Andrew Morales 
By Robyn Mowatt ·Updated September 20, 2023
Writer Marjon Carlos has been obsessed with fashion since she was a creative kid growing up in Dallas, Texas. From a young age, Carlos found herself compelled to express herself through her personal style and utilizing pop culture as a means to mentally escape the suburbs that made up her life. She also always had a curiosity about life beyond her siloed hometown. By the time she got to high school, she was reading Vogue and standing behind her sartorial choices–while there she began a column on pop culture. She kept up her column writing in college at Brown University too immediately after high school. “I had a newspaper column,” she said over a Zoom call from her Brooklyn home. “I’m very opinionated and I wanted to figure out a way to get that out and to connect with people.” Carlos expressed that she was constantly looking for a culture she could resonate with during her adolescent years in Dallas.
Brown pushed her to critically look at fashion, but it also allowed her space to further explore her personal style. She says these formative years were some of her most experimental style-wise. Relocating to Rhode Island and being surrounded by classmates who had different taste levels than hers was inspiring to Carlos. These inspirations combined with her budding affinity for delving into the roots of what makes culture pop led her to New York City upon graduation to find a job in fashion. She was figuring out her place in the lexicon of the industry whilst working countless retail roles. “It was really, really hard,” Carlos said. “I was trying to find my way because it felt like if you weren’t the son or the daughter of somebody, it was going to be very, very difficult to kick down that door.“ Carlos kept pushing and after a few retail roles decided to go to graduate school at Columbia with a focus on African American studies. While there, the constant in her life that led her to where she is now: writing critically about culture. After graduating in 2009 she had stints at Net-A-Porter, Moda Operandi, and Saks’ digital site.
Her grit led her to work at Saint Heron, then she was offered a role at Vogue.com as a Senior Writer in 2015. While there she interviewed the likes of Cardi B, Gucci Mane, and more–she was pushing the cultural barometer in terms of what the publication was covering while there. She covered topics that were near and dear to her for quite some time, but then she left after a bit under a year. Many felt like she was leaving a dream role, and Carlos felt like the publication was turning into a content farm that she no longer wanted to keep up with–so she decided to bet on herself.
Going all in meant she’d no longer reach goals for companies, instead, she shifted and began the journey of freelance writing. Carlos also began letting her many interests drive her. “I think at a certain point I [told myself], ‘I really want to make sure that I am working towards my goals and my dreams, not just helping someone else’s dreams come true.’” Those interests include writing cover stories on talent like
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