Mr. Magazine

“…We aim to help people fall in love with reality and create a lifestyle they appreciate through the highs and lows; the holidays and the everyday.” Molly My, Founder and Editor-In-Chief 

“While we can all appreciate the incredible impact digital has made on our lives, digital content is often placed in front of us, whether we sought it or not. Print content is what we place in front of ourselves by choice.” Molly My

How can I describe the magazine that is the subject of this Mr. Magazine’s™ Interview? Brains meet beauty and a celebration of everyday life, is, in short, the best description I can give to Molly My Mag.  After reading my interview with Molly My, the founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine,  you may add that description to the woman behind the idea of the magazine. Molly My Mag can easily be Molly Your Mag.

Fighting many closed doors, Molly My was determined to launch her magazine idea and open as many doors as possible.  She did not allow the fact that “being young and unknown” in the magazine media business to stop her from finding ways to create her childhood dream: a magazine that speaks to her and her peers.

The story of Molly My Mag is the story of Molly My.  The bi-annual magazine “encourages women to create and seek life’s most beautiful things and moments.” Twice a year, every winter and summer readers have a “date” with the content-rich magazine and a break from the digital blue lights.

A firm believer in the combination of print and digital Molly My presents her audience with a lovely ink on paper magazine to turn the pages one at a time, and a digital website to keep the conversation going among friends.

So without any further delays, here is the Mr. Magazine™ Interview with Molly My, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Molly My Mag.

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni:   From a young age, you were approaching media giants with your ideas to do a lifestyle program or show.  It seems with Molly My Mag you’ve achieved your teenage dream. Can you please take me through the journey of creating Molly My Mag and how it transformed from My Magazine to Molly My Mag?

Molly My: It’s been a dream come true, but I’m just getting started! I still have so much I’d like to do that stems from my original vision. Growing up as a millennial, the media played a huge role in my life. As I entered my early teens, I noticed it speaking more to my and my peers’ insecurities rather than our strengths — without many tools to help, other than “buy this!” At the time, there were limited voices targeting our demographic in the right ways. This lit a fire in me that hasn’t burned out since. When I was 13 years old, I started to pitch the big guys a lifestyle series for young women, which would integrate into digital content covering health, wellness, food, style, culture, and more. As you can imagine, being young and unknown in the industry meant that this idea was met with a few closed doors, but I was determined to make a difference with or without the help of others.

Keep in mind, when I was pitching these concepts, this was well before YouTube and lifestyle content went mainstream. I kept the idea close to my heart and as I entered college, Facebook emerged. My first jobs were in marketing, public relations, and advertising, when blogging and Instagram were at the forefront. I saw clearly where this was all going, and picked the pieces of my adolescent dream back up. The internet was saturated with content, and magazines, in my opinion, were due for a fresh comeback. I’ve always been inspired by the road less traveled — and with that, Molly My Mag was born. With more life experience under my belt, including launching a social club to support working women transitioning into adulthood, I felt like I had more tools than ever to continue to self-advocate and help others.

As you know, print is beautiful but expensive, so I first launched the magazine digitally (as My Magazine) before building the traction to crowdfund for our first print run. As the concepts grew, I intertwined my name into the brand to further connect with readers. I wasn’t a media giant with backing — I was just Molly, and it was important to me that our readers knew who was behind the pages; just a girl with a big dream. Plus, many were already calling it Molly My Mag and My Mag, so it made sense to make it more easily identifiable. 

S.H.:  What would you consider was the biggest hurdle that you had to overcome during this journey?

M.M.: Getting comfortable with “no” for an answer, and starting from scratch in publishing. Although I studied journalism in college and had a career and internships prior to the magazine, I didn’t have any print experience — just a love for it. When I decided to expand our distribution, I called every single store directly and that’s how I built our list. I work with some amazing distribution partners now! A lot of people thought I was crazy to embark on this in a digitally-focused era; a lot of brands and companies didn’t believe in me or print — that’s hard, and discouraging. 

I always tell people when they start a business to make sure you’re deeply passionate about it, because whatever it is you’re doing, the passion is the thing that keeps you going. You can’t rely on the good days since those can be few and far between. I didn’t have a road map, which made the journey more challenging, but I wouldn’t have changed one thing because I grew so much with each step. In my opinion, the difficulties have made me more valuable in the space, to my team, and to my readers. It makes the wins much sweeter too! 

S.H.: What was the most pleasant moment?

M.M.: Seeing our first print run come to fruition was definitely a great moment; I was like a kid on Christmas opening those boxes! A close runner up would be getting into Barnes & Noble and Whole Foods, which are two chains I‘ve always had my eyes on. I’m so grateful for the support I’ve received from each and every one of our store partners, and I’ve met the most wonderful people through this process. Reflecting on all of the points of view, work backgrounds, and personalities we’ve brought together in the magazine has been tremendous as well. From our contributors to the hands that put us on shelves, the magazine connects us all — and takes a village! We’re among this great community of people and I just feel really, really lucky to have this opportunity. 

S.H.: Tell me more about celebrating everyday life.  Some folks think magazines are an escape vehicle, yours is bringing people to reality. Why?

M.M.: I think it’s so important that we love our lives. Yes, escapes are nice, but they’re not long term and often unattainable. In Molly My Mag, we aim to help people fall in love with reality and create a lifestyle they appreciate through the highs and lows; the holidays and the everyday. Sounds cheesy, but each moment is a blessing, so it’s necessary we recognize that and celebrate the lives we have or take action to create the lives we want. 

S.H.: Can you identify the role of print in this digital age and how is your print and digital working/not working together?

M.M.: For one, print is a break from blue light! I’ve always loved print for its authenticity, connection, and the way you can intentionally take it with you to the airport, beach, couch — you name it. While we can all appreciate the incredible impact digital has made on our lives, digital content is often placed in front of us, whether we sought it or not. 

Print content is what we place in front of ourselves by choice. I think the manner in which we consume content and information today really hinges on these differences. Print and digital sound like enemies of one another, but I believe they can be used together for greater emphasis. On our Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/mollymymag/

we share contributor “takeovers” to showcase the unique personalities and expertise of authors we feature in the magazine. We also bring similar or follow up topics onto our site (mollymymag.com) and utilize platforms like Amazon and LikeToKnowIt to emphasize the great brands and products found in our issues. Now that we have established ourselves in print, we will continue to look digitally. 

S.H.: What are the next steps for Molly My Mag and anything else you want to add that I failed to ask so far?

M.M.: Expanding our content into areas beyond the lifestyle genre we already cover, and becoming a bigger part of the conversations in culture, business, and more. Our base will always be lifestyle. As the magazine grows, I want to get people thinking harder about more aspects of life, but never forgetting about the importance of the light-hearted stuff too. Life isn’t just a singular topic, and I don’t think magazines need to be either. You should be able to read tips on creating your dream home or wedding while also educating yourself about topics like cryptocurrency or women in Afghanistan. 

This is what Molly My Mag is all about. As a media source, I want to introduce new topics to our readers — especially ones they may not have otherwise sought. That’s how we expand our horizons and start to understand the world around us. It would be difficult for readers to grow from the magazine if we covered only a few related topics, which is why we aim to cover it all and pique curiosities in the way we package everything together. Finally, we’ll further build out our website, mollymymag.com, and use digital to complement what we’re doing in print as well as merchandise and more. Wait and see what’s next — but chances are I’ll be very busy for a while! 
That said, anyone who is reading this and interested in contributing to our pages, reach out! We love discovering and connecting with thought leaders and experts. Email our editorial team at editorialasst@mollymy.com.

S.H.: My typical last question, what keeps Molly My up at night these days?
M.M.: The excitement that I have for Molly My Mag. I have a hard time winding down for bed when I’m kept up by the happenings of the day. There’s a weird sense of avoidance in not wanting the day to end, because they never seem long enough and there’s so much I want to do and accomplish. 

S.H.:  Good luck and thank you.