Name: Marcus Troy
Profession: Tastemaker
Age: 30-Something
One Word That Describes You: Passionate
Marcus Troy , creator of The Marcus Troy Experience, is an ageless wonder with a keen sense of style and a taste for the burgeoning cultures that populate the globe. The site, which features his exclusive suggestions and tips, is geared toward a male perspective and interests those who love gadgets, music, food, fashion, and more.
Originally starting a e-zine with a friend on the eve of the third dot-com boom in 2004, Troy branched off to start his own Web log. “I was inspired by sharing,” Marcus told BE Modern Man exclusively when speaking on why he joined the competitive world of blogging. “I love to share ideas, concepts, products and good things with my peers and the people.” Admitting that there haven’t been too many obstacles outside of himself, he has truly crafted his own lane where his words have immense value. “It’s a really humbling thing to hear people who follow me say, ‘We follow your life, we feel like we are a part of it.”
A particular man full of savvy, Troy is living the ideal dream of today’s digital content creator. Setting his own hours from his Montreal home, the man who is “only as old or as young as he deems it,” receives heaps of swag from clothing to albums with everyone hanging on to his every word. “I am a cultural participant who likes to do cool things with cool people,” he says. “I use different platforms in media to share these experiences. Depending on who you are talking to, I wear many hats.” But with all the sensationalism taken out of the job of being an online curator of culture — how can one be successful, you ask?
In addition to showcasing stylish coats and boots, his site gets an estimated 140,000 unique monthly visits. Brands such as Nike, Converse, and others now pay for his etiquette and tastemakers’ aplomb. But Troy doesn’t believe that there is one defining tenet in the DNA of black men over other races. “A black man in Africa versus a black man in Paris all have a different experience with the color of their skin,” says Troy. “I believe all troubled or persecuted cultures are built a little different based on experiences. I don’t think we as a majority group are where we could be as a culture or as a race.”
The man with many hats happens to chef up quite a bit of content on the regular. With eight posts a day from different areas in Montreal to being a consultant for Puma, Troy’s digital collaborations have made him “accessible” to millions looking to know what’s next and what’s now. “I always try to be inclusive, not exclusive,” said Troy to The Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy section in 2012. “I share my taste with the world and a blog is how I do that.” Creating original content means utilizing the best stuff in one’s imagination to develop something that resonates with the rest of the World Wide Web. For Troy, this skill is an art form that has imbued his trade with numerous successes.
On the next page, read how Marcus Troy cracks through the noise of being a role model for other digitally minded youth…