Victor Ozols

Victor Ozols is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Star-Ledger, Esquire, and other publications. He got his first paid writing gig in the early nineties working for a scrappy English-language newspaper in Latvia called The Baltic Observer. He then moved to New York and landed a job at a trade newspaper that covered the metals and mining industry, from which he learned about the many uses of zinc. More interesting work ensued, then stopped ensuing, as he was laid off as an analyst at an Internet company so spectacularly that he graced the February 5, 2001 cover of Newsweek with the headline "Laid Off: How Safe Is Your Job?" superimposed across his body. He still wears the same threadbare green pants he had on at the cover shoot, although they were recently downgraded to the status of "play pants." He is now an assistant research editor at Esquire and contributing writer for Gridskipper, and he maintains his own blog called New York City Diary, which is a good way for him to remember what he did last week or last year. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Brooklyn, which, they both agree, rules. He is originally from Virginia.