I have been a journalist and editor all my working days, starting as a junior reporter on the Streatham News when I was 19. Since then my career has taken many twists and turns but it has been an amazing journey – from being Fashion Editor on Woman’s Weekly and travelling all over the world on rather glamorous photoshoots to making two highly successful TV commercials for Pampers with my twin boys following a feature I wrote for Mother magazine about nappies (yes not quite so glamourous!). But this was all a lifetime ago. . . I am now the Editor of First Time Buyer Magazine and have been for the past 11 years. This isn’t really work – it’s a passion and I’ve probably got ‘property ‘in my DNA somewhere! But, about two years ago I had an idea which has been something I have quietly been thinking about and then putting to one side. I’ve made up lots of excuses about how I don’t have the time or the energy to embark on anything new but then the world changed . . . the awful pandemic hit us and our lives turned upside down – so. . . maybe this was the time to embrace the ‘new way of living’ and turn my dream into reality?
As I have got older, I have found that there is very little in the way of magazines that are for people who are of that kind of age but still feel 25! Something for the Over 55s who are very active and want to start a new way of life and live out all their dreams and plans they have made over the years. Yes, I love a bit of celeb gossip but I also want something more. This is where heyday magazine started life. We went into lockdown and decided that now was the time to get my act together and start working on an online lifestyle magazine for men and women.
With the backing and help of Sarah who owns First Time Buyer and the most wonderful team in Dawn and Ryan who have worked tirelessly over the past couple of months with me – I really can’t thank them enough for their dedication – we launched heydaymagazine.co.uk on June 17th! It’s a miracle really as I have had to ask friends and family and pretty much anyone who can write four words together to help – the response was incredible and we have been inundated with features which cover just about every subject you could think of. I’ve interviewed some fascinating people, made friends with new PR contacts and had more support than I ever dreamt of having.
Our logo is heyday and underneath – older bolder wiser – I am certainly older and definitely bolder but wiser??? That’s debatable, but we have had a wonderful journey to get to this point and everything is crossed it will be a success – who knows but sometimes you have to follow your dreams and we all just want to make this dream come true!