The challenge of shooting this week’s cover about the 2019 Top 20 Under 40 winners was conveying the drive, tenacity and leadership skills of these industry professionals in a group photo. Staff members spent weeks discussing options and working out logistics. Deputy Editor Tom Sawyer walked for miles scouting locations that would be both accessible to a big group (including one winner who was 8½ months pregnant) and would make a logical backdrop for our industry.
Grand Central Terminal rose to the top due to its iconic status as a great building and as a metaphor for the hustle, bustle and mobility of young leaders. Cover photographer Jessica Savidge says shooting there was “surreal to say the least. There we were in the middle of one of the busiest transportation hubs in the world … lights up, 20 people in a row ready to have their cover moment. I thought, ‘Wow, this is really happening!’ ” Savidge is also editing a video about the making of the Top 20 Under 40 issue.