Who We Are

LTCL Magazine, also known as Living the College Life, is a digital magazine that represents the trendy student and young professional better than anyone else. Going to college is usually the first step into the real world where students learn just as much, if not more, outside of class than inside of class. LTCL is not only a great guide for these life lessons, but also offers entertaining content for the times students may just need a good laugh or update on interesting news.

College life forces students to learn; to live on their own, deal with long study hours, partying, love, heartbreak, work, friendship, stress, and all of the other curve balls life throws. LTCL adds meaniningful and practical articles to guide students in their journey to building a successful foundation. Expect more than a fancy headline, or just galleries of pictures.

In order to provide the perfect mix of entertaining and insightful content, we recruit students across the country, from top universities. We have writers from Harvard, Berkeley, Mizzou, UC Davis, and Florida State, just to name a few. LTCL writers are experienced bloggers who have their own blogs or have already interned at top publications. LTCL writers have been seen on Seventeen Magazine, GQ, Vox Magazine, Her Campus, Josephine Magazine and more.

We keep growing every day, and hope we can be your guide to living the college life.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE LTCL MAGAZINE PHOTO SHOOT

This video was edited by Sarah Karney
*Excuse the cheesy interviews*

The Photo Shoot

LTCL Magazine threw a photoshoot that would represent our brand. We recruited some knockout models and took two different shoots. The first was fashionable and trendy because LTCL is a great site for both guys and girls to pickup on  their fashion advice, and be in the know for updates on trends.

The second shoot was about having fun with paint and a blank canvas. This represented the blank canvas everyone fills during college. As a guide we help students with their future and life how they want it to look. The shoot was a lot of hard work and wouldn’t have been accomplished if it wasn’t for all the great people involved. We hope to do more shoots and maybe sponsor some events in the future.
For pictures of the shoot and credits check out:  LTCL Models

History

The story behind LTCL Magazine is a windy road that goes back to spring 2010.

Alex Cruz, the founder of LTCL Magazine had always enjoyed business and had the entrepreneur spirit since he can remember. Starting in early 2009 as a club promoter for well-known venues, he developed marketing skills and ability to communicate and reach college students. Going to a community college on a scholarship to save money was great for the pockets, but unfortunately was far from the university experience many live through. Promoting was his way to get some basic marketing experience, meet people, and make some extra money on the side.

Alex transferred to Mizzou, one of the top journalism schools in the country, in the spring of 2010. He planned to get his business degree from the Cornell College of Business.

That semester he attended a business event where he heard local entrepreneurs speak about their business, and give pointers to the audience. At this event, one speaker explained his business called Ad Sheet, which distributed a coupon pamphlet all over town once a week.

A couple weeks later, during the long commute home from the university, Alex recalled the presentation. It occurred to him that he could use his experience promoting to start a business distributing promotion pamphlet on campus. It would promote college events, bar specials, and anything else around the college town students should know about. So, during the summer of 2010 he began working day and night to build this business.

Things began to move along. He had brochures, a sample pamphlet, and a couple of people who wanted to help him do this. Sitting in a cafe with his friend he was trying to think of a name. Searching domains, he found “LivingtheCollegeLife.com” was still available so he bought it, and registered the business.

Unfortunately, while all this was happening, tragedy struck mid-summer. Alex received the phone call that everyone dreads. His dad had passed away from heart attack at the age of 56. Alex was 20 at the time, and his world fell apart.

It is an unfortunate truth behind any venture–you never know what is going to happen or what to expect because many, if not most things, are outside of your control.

The long and painful healing process began, and Alex decided to set aside his business venture to refocus on his education.

Fast forward to summer 2011….

A club owner Alex had met during his first attempt approached him and asked for help promoting a large festival. He promised a huge payout in return for helping him attract students to the concert. Surprised by the unexpected pay and opportunity to work with big name artists, Alex took a chance and signed on. Too keep the story short, the concert ended up being a huge let down. This club promoter was full of deception and lies– another lesson learned. Despite the failure, it was reawakening as far as the business world was concerned for Alex, and a new vigor arose.With new ambitions and a clear mind, Alex decided to approach Living the College Life again, only a little differently. This time, rather than a pamphlet, he was going to start a digital magazine, harnessing the talented writers all over the Mizzou campus. Alex was a business major and had no idea about web development or publishing. He just knew that he wanted to create a quality brand that could positively affect college students. He had read other publications like askmen.com with great advice and visioned a similar type of website, only for college students.

He had big plans for this magazine. Many more long nights, mistakes, and lessons followed for the next five months until the website hit its soft launch on January 14^th of 2012.

LTCL in now growing and continues to grow at a very fast pace. The website reaches thousands of students daily, and writers from all across the country continue to contribute high quality content. LTCL proudly represents students and promotes a lifestyle that we consider unique. We hope this growth doesn’t stop, and more importantly, we aspire entertain as well as advise any reader who visits the site.

We have been through a lot already– everyone lives through a lot though. LTCL strives to be your guide when you need some lifestyle tips, bored online, needing guidance, or looking to see what other students are up to. We are LTCL Magazine — Living the College Life.