Susan Magrino '83: Making an imPRession
Nobu. Martha Stewart’s lawyer. Editors at dozens of top publications.
Susan Magrino’s Rolodexes (two of them, each rivaling the size of a New York City taxicab rim) are as much time capsules of enviable industry contacts as they are manifestations of her boundless network and commitment to building relationships.
“That’s how it’s done — you don’t get that sitting at home,” Magrino remarks from the polished office of her award-winning lifestyle marketing and public relations agency, Magrino Public Relations, which she founded in 1992 following a nine-year career at Crown Publishing.
Named among Forbes’ “America’s Best PR Agencies,” the Magrino agency employs nearly 70 individuals and serves more than 100 active clients. Under Magrino’s leadership, the firm has represented some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Whispering Angel, Kohler, Bosch, Fortnum & Mason, California Closets, Sur La Table, Harper’s Bazaar, illy, The New York Public Library, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis and Marriott Bonvoy hospitality brands, and Martha Stewart, with whom she began working in 1983 shortly after graduating from Skidmore.
Though Magrino has transitioned to digital contact management, I got the distinct sense that her mind remains the true Rolodex. During our conversation, she effortlessly recalled the names of many Skidmore professors who shaped her thinking and the lessons she carried forth from their classes, along with fond memories of Skidmore and Saratoga Springs.
“I loved that Skidmore was liberal arts. I loved that it had history and the town. I thought the curriculum was great,” she told me. “I’d go back tomorrow.”
An English major and art minor, Magrino devoted much of her time outside of the classroom to a range of extracurricular endeavors. As editor-in-chief of Skidmore’s student-run literary magazine Folio, she met short story writer and poet Raymond Carver and even picked up Allen Ginsberg at the airport when he flew in to give a reading. “To be majoring in English and wanting to be a writer — it just doesn’t get better than that,” Magrino mused.
When she wasn’t editing manuscripts or studying at Scribner Library (a favorite spot of hers on campus), she could be found exploring Saratoga Springs with her camera or DJing with her roommate at WSPN. “We would put on a long record like the Grateful Dead and try to run down to Price Chopper and back to Jonsson Tower before it ended,” she reminisces, laughing.
“I also remember going into the Adelphi Hotel when it was a wreck. It was condemned then, but I walked in there with my camera,” she says. “I would never have thought of myself as an artist, but at that point I really loved photography. It’s amazing to go back now and see how much (the city) has changed and thrived.”
Magrino says the freedom to explore so much at and around Skidmore helped her establish the “roots” that would eventually anchor her career in marketing, branding, and public relations.
She is resolute about the value of a liberal arts education, which she says teaches students to communicate, to be curious, and to evaluate information critically. It’s not just knowledge, but a way of approaching life and business that teaches, at its core, “how to think and how to operate” in the world.
A course outside her major with the late Professor of Art History Harry Gaugh was among several that proved transformational for Magrino. The seemingly endless rotation of slides he showed was about much more than memorization. “I learned how to see with him,” she recalls. Even today, while traveling around the globe to visit clients, she makes time to visit museums and galleries. “It’s still a game I play: Can I identify that painting, that piece of art?”
After more than three decades spent running her own business, Magrino continues to draw on the breadth of her Skidmore education in unexpected ways.
“You know a little bit about art, or you know about other countries, or you know about language. There was something the other day that I knew from Skidmore that gave me an edge in a meeting.”
Magrino offers this advice to students and recent graduates seeking success: “At the beginning of your career, you want to be doing everything. You have to be extremely willing to work hard. You have to show up.”
And show up she has. Her Rolodexes, accolades, and legions of loyal clients offer ample evidence, but her commitment — and impact — extends well beyond her career. She has established an endowed scholarship at Skidmore and has a space named in her honor in the library where she once studied.
While there was “no question” for Magrino that she would head straight to New York City upon graduation, she has been pleasantly surprised by how she is drawn back to Skidmore and Saratoga Springs.
“Saratoga deserves respect. It’s such an important city in America, and it’s wonderful to see how it’s really come back.”
Magrino returns with classmates to visit the famed Saratoga Race Course as often as she can. “That whole scene is so fabulous. It’s one of America’s real treasures,” she says.
Her favorite spots in Saratoga Springs include Encounter, Hatsational, Saratoga Olive Oil, The Pink Paddock, and Solevo.
“I also love the baths,” she shares, referring to The Roosevelt Baths & Spa nestled in the picturesque Saratoga Spa State Park, just a couple miles from campus. “This town was built upon a lifestyle of taking in the waters and relaxation and going to the racetrack.”
Beyond Saratoga’s traditions or the chance to reminisce with friends on the “beautiful and modern” campus, there is something even deeper that keeps her connected to her alma mater.
“I feel that if I am successful, I am successful because I went to Skidmore, so I think I have Skidmore to thank. I will advocate for liberal arts education for my entire life.”
A version of this story first appeared in the fall 2026 issue of Skidmore College's Scope magazine.