Ace Swart is the publisher of the South African edition of the notorious, underground magazine Vice. His day job is something I’m sure a lot of you could see for yourselves. We found out what it takes:

 

Ace Swart: Publisher – unofficial VICE SA founder and publisher.

 

10and5: What characteristics and skills does it take to do what you do?

Ace: You need great networking skill, knowledge of the brands you work with and of what you have to offer but above all it takes a special-kind-of-stupid of perseverance.

10and5: If you studied, what and where did you study?

Ace: AAA School of advertising, specialized in Marketing Communication and Account Management.

Ace: Every time a new issue of the magazine comes off the press. Our launch party in July 2009 was also pretty spectacular. To see what is was like have a look on www.vimeo.com and search for vice za. Really cool video done by IdoIdea Sean Smith.

Ace: I won’t really call them “bad” days – just challenging days – it’s better not to linger on negative issues, just find solutions as soon as issues come up.

 

10and5: Weirdest task you’ve had to perform while at work?

Ace: No specific day stands out – my editor Henk Lustig deals with more weird scenarios via the very weird nature of some of our content – I think one story that stands out was an interview with the ex-head of SAP division for occult investigation – mainly dealing with muti killings and satanism.

Ace: A fireman

 

10and5: Advice to those who want to follow in your footsteps?

Ace: Running an operation like VICE takes a lot of stress management skills and determination – a consistent focused effort. And networking, networking, networking.

Ace: You learn new things everyday – you have to do a lot of research and continuously learn to find new solutions to every challenge.

 

10and5: Strangest creative career you’ve heard of?

Ace: There are a lot of artists who do pretty weird stuff and get paid for it – interpretive dance is up there.

Thanks for your time, Ace.

If you or anyone you know has an interesting or strange creative job, we’d love to hear about it! submissions@10and5.com