by Stacey Paretti Rase

Though Inside Northside has been around for nearly twenty years, it is the last five that have given birth to the magazine you see today. In late May 2001, Lori Murphy signed the loan papers to become an entrepreneur. She may not be that different from Andrea Dillahunty, who started IN in 1986, but the magazine certainly has changed. It has changed with the times, with the community and with the readers. With this issue, we celebrate with Lori these first five years.

“I’ve always loved magazines,” says Lori, with eyes twinkling. “But, I only love reading great magazines,” she laughs. “I’m a magazine snob!” That may be true, but the sentiment has brought nothing but benefit to the northshore community. As publisher of Inside Northside, Lori’s pursuit of excellence has delivered a magazine that its readers can be proud of. “I felt the northshore had outgrown what was being presented,” she remarks, regarding IN’s previous content and design. “I’m a huge believer in giving respect to the readers, and I felt our growing market deserved more.”

More, indeed. The first issue put out by M and L Publishing in the summer of 2001 contained only 72 pages, whereas 160 pages or more are today’s norm. (Back then, the magazine was presented quarterly, compared to bi-monthly issues today.) When asked why she doesn’t publish monthly, Lori responds, “Because I would have to charge our advertising clients twice as often and we’d have to put in twice as much time, which I can’t even fathom! Besides, many readers say that as soon as they start wondering when the next issue is going to come out, it arrives in their mailbox. To me, that’s perfect!”

Of course, the thickness of the book can be attributed in part to the intense population growth on the northshore. But that growth is just one part of the equation. Lori recalls that readers responded immediately to the fresh layout.

The other key player in developing the magazine’s innovative design—someone who remains a constant at IN—is Lori’s right-hand-man, Art Director Brad Growden. Readers know of Brad’s graphic talent simply from thumbing through IN’s pages. What most don’t know is that Brad is Lori’s younger brother. The first two years of their partnership, neither mentioned the relationship to their readers or clients. “I didn’t want anyone to perceive Brad as just my ‘little brother,’” says Lori. “I wanted him to gain the respect he deserves.”

Brad now fondly looks back at those beginning days. He recalls sitting down with Lori as they threw words onto paper, hoping to find catchy titles for the magazine’s proposed departments—words like “Flourishes,” “Peek,” “Scoop”—themes that have held steady over the past five years. They also recall how labor intensive that first year of production was. “At that time, during the day, I held another full-time job, and Lori would call on prospective clients. We would then meet up during the moonlight hours to lay out the magazine’s pages,” says Brad. “Thank goodness it was my brother who was working with me,” Lori laughs. “Because no one else but family would have done all that he did in that first year.”

“That is exactly how we came up with our editor, too!” she continues. And with that she shares another dedicated family connection that’s been a secret for five years. “Our editor, who has been known only as Jan LeBlanc, is really Jan LeBlanc Murphy, my mother-in-law. In the beginning, I worked with the writers to gather the stories and then e-mailed them to Jan. She edited them from her home in Cincinnati, but she has since moved to the northshore.”

Lack of manpower wasn’t the only obstacle IN faced when the magazine’s new look launched. The debut issue with a fresh concept hit mailboxes just ten days before the planes hit the twin towers on September 11. Advertising executives Candice Chopin and Courtney Hidalgo had come on board just a week before, and found themselves facing an uphill climb in the sales market. “I remember calling on clients,” says Lori, “and people were terrified. But we pulled together and took the attitude that IN needed to look up, look out and move forward. We had to take what was real and make of it what we could.”

“Without the support of local business owners, IN would not have been able to survive and grow. It is their advertising investment that puts the issue in your mailbox and their enthusiasm for our product that keeps us at the top of our game. I am happy to say that many of those who first believed in the vision I had for the magazine remain loyal clients to this day. Working together has given us both opportunities to grow,” says Lori.

Even in the worst of times, like 9-11, there were still stories to be told that showed great examples of leadership and glimpses of happiness and joy. That theme certainly rang true when IN faced the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. After being separated for weeks following the storm, the staff members found their way back into their office. The first couple of weeks back on the job were challenging, and gathering information for stories was quite difficult—but not impossible. Brad set out with his camera, eager to capture the storm’s wrath on film. The most loyal of IN’s contributors got right to work, realizing that they needed only four things to pull together a great story: a car full of gas to get to an interview, paper on which to record the story, a camera to preserve the images, and electricity at IN’s offices to power up the computers. (Phones and Internet service were down for weeks throughout the northshore, stripping writers and photographers of the usual conveniences of phone interviews and e-mailing. Fortunately, those services were quickly restored at the IN office after the storm. Therefore, most contributors did their work “in house.”) The result of the team’s hard work was a special northshore Katrina issue that came out less than two months after the storm—an issue the staff hopes will be passed on to future generations. It was a shining moment in IN’s history.

Cross your t’s and dot your i’s

“Most people would be amazed at how many times every word in the magazine is read before it is published,” says Jan. Truth be told, the practice of really editing a magazine borders on neurosis! Though an arduous task, Jan considers proofing to be paramount. “Of course, we aim for everything about IN to be of the highest quality—the graphics, the writing, the photographs, even the paper itself—so the minute things like spelling and punctuation need to be superior, as well,” she adds.

Jan recalls when she reviewed Lori’s first issue of IN. She was visiting from Cincinnati, and Lori, knowing her past experience in writing and editing—as well as a brief stint as an English teacher—called on her expertise. Jan says she used a red pen to make notes on the black and white pages, and, when she finished, the pages were more red than black. “I was horrified!” she quips. Jan immediately came on board.

A few of our favorite things

In her role, Jan has witnessed the content of the magazine evolve over the years, and believes that certain changes have helped the magazine to grow. “The magazine is a living thing, not static. It has to change, or we’ll get stale and die,” she says. Though some departments are mainstays—Bonne Bouchee, One on One, Scoop, Flourishes—others have faded away to give rise to hotter topics. For instance, “What’s It Worth,” a department dedicated to the appraisal of antique items eventually gave way to “Tech Talk.”

What has not changed is the original vision—local artists, local writers, and local themes for editorial content. Jan believes fervently that, “This is the most significant characteristic of IN, and it distinguishes IN from other similar lifestyle publications.”

“Each department has its own place; its own following,” Jan points out. But while the departments do fit certain niches, everyone at IN agrees that it’s the feature stories that garner the most feedback. One such story was “Where the Heck is Houltonville?” (April-May 2002). In it, contributing writer Webb Williams delved into the rich history and heritage of that community, which was just east of the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Following the story’s run, phone messages and e-mails came pouring in to the magazine, as readers thanked IN for Webb’s investigative reporting. The unearthing of certain facts and documents apparently helped some readers fill in the missing pieces of their ancestry. Just last month, four years since the piece debuted, the office received a call from a woman who found the story online and wanted to speak with Webb, in hopes of gaining more information about her family lineage.

Other favorite features include “Inspiration, Donzaroo Style” (Dec-Jan 2005), in which Jamey Landry trumpeted the incredible life of Mandeville’s Donnie Jarrell; “SSA, A Century of Sisterhood” (Feb-March 2003), Martha Poole’s article highlighting the history and accomplishments of the Covington girls’ school; “Big Branch” (June-July 2004), a story written and photographed by Stephen Faure that was as much a feast for the eyes as it was informative about the local National Wildlife Refuge; “B Joyful” (June-July 2002), Kimberlynne Kraemer-LaMarca’s mystical account of her childhood memories aboard a houseboat on the Tchefuncte River; and “The Voice of While Away” (June-July 2005), Lacey O. Toledano’s narration of a diary kept for nearly a century in her family’s Covington guest home.

“People really connected with these stories,” says Jan, noting that readers are pleased by the local emphasis. “The gift that we have is that the northshore has a rich treasure of history, people, cultures and lifestyles. The area itself provides us with such wonderful, fertile material. I often wonder how we’re ever going to come up with new, interesting ideas—but I am constantly amazed by every issue!”

The Key Ingredient

Attracting the eye of the reader is a lot easier than holding their attention, Lori says. IN goes to great lengths to keep the reader interested, involved and responsive to the magazine. Contributing writers are used to keep the voices of the stories interesting and varied. The feature and department topics run the gamut to make sure that there is something for almost everyone in each issue. The Inside Scoop calendar of events and the restaurant phone numbers in the Dining Guide keep the magazine active for the two months that it sits on your coffee table, giving you time to read the stories that peak your interest. They often stay there much longer, thanks to the striking art on the cover.

“I think a well-designed magazine is intimate with its readers,” Lori stresses. “The key ingredient to achieving success is for the magazine to belong to the readers. It can’t be just what the publisher wants to say or just what the advertisers want to say. If we let that happen, only our mothers would be interested!” IN has made it a top priority to infuse the magazine with local themes. “As we belong more to the community, we get more back from the community. In truth, we could go into any market and produce a magazine. But it wouldn’t be as valuable or successful unless it adopted the personality of the community, the way Inside Northside has. It is important to stay true to what you can do better than anyone else.

“I want people to read IN and not feel like they’re looking at someone else’s vacation photos! (OK—we like looking at the Braud family vacation photos.)
I want them to see a reflection of themselves within our pages, from issue to issue. And I hope we’ve accomplished that. The best compliment I ever get is when I hear a reader say that reading Inside Northside makes them proud to live on the northshore.”

I couldn’t agree more. Although I’ve only been working as managing editor for a year, I had been a contributing writer to the magazine years before Lori Murphy came along. I have witnessed the evolution of its makeup and personality, and am quite honored to have been a part of that. And when a box containing copies of the latest issue is delivered to our office, I still feel excitement—like a child opening her birthday gift. Of course, I’ve seen each page before, but it’s the finished product that remains most exciting. Because each issue brings us together here as a team—just as much as it connects us to you, our northshore readers.