Meet a Colleague: Jamie Lipps

Meet a Colleague: Jamie Lipps Jamie Lipps serves as director of publications and design.

W&L News Office
May 6, 2026

Q. How long have you worked at W&L?
I've been here for nearly five years.

Q. What is the favorite aspect of your job at W&L?
That's easy: It's the people, hands down. I have a small-but-mighty design team that consists of Senior Graphic Designer Billy Chase and Graphic Designer Kolton Cannon - the three of us have very different areas of expertise as designers, but our strengths somehow combine seamlessly and help make W&L's printed pieces look terrific.

Q. If you chose a different path, what other career would you have?
Oh gosh, that's tough. I'm pretty sure I'd have ended up doing something creative - I love to write, but I figured out early on that I don't have the discipline, or the talent really, to be successful. Maybe photography? Or painting? But I'm lucky to have done what I've done, for such a long time, during such an interesting era-working in magazines in New York, particularly during the 1990s, was an incredible way to make a living.

Q. Where did you grow up?
I was raised in a small town in Tennessee just north of Knoxville-it's called LaFollette, and it's about the same size as Lexington. I think that's one reason I felt so at home here so quickly.

Q. What was your favorite subject in school?
English.

Q. What three words describe you best?
Persistent, logical, creative.

Q. Name one person from history you would like to spend a day with and why.
Amelia Earhart. She was a pioneer in every sense of the word, and fearless doesn't even begin to cover it. Plus she had an incredible sense of style! And I totally admire her ability to go it alone.

Q. Who is the most famous person you have met and where did you meet them?
Claudia Schiffer. I was a consulting art director at Self magazine in NY, and she was our cover-we were shooting her in Chelsea in the late 1990s and she was still at the height of her supermodel status. She was delightful! But I do remember being in earshot of an argument between her and the hair stylist, to whom Claudia demanded: "Make it bigger. I don't want this flat look. Bigger please, or I'll do it myself."

Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Dithering. Just make a decision and move forward.

Q. What do you like to do away from work?
Travel. And that always involves good food and drink - I've had the opportunity to really discover Washington, D.C. while working at Washington and Lee, and I could carry on all day about some of the restaurants.

Q. What is your least favorite chore at home?
Dusting. I just don't do it.

Q. What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
The insane amount of food my mom used to pull together, especially on Thanksgiving, carefully incorporating everyone's favorites to the menu.

Q. What is the most adventurous thing that you have ever done?
I moved to Berlin in 2003 and opened a small café with a German business partner, before returning to New York in 2010.

Q. What do you pretend to hate but secretly love?
Fast food.

Q. What is your all-time favorite food or food dish?
Pasta carbonara.

Q. Where would you choose to build your dream home?
I've no idea. Everywhere I visit I want to live.

Q. What is your all-time favorite book?
It's a tie between "Of Human Bondage" by William Somerset Maugham and "Ramona the Pest" by Beverly Cleary.

Q. If you could choose one series to binge-watch, what would it be?
I tend to not binge-watch - it bugs me to go through things so quickly. Right now, I'm watching "Hacks" and I can't bear to begin the fifth and final season. I've been on a pause for the last three weeks.

Q. What is your all-time favorite movie?
"Broadcast News." Very much a time, place and mindset for me. No one can write dialogue like James Brooks. And Holly Hunter was divine.

Q. Tell us something most people don't know about you.
I'm a closeted introvert.