May is our birthday month. On 3rd May, 2009, we published our first edition of Every Woman. In June of the same year, we officially launched our publication with a fun-filled ladies’ night out at Sunbird Mount Soche. Last year, we celebrated our birthday by publishing a special edition in the first week of June.
Just as with the first birthday of a child, our one-year milestone was very interesting and we had to do something in its honour. This year, the publication has turned two and things are quieter, more settled; a little more comfortable.
Being involved in this product from its inception to this stage is more or less comparable to the conception, birthing and mothering processes. At inception, when the idea of the supplement was born, we were filled with excitement and couldn’t wait to bring it off the ground, to ‘meet it,’ to hold a published copy in our hands.
As we went through the research, preparations, and a myriad of meetings, our excitement was slowly tinged with just a trace of anxiety and doubt. We asked ourselves a lot of questions. Would we be able to carry this through? Would we sustain this or run out of ideas halfway through? Would we rope in women that had made a difference? Would they touch our readers’ lives? Would the public like it? What would they say in reaction to the launch?
As the launch day grew closer and the pressure mounted, fatigue abounded. On the Friday that we were meant to go to print, some things did not go as planned and we ran around like headless chickens, trying to right them. It was long, hard work but we pushed through to the very end. We worked until 2 am or so, making sure everything was in place. By the end of the night we were exhausted but happy to hold a dummy of the first ever Every Woman supplement. We were excited and couldn’t wait to show it off to the outside world.
I’ll have to admit this; the first year was quite hectic and very trying. It was a sum total of sleepless nights and trial and error as we tried to come up with stories that people would be interested in. However, in pretty much the same way a young mother grows adept at feeding, changing diapers and managing sleep times of her growing toddler, we too are slowly learning to understand the dynamics of Every Woman and what we need to do to keep it going.
Likewise, in the same way that parenting is a 24/7 365 job you can never perfect, as both parent and child keep growing through different phases, the supplement continues to grow, change and present us with new challenges.
Based on readers’ feedback on what is working and what isn’t, we have added and removed sections from the product. We have redesigned some of the pages for a fresh new feel.
As the supplement gets older with each passing year, the team and I continue to grow with it. As we nurture it, as we work to make it happen, we learn new things. Through it, we have become mature and more knowledgeable.
Here’s to a lot more issues of Every Woman, steady growth and the hope that, some day, our product will be big enough to stand on its own!
Which interviews or articles have you loved reading Every Woman? Email your response to me on amphepo@mwnation.com.
