When Jen Swetzoff told her 9-year-old son to read a story about body odor — part of a new magazine she’s launching for kids — he was grossed out.
But he checked it out.
And he was — well, engrossed.
Jen Swetzoff
Swetzoff — a Westport mom with a background at the Council of Foreign Relations, travel writing for Frommer’s and editing for a geopolitical consulting firm, and who moved here from New York during the pandemic (though she and her husband had been planning a suburban move before it hit) — hopes more 9- to 14-year-olds will be engrossed by stories about hair care, living with ADHD, young athletes and activists, divorced parents, food, celebrities, gender, and moving to a new town.
Those are some of the features in the first issue of Anyway. A new print — yes, print — magazine, its goal is to use fun, engaging stories about health, well-being and culture to help young people know that their feelings and experiences are a normal part of growing up.
COVID, lockdown drills, climate change, social media pressure — it’s not easy being a kid these days.
Jen and Keeley McNamara — a longtime friend, certified nurse midwife and health educator — realized that although puberty starts earlier now, there was no “trusted media brand” for boys and girls to access information.
Anyway magazine: coming soon!
But why print? Doesn’t it make more sense to reach this wired/wireless generation on a screen?
“Kids are on screens so much,” Jen says. “They just gloss over what they see; it doesn’t sink in.”
Meanwhile, schools are encouraging students to read any kind of printed material. Feedback from teachers has been very encouraging.
Besides, “kids like getting mail. And they like having something they can hold and look at, and go back to again and again.”
One story on hair …
A Kickstarter drive generated enough interest to print the first issue. It’s at the printer right now. In addition to the homes of young readers, Anyway will be distributed to places like kids’ stores, and doctors’ and orthodontists’ offices.
A web launch in December will draw more attraction to the magazine.
Jen thinks she and Keeley have hit the sweet spot for 9- to 14-year-olds.
Even with — or because of? — stories like the one on body odor.
(Click here for the Anyway website. Click here for the Kickstarter website (the only way now to receive copies or subscribe right now.) Click here for the Instagram.)
… and another on ADHD.
(“06880” covers all of Westport — for all ages. To help support your hyper-local blog, please click here.)
I backed it. Looks good for my kid if I can peel him off the screen.
Here’s the link if anyone else wants to back it, too.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anyway-magazine/anyway-magazine
Thanks so much, Evan. This is so kind. Really appreciate it!
This is awesome! Looking forward to it! My kids love getting their Scout, swimming and gymnastics magazines in the mail- print it a great idea!
My kids love getting magazines in the mail, too. The Week Jr is another great one!
Congratulations! This is long overdue and sorely needed! Wish it was around a few years back for my kids. An actual printed magazine….everything old is new again. I think the timing is perfect. Continued success!
Thank you!
Oh the sheer irony that is Westport.
I began my career in advertising during the Madmen era in the world of incredibly creative print creative when there were, it seemed, endless choices of excellent magazines. Not to mention newspapers. Early in my career I worked on the then right-leaning New York Daily News account. My first job was placing award-winning print ads for Volvo in award-winning magazines. Later in life, I ran Polaroid corporate quality advertising, among other things, and placed ads in the best-of-the-best magazines the publishing industry produced. Nothing gives me better hope for the future of kids’ minds than to hear of a start-up that starts kids up thinking while holding and turning pages between their hands. If it was around then, I would have had a special SX-70 campaign created just for “anyway”. I wish them all the best (and on a slightly jealous note, I wish they had launched out of Weston, but, I’m OK with Westport).
What a wonderful story and career! Thanks for sharing it!
We’re in! Where do we sign up??!! 😃
You can’t do this on your own. You have to wait for the AI to contact you first. It’s OK, they’re already monitoring O6880 and they know what you need. They will debit your bank account and send you the latest VR headset and you’ll be good. All it takes is money.
For now, you can get copies or subscriptions through Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anyway-magazine/anyway-magazine?ref=user_menu
And you can sign up for our email list on our teaser page:
https://www.anywaymag.com/
Or follow up on IG:
https://www.instagram.com/anywaymag/
We’ll have a full website launching in Nov or Dec.
Thanks so much for your support!
Website:
https://www.anywaymag.com/
Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anyway-magazine/anyway-magazine
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/anywaymag/
I could not love this more.
Bet you could….
Brilliant idea. Fills a real a real need and print makes it a standout in online bombardment of often winky information. And it sounds like they have incite on what issues this group faces.