivan, Bravo
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