[1][2][non-primary source needed] He was credited for coining the term "elevator pitch.
"[3] Caruso grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, and graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
[5][6][non-primary source needed] He joined the journalism industry by working for The New Yorker as a messenger, before becoming executive editor of The Village Voice.
He was recruited by Tina Brown to Vanity Fair and served as senior articles editor, during which he worked with the likes of Norman Mailer and Joyce Carol Oates and coined the term "elevator pitch".
[12] As editor-in-chief, Caruso introduced a poetry feature and began organizing issues around themes and commissioned pieces by Ruth Reichl, Mimi Sheraton, David Maraniss, Natalie Angier and Sloane Crosley.