One memory I clearly have from years ago is Joe and I discussing if we were really going to move forward and acquire SJ Magazine. He said, “Imagine you still own the business in 10 years. How do you feel?” I said, “10 years? No way. I can’t imagine that.”
That was 2005. So while SJ Mag Media is celebrating 25 years in operation, we’ve owned the business for 20 years, which is way more than Joe’s imaginary 10 years and yes, way more than I could have ever imagined.
In the beginning, I would often tell people my background was in journalism. I am a writer. So when I took over publishing a magazine, I sold to advertisers because I needed some way to pay for all the stories I wanted to print. For a writer to have a vehicle to share information, to entertain or inspire or educate – well, that’s a dream.
It took about 2 years for me to realize I wanted to do more than print interesting articles. The business suddenly wasn’t about telling stories. It was about impacting people. Sometimes a reader would stop me on the street and tell me how a story had given them a resource to get through a tough time or my column had made them laugh or gave them an idea to ease a family issue they were having. One mom even quoted a line I had written back to me. That’s actually happened a few times, and there is no better compliment.
One of our advertisers told us he continued to partner with us because we were “the heart and soul of South Jersey,” and we made that our tagline. You can still see it under our logo on the cover. Sometimes the people we connect with remind us how important our relationship is, and we are forever grateful. We value that, and know it comes with a great responsibility.
That’s why we wrote our mission statement – we wanted some kind of guidance as we continued our work, because we wanted our influence to have meaning and purpose. We didn’t hold any committee meetings or have re-writes to reach a final version. It came to us quickly and naturally: Empower women. Support nonprofits. Promote South Jersey.
It was what we had been doing all along. We just had never taken the time to say it out loud.
Since then, all our decisions and actions have been grounded in that mission. And when digital media catapulted our reach to a whole new audience, the impact became even greater.
Our audience is wider now and, in addition to print, we reach them on video and social media. That opens the world to us, but we think back to the mission statement and keep our focus here in South Jersey. We’ve discovered that this community we live and work in is a beautiful place. The people here have supported us, respected us, applauded us, held us up during a pandemic and joined us in the years that followed to get us all back to normal. We hope that, in return, we have done the same.
So my 10-year vision for the business was a little foggy all those years ago. I certainly couldn’t have ever pictured where we are now – 20 years later. But I believe what happened is what was always supposed to happen. Maybe it was ok I couldn’t see down the road. Maybe I just needed to live it and see where it all went, because it brought me here. The ride has been astounding, and the success has been extraordinary. But the relationships with our audience and with our advertising partners, those have been magical. The years have shown me the importance of people in my life. People support you. They help you grow. And they make things wonderful, even when you just can’t see if for yourself.
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