Mr. Magazine

“This is more of a general statement of how we look at print as part of our brand. We’re very, very happy to be in the magazine business and we look at the print product as a powerful opportunity for us to be able to put out issues like the “YouEconomy” issue with careful study of interesting issues that are effecting our readers lives in a way that only print can do it. And that is in a format that is long-form, and that people can spend time with and can share with others and that’s durable.” Jim McCabe

 

“You mention all of the different avenues that we have to put the good news about this out and express it to as many people as we can, but yes, the print magazine was the lead edge. That’s where we really wanted to plant the flag was with that identifiable cover that we have on the August issue.” (On the role of print versus all of the other platforms Success has) Josh Ellis

 

“That’s why for us as a magazine and a media brand that is targeted to people and that really wants to be partners with people as they journey to success; that’s why the print product is so important for us. It’s the place where we can have the longer form discussion; it’s durable and we have all of the avenues where people can continue that discussion socially and online and we give them day-to-day inspiration with those vehicles, but nothing can replace print as the durable place for a long-form discussion.” Jim McCabe

 

“The cover story alone is 6,000 words, and that’s just something that you don’t see online very much. People will not sit down for the hour that it takes to read a story that long and from the same website and keep scrolling and scrolling, but in print it’s an enjoyable read, because of things like layout and the feel of the paper. We thought it was so important for our readers to get the entire sense of what has developed in the “YouEconomy” that print is the perfect place to really make the announcement.” Josh Ellis

 

Take action and work for yourself in the “YouEconomy.” The upcoming August issue of Success magazine is sounding the trumpet and ushering in the concept/movement that could change people’s professional lives with a positive and affirming message that according to General Manager, Jim McCabe, is both naturally evolved and organically grown. Through the thought process that there are no limits or boundaries except the ones we set for ourselves, the “YouEconomy” and Success magazine will show us how we can free ourselves from all types of restrictive mindsets.

 

I spoke with Jim and editor in chief, Josh Ellis, recently and we talked about this incredibly liberating concept that a person can live and work basically anyway they choose when they decide to follow their passions and become engaged with their own agenda, instead of an employer’s. It’s a fascinating subject matter and definitely worth an expanded special issue of Success, which is what readers will get with the August issue. The magazine is devoting each and every feature, including the 6,000 word cover story, to the “YouEconomy” in some form or fashion. A must read for those ready to take control of their own professional destiny.

 

As Josh and Jim each brought their own passions and ideas to the table, the discussion was lively and informative with a hint of “You can do this too” behind every word. Of course, Mr. Magazine™ already subscribes to the “YouEconomy” with every new magazine that hits newsstands, as his passion would allow for nothing less. And the August issue of Success offers each of its readers the same opportunity to explore their own unique passions.

 

So, without further ado, I hope that you enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Jim McCabe, General Manager & Josh Ellis, Editor In Chief, Success Magazine.

 

But first the sound-bites:

 

On how the magazine’s team is being used to create the “YouEconomy” movement (Jim McCabe): It’s not necessarily that we’re creating a movement; it’s the sense that I think we’ve tapped into something that has naturally evolved, and that’s this sense that people are looking at their lives in a different way for a lot of different reasons.

 

On whether success today is easier or harder than ever (Jim McCabe): What we preach is that there is no universal definition of success. To each individual, success means something different. To some success is very traditional, it means what they can acquire: how big a house they have, how many cars they own, how they travel the world. To others success could mean something very different. Success could mean throwing themselves into charity work to be able to try and find a cure for a disease that’s affected a loved one.

 

On how the “YouEconomy” concept is captured within the pages of the magazine (Josh Ellis): It’s completely representative of what we’ve tried to make the magazine about for as long as I’ve been here. Some people sort of confuse it with something like Money or Fortune, but it hasn’t been that. It’s been a holistic definition of success.

 

On whether the “YouEconomy” humanizes success (Josh Ellis): I think so. As Jim touched on, there were a lot of old definitions and I think it can even go back as far as the Industrial Age. We had this old timey view of what success looked like, but really it’s an individual thing. And so much of what we do and why we settled on the “YouEconomy” name in fact was to make it individual for each person, because each person’s definition of success in this 21st century economic paradigm is really up to them.

 

On how you know when you’ve achieved success (Jim McCabe): That’s a very individual thing. But one thing that we talked a lot about in the magazine as one of the measurements is plain happiness. Are you satisfied with what you’re doing? Do you feel as though the work that you’re putting in is fairly compensated? And are you doing not only the things that you want to do professionally, but are you able to do the things that you want to do personally and developing as an individual to a place that you want to be?

 

On whether the “YouEconomy” formula is the same for everyone when it comes to achieving success and happiness (Jim McCabe): What I think is fascinating about the “You Economy” is that it’s cross generational. There are people in their 50s now who started their careers and were 100% sure they were going to be in corporate America for the rest of their lives and their biggest fear in life was always losing a job and not having an opportunity to earn income and then where that next job was coming from and what they were going to do. And then you also have the younger people, the millennials, who have just come out and have always looked at life differently and aren’t necessarily enamored with signing up with a company forever and having a boss tell them what to do. But the one universal thing that they all have now is immediate opportunity. The one thing that I think the “YouEconomy” eliminates is the unknown.

 

On whether the “YouEconomy” formula is the same for everyone when it comes to achieving success and happiness (Josh Ellis): With our research; we did a Harris Poll, with more than 2,000 adults, and we found that a third of Americans in the workforce have made money in this way within the last year and millennials are the biggest part of it. And so to your question about whether this is an avenue for just about everybody, I think that our research does support that.

 

On the role the print magazine plays in the “YouEconomy” concept versus all of the other platforms Success has (Josh Ellis): You mention all of the different avenues that we have to put the good news about this out and express it to as many people as we can, but yes, the print magazine was the lead edge. That’s where we really wanted to plant the flag was with that identifiable cover that we have on the August issue.

 

On how important it is to spread the message that print is still viable in this digital age (Jim McCabe): This is more of a general statement of how we look at print as part of our brand. We’re very, very happy to be in the magazine business and we look at the print product as a powerful opportunity for us to be able to put out issues like the “YouEconomy” issue with careful study of interesting issues that are effecting our readers lives in a way that only print can do it. And that is in a format that is long-form, and that people can spend time with and can share with others and that’s durable.

 

On how important it is to spread the message that print is still viable in this digital age (Josh Ellis): The other thing too is this was such an important tent-pole for our brand as a whole and in really helping our readers to understand what we’re about and to sort of define, whether they knew it or not, who our readers are. And the cover story alone is 6,000 words, and that’s just something that you don’t see online very much. People will not sit down for the hour that it takes to read a story that long and from the same website and keep scrolling and scrolling, but in print it’s an enjoyable read, because of things like layout and the feel of the paper.

 

On anything else they’d like to add (Jim McCabe): Just that we’re very, very proud of it and I’m extremely proud of it because this is the reflection of Josh’s leadership, taking over the magazine and producing such a quality product so quickly. And taking on a subject that I think is really interesting and newsworthy and groundbreaking. And it’s a reflection of how great a staff he put together for us to be able to do this.

 

On anything else they’d like to add (Josh Ellis): I think that a lot of times a national magazine that isn’t in the New York sphere can be easy to overlook, but doing big issues and really getting out there and trying to produce something that will make a statement is an important way to create some brand awareness. And so this was really a huge issue for the magazine and for everything that we do at Success.

 

On what someone would find them doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening to their home (Jim McCabe): I’m usually catching up on the day’s news one way or the other, either scanning CNN or Bloomberg or something, or catching up with the Journal or The New York Times or the Post or some of the things that I have to read every day, but haven’t gotten to, and possibly exercising and trying to squeeze that in as well.

 

On what someone would find them doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening to their home (Josh Ellis): I love to cook; I try to do that as much as I can. But I am a subscriber to several magazines, so I will take some time and read through a few long-form pieces a week. Other than that, playing with the dog or playing video games. (Laughs)

 

On what keeps them up at night (Jim McCabe): These days? The state of politics in the U.S. (Laughs) That really does worry me, because I just think that we’re in a place now where we’ve pushed out a good group of people, a moderate group of people and we’re constantly debating on the fringes as opposed to trying to understand all of the amazing blessings and things we have here.

 

 

On what keeps them up at night (Josh Ellis): I’m easily fixated on some kind of content that I’m enjoying, so whether I’m reading a magazine story or a book or watching something on Netflix, I have contrary to what a lot of people assume about my generation, a pretty good attention span, so I’m willing to invest some time in entertainment or to learn something new, or to just think about one thing for a long time.

 

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Jim McCabe, General Manager & Josh Ellis, Editor in Chief, Success magazine.

 

Samir Husni: I was reading about the “YouEconomy” movement in an article in the August issue of Success and it said that it’s much more than money, it’s opportunity for growth, innovation, creating a legacy; it’s about your skills, ideas, your smile. Tell me how you’re taking the magazine and creating the “YouEconomy” movement with the Success team?

 

Jim McCabe: It’s not necessarily that we’re creating a movement; it’s the sense that I think we’ve tapped into something that has naturally evolved, and that’s this sense that people are looking at their lives in a different way for a lot of different reasons.

 

Thirty years ago the way that people looked at their career was very, very different, it was predictable; you knew what courses to study in college if you were going into a certain discipline, you would attach yourself to a company that had a particular path that would allow you to see your future there for decades and the compensation was arranged to give you pensions and other things that made it very comfortable and worthwhile to invest your time there.

 

When the world began to shift and we could go into hundreds of reasons why that was, but that covenant between the worker and the business began to erode and it became much more of a transactional relationship, people began to look at what they were doing for the majority of their lives and instead of just looking at compensation from the financial standpoint, they looked at compensation from a number of different standpoints. They looked at the emotional standpoint, the legacy standpoint, and from a simple happiness standpoint.

 

And these are all things that we’ve preached in the magazine, so naturally what happened was people began to identify with what we were talking about and we began to see this group of people who were growing become much more interested in the things that we were doing. And that’s part of the reason I think you saw our website over the past couple of years go from 300,000 monthly uniques to close to two million. That’s why we have the three million Facebook likes that we have.

 

It’s been a natural marriage of what we have always consistently said. And the circumstances of where people are in their lives have matched that and that’s how we’ve come together.

 

Samir Husni: Do you think achieving success today is easier or harder than ever?

 

Jim McCabe: What we preach is that there is no universal definition of success. To each individual, success means something different. To some success is very traditional, it means what they can acquire: how big a house they have, how many cars they own, how they travel the world.

 

To others success could mean something very different. Success could mean throwing themselves into charity work to be able to try and find a cure for a disease that’s affected a loved one. Success for some people could mean that they just want to surf all day and they need to have the right amount of income to be able to support that, so finding something that they can do in the off-surfing hours to support that lifestyle is important.

 

I think the major difference that we’re in now and one of the major points about the “You Economy” is that there are many accepted definitions of success. In the past, again thirty years ago, there was a pretty universal definition of how people measured each other when it came to success, the size of their home, the type of car they drove. Now, people look at individuals and are very open to saying, OK, they’re living the life that they want to live and I’m fine with that. I’m not going to judge them. They’re successful by their own definition and that’s great.

 

Samir Husni: Josh, how do you take the “YouEconomy” and try and capture it in the pages of the magazine, because you now have to deal with work, play and life?

 

Josh Ellis: It’s completely representative of what we’ve tried to make the magazine about for as long as I’ve been here. Some people sort of confuse it with something like Money or Fortune, but it hasn’t been that. It’s been a holistic definition of success.

 

We redesigned the front of the book to try and encompass as many of the major pillars of how our readers define success and it’s happiness, health, growth and purpose. And I think for a lot of people, especially younger people, millennial readers, the growth and the purpose aspect of success and the “YouEconomy” as an avenue toward that is just a natural fit. We think that younger readers especially, they recognize that there is a certain amount of money that will allow them to live comfortably and to pursue the passions that they want.

 

Jim talked about people who want to surf all day; some people, especially my age, we don’t want to come into an office. We want to work from home or only work 15 hours per week and still be able to make a living doing that and the “YouEconomy” represents a way that that’s possible. It also makes it possible to be able to make a living doing things that we’re passionate about, whether it’s contract labor, something that we have great skills in, or even something as simple as Uber driving. There are so many avenues to entrepreneurship now that the “You Economy” makes perfect sense for us.

 

Samir Husni: With the “YouEconomy,” are you humanizing success?

 

Josh Ellis: I think so. As Jim touched on, there were a lot of old definitions and I think it can even go back as far as the Industrial Age. We had this old timey view of what success looked like, but really it’s an individual thing.

 

And so much of what we do and why we settled on the “YouEconomy” name in fact was to make it individual for each person, because each person’s definition of success in this 21^st century economic paradigm is really up to them. It’s how they want to achieve it, the things that they can do, and this is in a lot of ways where we come in. It’s the things that they can do to supplement their skills and to make themselves more productive or more persuasive, or so many different soft skills that we can teach that are helpful not only in traditional careers, but also in careers as our readers define them for themselves.

 

Samir Husni: Jim, as an achiever, how do you know or when do you feel that you’ve achieved that success with the “YouEconomy?” Do you have a measurement or some sort of guideline that let’s someone know they did it, they achieved success?

 

Jim McCabe: That’s a very individual thing. But one thing that we talked a lot about in the magazine as one of the measurements is plain happiness. Are you satisfied with what you’re doing? Do you feel as though the work that you’re putting in is fairly compensated? And are you doing not only the things that you want to do professionally, but are you able to do the things that you want to do personally and developing as an individual to a place that you want to be?

 

So, that’s a very individual and emotional thing, but I think anybody who has worked in a traditional career has had times when they felt like they were stuck in a job or that they weren’t being recognized or were worried about whether or not they were getting that promotion.

 

And I think taking those equations out and allowing yourself to say that you’re going to be responsible for your own paycheck and everything else that happens gives people a sense of freedom and happiness that if they’re able to meet those goals, which we’re saying in the “You Economy” that there’s so many different options for someone to be able to do that and there are combinations of options out there that allow you to do that, the happiness equation is something that people get.

 

Samir Husni: From what I understand, happiness today is more of a science than an emotion. With that happiness as the anchor for success, do you think that people from all walks of life can achieve the same results from the “YouEconomy” concept, achieve the same level of happiness? Is the “YouEconomy” formula for everyone?

 

Jim McCabe: What I think is fascinating about the “YouEconomy” is that it’s cross generational. There are people in their 50s now who started their careers and were 100% sure they were going to be in corporate America for the rest of their lives and their biggest fear in life was always losing a job and not having an opportunity to earn income and then where that next job was coming from and what they were going to do. And their world was thrown upside-down in the past couple of decades. Some people said it was chapter two or whatever, but people had to reinvent themselves, but there was always that sense that they were rejected by what they thought was the establishment and they didn’t know if they were going to go forward.

 

And then you also have the younger people, the millennials, who have just come out and have always looked at life differently and aren’t necessarily enamored with signing up with a company forever and having a boss tell them what to do. But the one universal thing that they all have now is immediate opportunity. That person who’s been thrown out there, there are tons of things that they can do and tons of ways that they can use the skills that they’ve developed in their career with freelancing or whatever, even if they wanted to do something like drive for Uber, they can immediately still be out there earning an income. So, for the younger folks, there’s the ability to figure out what they really want to do and take time between jobs and earn additional income doing different things as they figure it out.

 

The one thing that I think the “YouEconomy” eliminates is the unknown and the fear of not having access to income. And that was something that drove generations of people. I think one of the most interesting things about the “YouEconomy” from our standpoint is the same people, especially when you’re looking at freelancers, have realized that they were selling themselves short by allowing themselves to be employed by other companies. And what they found was that their work was more valuable than they thought it was. And those companies were willing to pay them more as individual contractors than they were paying them as employees, and that they could work for more people.

 

So, I think that mindset and the ability to take advantage of that has given them a freedom and eliminated a layer of fear that drove people for a long time.

 

Josh Ellis: And I just want to add to that, because I think your question was a little bit about how widely encompassing this is, at least among the population. With our research; we did a Harris Poll, with more than 2,000 adults, and we found that a third of Americans in the workforce have made money in this way within the last year and millennials are the biggest part of it. Of course, they are now like the largest generation in total numbers, but they only make up just over 50% of the “YouEconomy” workforce. People over 55 are 30% of the “YouEconomy” and there’s also a majority of minority participants, 55% of the people in the “YouEconomy” are racial or ethnic minorities.

 

And so to your question about whether this is an avenue for just about everybody, I think that our research does support that.

 

Samir Husni: What role does the printed Success magazine play in all of this and how do the other platforms fit in: the books, videos, website and your video courses? Is the print magazine the anchor for all of this or just a part of it? What drives that relationship that you want to establish between the brand and those generations?

 

Josh Ellis: You mention all of the different avenues that we have to put the good news about this out and express it to as many people as we can, but yes, the print magazine was the lead edge. That’s where we really wanted to plant the flag was with that identifiable cover that we have on the August issue.

 

Jim was getting to the point that a lot of the time people who worked in companies and then became freelancers didn’t realize until after the fact just what a great opportunity this was and I think that’s what our issue is, it’s like a siren call kind of thing to jostle people into understanding what the opportunity is for them now, with what technology has made possible and changes in the economy have made possible.

 

And in the August issue, it isn’t just about the cover story where we’re expressing the total opportunity of the “YouEconomy,” but it’s also every feature in the issue is designed to either speak to people of a certain background, whether they’re women or younger people or older people or anyone wanting to start a traditional business.

 

Or take on something like an Uber’s job, which we‘ve mentioned a couple of times, but that’s just one of the many avenues into this. There are so many others; you can walk dogs and make a living doing it now and find work doing that at the touch of a button on your iPhone. There are also direct selling opportunities where people can find a product that they’re really passionate about and share that with other people in their network. So, what we tried to do was use the entire issue to really highlight what’s available.

 

Samir Husni: How important do you feel it is to spread this message that print is still viable in this digital age?

 

Jim McCabe: This is more of a general statement of how we look at print as part of our brand. We’re very, very happy to be in the magazine business and we look at the print product as a powerful opportunity for us to be able to put out issues like the “You Economy” issue with careful study of interesting issues that are effecting our readers lives in a way that only print can do it. And that is in a format that is long-form, and that people can spend time with and can share with others and that’s durable.

 

We went through a redesign a year ago and as part of that redesign we talked a lot about what we wanted the print product to do and be in our universe of users and readers. And one of the things that we talked a lot about was, and one of the reasons that we changed our paper stock and other things that we did, was because durability was something that was important. We want the print product to be something that people save, use and refer back to and is part of a library that they use in developing the strategy they have to build their own personal level of success.

 

And as Josh said, by taking the entire edit well and looking at this story from different personal angles, from different contributors, that’s something that people will invest hours in and they’ll all invest hours in a print product to do that. So, that’s why for us as a magazine and a media brand that is targeted to people and that really wants to be partners with people as they journey to success; that’s why the print product is so important for us. It’s the place where we can have the longer form discussion; it’s durable and we have all of the avenues where people can continue that discussion socially and online and we give them day-to-day inspiration with those vehicles, but nothing can replace print as the durable place for a long-form discussion.

 

Josh Ellis: The other thing too is this was such an important tent-pole for our brand as a whole and in really helping our readers to understand what we’re about and to sort of define, whether they knew it or not, who our readers are. And the cover story alone is 6,000 words, and that’s just something that you don’t see online very much. People will not sit down for the hour that it takes to read a story that long and from the same website and keep scrolling and scrolling, but in print it’s an enjoyable read, because of things like layout and the feel of the paper.

 

We thought it was so important for our readers to get the entire sense of what has developed in the “You Economy” that print is the perfect place to really make the announcement.

 

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

 

Jim McCabe: Just that we’re very, very proud of it and I’m extremely proud of it because this is the reflection of Josh’s leadership, taking over the magazine and producing such a quality product so quickly. And taking on a subject that I think is really interesting and newsworthy and groundbreaking. And it’s a reflection of how great a staff he put together for us to be able to do this.

 

As I said before, we’re happy to be in the magazine business and this is a reflection of the talented group of people we have under Josh.

 

Josh Ellis: I think that a lot of times a national magazine that isn’t in the New York sphere can be easy to overlook, but doing big issues and really getting out there and trying to produce something that will make a statement is an important way to create some brand awareness. And so this was really a huge issue for the magazine and for everything that we do at Success.

 

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly to your house one evening after work, what would I find you doing; reading a magazine, reading your iPad, watching television, or something else?

 

Jim McCabe: I’m usually catching up on the day’s news one way or the other, either scanning CNN or Bloomberg or something, or catching up with the Journal or The New York Times or the Post or some of the things that I have to read every day, but haven’t gotten to, and possibly exercising and trying to squeeze that in as well.

 

Josh Ellis: I love to cook; I try to do that as much as I can. But I am a subscriber to several magazines, so I will take some time and read through a few long-form pieces a week. Other than that, playing with the dog or playing video games. (Laughs)

 

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

 

Jim McCabe: These days? The state of politics in the U.S. (Laughs)

 

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

 

Jim McCabe: That really does worry me, because I just think that we’re in a place now where we’ve pushed out a good group of people, a moderate group of people and we’re constantly debating on the fringes as opposed to trying to understand all of the amazing blessings and things we have here. And it’s an uneasy time. I have children and they’re going to live in a different world than I lived in, and although they have the opportunities of the “YouEconomy” which is great, I’m just hoping that they can enjoy all of that, plus the freedoms and happiness that I had.

 

Josh Ellis: I’m easily fixated on some kind of content that I’m enjoying, so whether I’m reading a magazine story or a book or watching something on Netflix, I have contrary to what a lot of people assume about my generation, a pretty good attention span, so I’m willing to invest some time in entertainment or to learn something new, or to just think about one thing for a long time. I don’t have any great fears like Jim, but I’m happy to sit down with something and enjoy for a good while.

 

Samir Husni: Thank you.

 

“I’m also pretty old school; I do love the feel of print. I love the feel of sitting down and flipping through pages. It’s a very experiential thing. I find it very relaxing. And I think what’s been interesting with what we often refer to as the digital disruption is as iPad magazines are also fabulous because they also offer a kind of interaction and interactivity that you can’t get with the printed page, but I have always returned to that more tactile, page-turning approach and I think actually the markets have gone back that way too.” (On what it is about print that ignites her creative passions) Melanie Hansche

 

“We’re seeing a lot of magazines enter the market with beautiful paper stock and beautiful photography and they’re very lush, vibrant visual experiences. Print products still represent escape for people. When their subscription arrives in the mail, the reader might flip through it very quickly, maybe starting from the back, but what’s been found is they return to it on the weekend and read it cover to cover. And I’m certainly that person too.” Melanie Hansche

 

Fifteen months ago, Rodale’s Organic Life was reborn from the legacy title Organic Gardening. The magazine has transitioned from its original how-to approach when it comes to the organics of a healthier style of life, to a more all-encompassing lifestyle title that embraces the organic way of life completely without the purist attitude that some people fear when they pick up a magazine about organic living. With the current issue Rodale’s Organic Life starts chapter two of the rebirth.

 

Organic Life’s brand new editor in chief hails from Sydney, Australia and believes strongly and passionately in the brand and agreed that the militant idea that a reader had to be 100% committed to organic living was not what the magazine was about. Melanie Hansche is vivacious and ardent when talking about her new organic baby and was adamant that the magazine was willing to meet its readers on whatever level of their own organic journey they might be on at the time when they first pick up the magazine.

 

I spoke with Melanie recently and we talked about her future plans for the magazine and her intense passion for the printed page. It was a conversation that was both delightful and informative. The dedication to print and its tactile nature that could be heard in her voice when talking about the magazine was not lost on Mr. Magazine™. It was extremely well-received.

 

So, grab a copy of Rodale’s Organic Life, kick back, relax and enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with a woman who loves everything organic, especially her magazine, Melanie Hansche, Editor In Chief, Rodale’s Organic Life.

 

But first, the sound-bites:

 

On what her plans are for the future of the new adopted Organic Life: The new adopted child that I’ve inherited is very young; it’s 15 months old. As a very young brand, it was and still is trying to find its space. And the really exciting thing, I think, is to take on a young brand or a product and think about how you can evolve it and take it in a direction that really resonates with your audience. The team and I, we have decided to evolve the brand even further by being a lot more targeted about our audience.

 

On the new “target” audience: When the brand started it did have a legacy with Organic Gardening readers and it’s really tried to be all things to all people, which I totally understand, because on the one hand, we want to try and welcome every person into this organic lifestyle. But really I think that approach wasn’t working and it wasn’t resonating and we wanted to be a lot more positive about who we’re speaking to and particularly who are the people that are embracing this kind of lifestyle or asking questions and changing their habits.

 

On what she brings from her native Australia to Organic Life magazine: I think my Australian sensibility that I bring to the magazine is probably the magazine experience that I’ve had in Australia and the way that Australians are really not into the way they execute magazines, in terms of photography, styling and visual direction; it’s very fresh and vibrant and very modern. The food styling and photography is fantastic and so I feel like that’s a sensibility that I’ve brought with me from Australia.

 

On how she plans to use her skills as a curator to place the organic movement between the covers of a 104 page magazine: That’s a really good question. First of all we’re expanding our content areas, so when I talk about the fact that women in their 30s are making decisions about children, we’re going to include more parenting and family content. And the other two areas that we’re expanding and that we feel resonates with this audience is obviously beauty, as we’re talking to a more female audience, and then also home décor and home style and the stories behind craftspeople, artisans and makers, as I like to call them. So, we want to talk about an organic lifestyle on many different levels. And by expanding our content areas, we explore the conversation, so to speak.

 

On the most pleasant moment she has encountered in her new job since moving to America 18 months ago: When I joined Rodale, I was working on special projects in the food space because food media has been my specialty for over 10 years. And that was really exciting because I worked on a lot of different assets. I worked on a cookbook; I worked on building up our test kitchen; I worked on a digital project that was a database of recipes, and I worked on an event. So, I was able to work on many different things, but when I was asked to look after Organic Life three months ago, I realized how much I missed putting a magazine together. I’ve always worked in magazines and I love the creative process.

 

On what has been the biggest stumbling block that she’s had to face and how she overcame it: I would say the biggest stumbling block in moving here was being an unknown quantity, building relationships and trust; it’s getting buy-in from your coworkers. When I was in Sydney, it was like being a big fish in a little pond. And suddenly I arrive here in America, very innocent and wide-eyed, and I became a very little fish in a big pond and I really had to establish myself, establish my credentials all over again and have people understand what I do and what my skillset is and how I could benefit their brand and what I could bring to the table.

 

On what it is about a printed magazine that ignites her creative passions: The reason why I went into magazines in the first place as opposed to perhaps becoming a young newspaper journalist was that I always felt that magazines were more creative and certainly the writing and the imagery was, because it allowed editors and writers to explore areas in a lot more depth and in a much better visual style than say the old pyramid structure of newspaper writing did, which I found very formulaic and boring. So, I went into magazines because I found them to be much more creative and they allowed for more creative writing, and that still resonates with me today and is why I still love magazines.

 

On how it is to edit her CEO, Maria Rodale: I will say that Maria and I have a fabulous relationship built within the last 12 months because I edited her cookbook. And so we know each other very well and we also complement each other very well.

 

On anything else that she’d like to add: I’m excited about what the future holds for us, because I’ve always thought that this brand can resonate really strongly with an audience, particularly as the organic movement grows. One thing I want to say is that a lot of people are a little bit afraid that when you see a magazine called Organic Life that they have to be 100% organic. And the anecdote that I always go back to is one that a friend told me. She said that I can’t read your magazine because I drink cola. And this is exciting and is a great example because it’s how an organic lifestyle can be perceived. It can be perceived as really pure and really evangelical. So, what we’re trying to do at the magazine is say that this movement is approachable and it’s fun and vibrant; we’ll meet you at whatever stage of your journey you’re at.

 

On the tagline: a handbook for happy, healthy living: The magazine never had a tagline before and I felt very strongly that it would give this brand a more distinctive identity and a personality if we stated on the magazine just what the magazine does. It helps us lead a happier, healthier life.

 

On what someone would find her doing if they showed up unexpectedly at her home one evening: You would probably find me cooking actually. I’ve worked in Sydney for so long that I’m fairly food-obsessed, but the other reason you would find me cooking is that I find it relaxing. Cooking lets me switch off in the evening and I destress.

 

On what motivates her to get out of bed in the morning: Moving to New York has given me an energy and an engagement and has inspired me in ways that I guess Sydney didn’t. It’s a city that drives you and being here really excites me. And it’s also the product. To be honest, working on something that you personally and passionately believe in; it’s very easy to get out of bed in the morning.

 

On what keeps her up at night: I have a tendency to sweat the small stuff. I wish I didn’t. I wish I could just turn my brain off, but sometimes, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing when you care too much about things, but sometimes I worry about little things that I shouldn’t.

 

And now the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ interview with Melanie Hansche, Editor In Chief, Organic Life Magazine.

 

Samir Husni: Organic Life is a little over a year old and you’re the new editor in chief; what are your future plans to take care of this new adopted child?

 

Melanie Hansche: The new adopted child that I’ve inherited is very young; it’s 15 months old. As a very young brand, it was and still is trying to find its space. And the really exciting thing, I think, is to take on a young brand or a product and think about how you can evolve it and take it in a direction that really resonates with your audience.

 

The team and I, we have decided to evolve the brand even further by being a lot more targeted about our audience. And with our editorial content and our vision direction definitely reflects that new target audience.

 

Samir Husni: Can you explain a bit more about the new “target” audience?

 

Melanie Hansche: When the brand started it did have a legacy with Organic Gardening readers and it’s really tried to be all things to all people, which I totally understand, because on the one hand, we want to try and welcome every person into this organic lifestyle. But really I think that approach wasn’t working and it wasn’t resonating and we wanted to be a lot more positive about who we’re speaking to and particularly who are the people that are embracing this kind of lifestyle or asking questions and changing their habits.

 

And we’re really clear that that person is most likely a young woman, 30 to 40-years-old. A better choice of words is it’s a young Gen X woman, and indeed, an older millennial woman, and guys too. I really think there’s a split, perhaps 70 percent female, 30 percent male split.

 

I am that reader; I am in that age group, that late thirties woman who for the last few years started making changes in my life. And the first gateway for me was food and I changed my diet to a more organic diet.

 

And then I started thinking about the skincare that I was using and I went organic, and a year later I switched out all of my makeup to an organic brand. I think a lot of women in that age group are making those kinds of decisions. And when you’re having children is the other point, the other gateway, if you will, where women start to make different choices as it pertains to their health.

 

And I do think that younger millennial audience is far more switched on and far more engaged in the kind of clothes that they wear and who makes them and who’s producing their food and the kind of travel they do; they’re a lot more thoughtful. And this is a brand that’s definitely about being thoughtful.

 

So, when you talk about our new audience that is the audience that we’re talking about, that older millennial and younger Gen X woman and to a certain extent men a well.

 

 Samir Husni: Do you think your being from Down Under; can it be more organic than that, bringing someone all the way from Australia to lead this magazine? What do you bring from the land Down Under to Organic Life?

 

Melanie Hansche: Interestingly, the organic movement in Australia pretty much mirrors the organic movement in America. And it’s the very same issues. People Down Under are embracing an organic lifestyle for the same reasons. But there are also the same barriers, whether that’s price or information; it’s exactly the same, but a smaller microcosm.

 

When I moved to the States I remember my first trip to Whole Foods and I was just amazed at how the trends that I had been seeing back in Australia were just blown out. In Australia, for example, people had just started drinking coconut water and there were a couple of brands on the shelf. And walking into Whole Foods I remember thinking, oh my gosh, there are 20 coconut waters on their shelves. And it was the same whether it was nut milk or flour alternatives; just the sheer amount of organic products and lines that were available.

 

I think my Australian sensibility that I bring to the magazine is probably the magazine experience that I’ve had in Australia and the way that Australians are really not into the way they execute magazines, in terms of photography, styling and visual direction; it’s very fresh and vibrant and very modern. The food styling and photography is fantastic and so I feel like that’s a sensibility that I’ve brought with me from Australia.

 

Samir Husni: I noticed in your first letter from the editor, you also showed a picture of your cottage in Australia and you also brought the family aspect of the organic lifestyle into the forefront and how you want the readers to enjoy the magazine on their own porches or wherever they want to sit down and relax with it. As a curator and someone who is seeing all kinds of organic trends taking place, how are you going to use your skills to curate that organic movement and put it between the covers of a 104 page magazine?

 

Melanie Hansche: That’s a really good question. First of all we’re expanding our content areas, so when I talk about the fact that women in their 30s are making decisions about children, we’re going to include more parenting and family content.

 

And the other two areas that we’re expanding and that we feel resonates with this audience is obviously beauty, as we’re talking to a more female audience, and then also home décor and home style and the stories behind craftspeople, artisans and makers, as I like to call them. So, we want to talk about an organic lifestyle on many different levels. And by expanding our content areas, we explore the conversation, so to speak.

 

And the other thing that we became very clear on was that as a magazine called Organic Life, we have to show some kind of leadership, or advocacy in this space and in this movement. So, from now on every issue that we do, we make sure that we have one very hard-hitting or thoughtful piece of advocacy in the organic world, whether that’s in America or abroad. And an example of that is in our first issue, the large story that we did on a very small town in the Italian Alps that is the first town in the world to ban pesticides.

 

When we talk about our content strategy it’s really about pushing these different buttons and it’s inviting people into this movement by giving them inspiration and information in areas that pertain to their everyday life: beauty, food, health, and gardening. But then also it’s really hard-hitting where it counts and gives the audience really serious journalism and some serious leadership on issues that take place.

 

Samir Husni: How long have you been in the States?

 

Melanie Hansche: I’ve been here for 18 months.

 

Samir Husni: What has been the most pleasant moment in your new job since you moved here 18 months ago?

 

Melanie Hansche: When I joined Rodale, I was working on special projects in the food space because food media has been my specialty for over 10 years. And that was really exciting because I worked on a lot of different assets. I worked on a cookbook; I worked on building up our test kitchen; I worked on a digital project that was a database of recipes, and I worked on an event. So, I was able to work on many different things, but when I was asked to look after Organic Life three months ago, I realized how much I missed putting a magazine together. I’ve always worked in magazines and I love the creative process.

 

And when I began this, it was like getting back on a bike. I was so excited and the team was so great and I loved the creativity of it that honestly, the most pleasurable moment was being asked to edit this magazine.

 

Samir Husni: What has been the biggest stumbling block that you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?

 

Melanie Hansche: I would say the biggest stumbling block in moving here was being an unknown quantity, building relationships and trust; it’s getting buy-in from your coworkers. When I was in Sydney, it was like being a big fish in a little pond. And suddenly I arrive here in America, very innocent and wide-eyed, and I became a very little fish in a big pond and I really had to establish myself, establish my credentials all over again and have people understand what I do and what my skillset is and how I could benefit their brand and what I could bring to the table.

 

And to be honest, that was very hard, but I also feel like it’s making me stronger and making me more persistent than I was before. (Laughs)

 

Samir Husni: I could feel the passion in your voice when you talked about putting the magazine together; you’ve worked in digital and books, what is it about a print magazine that delivers that high for you, rather than just working on digital or some other project?

 

Melanie Hansche: The reason why I went into magazines in the first place as opposed to perhaps becoming a young newspaper journalist was that I always felt that magazines were more creative and certainly the writing and the imagery was, because it allowed editors and writers to explore areas in a lot more depth and in a much better visual style than say the old pyramid structure of newspaper writing did, which I found very formulaic and boring. So, I went into magazines because I found them to be much more creative and they allowed for more creative writing, and that still resonates with me today and is why I still love magazines.

 

I’m also pretty old school; I do love the feel of print. I love the feel of sitting down and flipping through pages. It’s a very experiential thing. I find it very relaxing. And I think what’s been interesting with what we often refer to as the digital disruption is as iPad magazines are also fabulous because they also offer a kind of interaction and interactivity that you can’t get with the printed page, but I have always returned to that more tactile, page-turning approach and I think actually the markets have gone back that way too.

 

We’re seeing a lot of magazines enter the market with beautiful paper stock and beautiful photography and they’re very lush, vibrant visual experiences. Print products still represent escape for people. When their subscription arrives in the mail, the reader might flip through it very quickly, maybe starting from the back, but what’s been found is they return to it on the weekend and read it cover to cover. And I’m certainly that person too.

 

Magazines to me, the way the type and the photography stick to each other and can work together; the way the illustration or the way hand-drawn fonts work together, I just love the creativity of that, and how we can speak to an audience with the simplicity of the printed page.

 

Samir Husni: You’re one of the few editors that I know of in the States that their CEO writes a column for the magazine or a story or article. How difficult is it for you as an editor to edit Maria Rodale?

 

Melanie Hansche: I will say that Maria and I have a fabulous relationship built within the last 12 months because I edited her cookbook. And so we know each other very well and we also complement each other very well. One of the reasons that she brought me onboard in the first place was because she knew the brand that I had come from in Australia and she loved it a lot. There is a lot of great respect and humor between the two of us; so in fact, it’s fairly easy to have an open editor/writer relationship with each other and we often brief her on the theme or topic of that issue. Generally, we let her have free reign over what she writes about and then workshop her columns a little bit, but I have to say given the history and the nature of our relationship, it’s actually not as tricky as you might think. (Laughs)

 

Samir Husni: (Laughs too) Maria is a rare entity in this business, where you have the CEO actually writing.

 

Melanie Hansche: Exactly. And to some extent, this magazine is also her baby. It was birthed as Organic Style over 10 years ago and now it’s been rebirthed as Organic Life and she really believes in this product and she believes in how much this can resonate with an audience. And she is very passionate about it and I’m actually very lucky that our CEO is as engaged with the product as I am. So, it’s a really good thing.

 

 Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

 

Melanie Hansche: I’m excited about what the future holds for us, because I’ve always thought that this brand can resonate really strongly with an audience, particularly as the organic movement grows.

 

One thing I want to say is that a lot of people are a little bit afraid that when you see a magazine called Organic Life that they have to be 100% organic. And the anecdote that I always go back to is one that a friend told me. She said that I can’t read your magazine because I drink cola. And this is exciting and is a great example because it’s how an organic lifestyle can be perceived. It can be perceived as really pure and really evangelical.

 

So, what we’re trying to do at the magazine is say that this movement is approachable and it’s fun and vibrant; we’ll meet you at whatever stage of your journey you’re at. And we’re not here to scold you for what you are or are not doing. This organic life is a journey and it means different things to different people.

 

So, I would love an audience to give this magazine a chance and realize that it’s actually really fun and it’s really vibrant and engaging. And it’s not judgmental. Living an organic life is about intentions; it’s not about some tricky label definition or certification. I want this to be a very encouraging and joyful magazine. And also for it to be really practical too, so I want people to understand that our mission isn’t a completely pure and militant one; it’s much more welcoming and inquisitive than that.

 

Samir Husni: Is that the reason for the tagline: a handbook for happy, healthy living?

 

Melanie Hansche: Correct, correct. The magazine never had a tagline before and I felt very strongly that it would give this brand a more distinctive identity and a personality if we stated on the magazine just what the magazine does. It helps us lead a happier, healthier life. And that’s why we included a tagline for this issue.

 

Samir Husni: If I showed up at your home one evening unexpectedly, what would I find you doing, reading a magazine or reading on your iPad, watching television, or something different?

 

Melanie Hansche: You would probably find me cooking actually. I’ve worked in Sydney for so long that I’m fairly food-obsessed, but the other reason you would find me cooking is that I find it relaxing. Cooking lets me switch off in the evening and I destress. After a long day, there is something about chopping, stirring, creating dishes that I really like. So, I would probably invite you to sit down and share a plate of food and a glass of wine with me.

 

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

 

Melanie Hansche: Moving to New York has given me an energy and an engagement and has inspired me in ways that I guess Sydney didn’t. It’s a city that drives you and being here really excites me. And it’s also the product. To be honest, working on something that you personally and passionately believe in; it’s very easy to get out of bed in the morning.

 

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

 

Melanie Hansche: I have a tendency to sweat the small stuff. I wish I didn’t. I wish I could just turn my brain off, but sometimes, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing when you care too much about things, but sometimes I worry about little things that I shouldn’t. And those are the things that keep me up at night. Sometimes I just need my husband to bring me back down to earth, when he asks me what I’m worrying about. And when I tell him, it’s generally something that happened at work that day that I probably don’t need to think about anymore. But that’s what keeps me up at night, the small stuff.

 

Samir Husni: Thank you.