“As long as people like to write, and as long as they like to read, magazines will never die.”
So said a speaker at the launch of new magazine Bee – the essential journal for Asian women – which hits the shelves today. Inspiring and optimistic words at a time when all we hear about is print dying and magazines closing.
I attended the Bee launch event yesterday up at the House of Lords with my friend Sophie, who was representing women’s business network The Pink Shoe Club.
Bee aims to break from the mould of the typical women’s mag with their sole focus on beauty, fashion and glamour, by also fulfilling the social, political and intellectual needs of Asian women in Britain.
The brainchild of Managing Director Gulnaz Parveen, a freelance journalist and social activist, and Editor-in-Chief Anami Gour, Bee addresses and debates womens issues such as forced marriage and the idea of a patriarchal society, but is also keen to maintain a balance with lifestyle and arts features.
A range of guests attended the event including writers, researchers, business figures, inspirational and successful Asian women, and Bee woman of the month, BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti. I also met a product designer from the toy company behind Monopoly. She told me that despite it being a classic game, they are always working to develop new versions – there are over a thousand worldwide!
It was an interesting and enjoyable afternoon (with a beauty goody bag courtesy of Shahnaz Husain!) and, although the butterflies in my stomach were ongoing whenever I spoke to anyone remotely connected to journalism, it was a great experience of networking and seeing the blood, sweat, tears and passion that goes into a new title. One man told us, wryly but fondly, of his “emotional investment” in the mag after 3am panicked wake-up calls over one thing or another over the past year!
We were also told of possible plans to launch Bee in Dubai in the near future – wishing them the best of luck in a brave project.
