Lunch with a VIP
Daryn Kagan, www.DarynKagan.com
Tim Darnell
September 8, 2007
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What’s a newswoman to do when her big, high-profile anchor job with a big, high-profile
international news organization comes to an end?
The quick answer would be to find another job in TV. “But I would have been more scared to do that than I would have been starting my own company,” Kagan says. “Most people come to a point when they need to reinvent themselves, either because of a layoff, a divorce, or maybe the kids have moved out of the house. “I did [broadcast news] for a quarter of my life. But jobs such as those are disappearing in the traditional media, and in three to four years, I’d have been right back where I was when I left CNN.”
Where Kagan is now is head of a media company that, much like the publishers of Business to Business, owns content. www.DarynKagan.com went online nine months ago, and has led the former CNN anchor into a book deal as well as a current PBS documentary inspired by her Web site. “You can’t be just a Web site,” she says. “Amedia company is like a big salad bowl, owning content in all manner of forms.”
But the huge leap into entrepreneurship was made even wider for Kagan, who had never owned her own company and who, in her own words, “didn’t appreciate the creation of process. “It was always someone else’s job to figure out the ‘how,’as in how to do something,” she says. “When you’r e on your own, there’s no one to lead you by the hand. When my Web site designer asked me if my Web site was going to use QuickTime or Flash, I thought, ‘What’re you asking me for?’”
Now, Kagan is in a groove, staffed by a freelance group of video photographers and editors, interns, a PR and ad group, as well as intellectual property attorneys. Her video library contains more than 140 videos that have appeared on her Web site, stories about inspirational people overcoming obstacles in life, all under the motto, “Show the World What’s Possible.” The strongest hits on the site occur at noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Kagan shoots a week’s worth of content for her Web site usually in a single day. The rest of her week is full of lining up stories for upcoming weeks from one coast to the other.
Next on Kagan’s horizon is a possible entry in commercial or satellite radio. “I’m maxed out right now in terms of personnel,” she says. “If anything else develops, I’ll have to hire a dedicated staff of one or two people.” Then come the other parts of running a business, such as payroll, insurance and taxes.
About The Restaurant
“J.C.T.” is known for identifying the junction of rail lines where the restaurant is located, which opened in January at the intersection of Howell Mill and Huff roads, in a former meat-packing district. Chef Ford Fry spent the past nine years with EatZi’s Market and Bakery, before becoming princpal operator of W&F Restaurant Management. JCT. is its first entry into the Atlanta restaurant market.
With an emphasis on traditional foods – “Southern Farmstead Cooking” – the restaurant serves signature Southern dishes such as fried chicken, shrimp and grits, and braised short ribs with “pot roast” vegetables, prepared European style. For example, the chicken and dumplings entrée is actually red wine braised chicken with potato gnocchi sautéed in brown butter. There are parmesan-truffle fries; a meat & potato salad with hanger steak; crispy potato dumplings and spinach served with bacon vinaigrette; and a wood-grilled Maine lobster roll.
JCT. Kitchen & Bar
Atlanta’s Westside Urban Market
1198 Howell Mill Road, Suite 18
Atlanta, GA30318
Phone: (404) 355-2252
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