She said, “You’ll find out.”
“And this voice said, ‘It’s Friday. Can
you be here on Monday? We start the
second semester on Monday. Just
stop by Jesse Hall on Monday and
you’ll be admitted.’”
Principal Carter had contacted her old
friend, the Director of Admissions at
the University of Missouri to begin the
admission process. And that’s how
Uzzell began his career by being in
the right place and having the right
skillset to do something about it.
“Well, I’m off to Cappadocia”
A similar fortuitous opportunity landed Uzzell an internship at National
Geographic. While being honored at
the prestigious Pictures of the Year
competition his junior year, Uzzell
met Bill Garrett, the Associate Editor
for National Geographic magazine.
Garrett later summoned Uzzell to
Washington D.C. for reasons unknown to him. There, Garrett introduced Uzzell to Gil Grosvenor, National Geographic associate editor and
great-grandson of Alexander Graham
Bell, one of the founders of the National Geographic Society.
Grosvenor met Uzzell at a barber shop
in the basement of the Mayflower
Hotel and they engaged in some
chit-chat during Grosvenor’s haircut.
“How ‘bout them O’s?” Grosvenor
asked a bewildered yet agreeable
Uzzell, who finally figured out they
were referencing the Baltimore Orioles
baseball team.
After two more minutes on the national past-time, Grosvenor suddenly
got up and exclaimed, “Well, I’m off to
Cappadocia!”
right-hand drawer and proclaimed,
“I’d like to propose a toast to Steve,
who will be the first intern the National Geographic’s ever had on the
executive editorial board.”
A stunned Uzzell had not known
the purpose for his D.C. trip until
that moment. No one asked if he
could take the job or wanted the job.
That was it – that was the interview.
And while Uzzell had not lobbied
or planned for the job, a National
Geographic job was his ultimate goal.
He sought out the opportunity at
Missouri and was rewarded with good
fortune.
“I’d like to propose a toast
to Steve, who will be the
first intern the National
Geographic’s ever had
on the executive editorial
board.”
Garrett grabbed a bottle of Virginia
Gentleman whiskey from his lower
TASBO.ORG
On one trip on a mountain range in
Alaska, Uzzell was tasked with shooting Sports Illustrated swimsuit model
Kim Alexis, a team of assistants and a