min magazine 2008 Most Intriguing: Michael Zivyak
Friday, November 7, 2008

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Michael Zivyak
Founder & Publisher of Berkshire Living

Michael Zivyak is the classic example of a guy who can’t stop taking his work home. But for him, that’s a dream come true. The magazine veteran who served as publisher of Spin, associate publisher of Yahoo Internet Life and ad director of Business 2.0, loved his work and was damn good at it…but he also loved the Berkshire Mountains, where he had been vacationing since childhood. So he walked away from the publishing mainstream to bring the two together and live his dream. “I realized what a terrific community it is,” says the man who has made an industry of his beloved Berkshires by moving to Massachusetts to launch a stable of regional publications under the Berkshire Living banner. “I’ve seen great regional magazines that represented their areas well, and I felt like there was a need in the Berkshires,” he says.

Zivyak loves the regional category because it allows him to make a more personal connection with his target audience. “It’s a more personal engagement with the reader,” he explains. “You can take advantage of everything that you see on the page. When you read Vanity Fair, it’s less actionable.” He’s also brought that connection to another level outside the book, producing cultural program books for the local Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, as well as the Berkshire International Film Festival. “We won a community service award for a series of events called ‘The Rest of the Story,’ where we take a story from the current issue and make it a free public forum in a local theater.”
Zivyak has made BL an essential showcase of his community. “It’s become a tool for people to experience the Berkshires.”






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