Schindler earned his undergraduate degrees in American Studies and Humanities from Northwestern University and his PhD in History from Harvard University. He also earned a MBA from MIT.

After nearly a decade in the financial field, Paul Schindler broke into journalism-becoming the Editor-in-Chief of the bi-weekly newspaper LGNY in 1997. In 2002, LGNY was relaunched as Gay City News with Paul Schindler continuing as Editor-in-Chief.

Paul Schindler lives in Brooklyn with his husband Bert Vaccari and their two Basenji hound dogs, Roxie and Jet.