About Carolina Woman
Carolina Woman is a North Carolina lifestyle magazine now in its 17th year.
Its readership includes 100,000 upscale, professional women in the high-tech Research Triangle area, a region covering Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, with a population of more than 1 million.
Carolina Woman's publisher is Debra Simon, a writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Seventeen Magazine, Adweek, Reuters, The Miami Herald, The Hartford Courant and The Financial Times.
Behind the Pages
Live in the Triangle? So Do We!
My Carolina Woman colleagues and I spend our money here, raise our kids here, go to doctors here, adopt pets here, talk at coffeehouses here, wander through museums here, take classes here, curl up in rocking chairs here and walk hilly trails here.
This is the place we live, the place that means more to us than any other place in the world.
That’s because Carolina Woman has been owned and edited by Triangle women since I founded the magazine in 1993.
For every one of its 17 years, the magazine has focused on women who make their nest in the Triangle.
I was reminded of Carolina Woman’s commitment to the Triangle again last month, when I joined 25,000 others as we took a giant step closer to the finish line at the 14th annual Race for the Cure at Meredith College in Raleigh. I’m proud that Carolina Woman has been a premier sponsor of this fundraiser since the very first one, in 1997.
Komen NC Race for the Cure assists 20,000 people in our backyard by investing more than $2 million a year in breast cancer education, screening, treatment and research, including $1.3 million in community health grants.
Like our work with the local Komen affiliate, Carolina Woman partners with more than 100 groups in our neighborhoods and sponsors dozens of annual charity events.
Carolina Woman has 700 silent partners, too. They’re the owners and managers of locations where the magazine goes like hot cakes every month, including retailers, bookstores, libraries, colleges, gyms, restaurants and offices.
The team that produces Carolina Woman doesn’t sit on the sidelines. We eat, sleep and breathe the Triangle. Here’s the score on our home turf:
• 9 chambers of commerce, representing 8,000 businesses in Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham counties, count Carolina Woman as a member.
• 225 talented students from Triangle colleges have enjoyed career-launching experiences in our internship programs.
• 100,000 Triangle women read Carolina Woman every month.
• Hundreds of thousands of Triangle women have entered our photo and writing contests, visited our website, participated in our events and stayed in touch with us through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
This success is especially sweet for me because I’m surrounded by artful, audacious colleagues who are just as dedicated as I am to the magazine we call yours and to the place we call home.
Debra Simon
Editor & Publisher
From Carolina Woman's July 2010 Behind the Pages
Bye-bye Betsy
“I Survived Cash for Clunkers.”
That’s the bumper sticker I would have created for my 1993 Nissan Quest minivan if the federal program that rewarded owners who swapped senior gas guzzlers for shiny new vehicles ended before I could participate.
Between personal snafus and government holdups last month, it seemed as if Betsy was going to keep on chugging rather than accept a graceful retirement in her twilight years. Yes, I knew the jalopies weren’t exactly put out to pasture, but I liked to think of my van as venerable.
For all of her 354,776 miles, Betsy was more than just a set of wheels. She joined the family when I launched Carolina Woman, and she toiled 24/7, just like me. In the early years, my husband and I delivered every single copy of the magazine from that vehicle. Her removable second row served as the office couch. At outdoor community events, I’d drive her to our booth and unload, then hang a Carolina Woman banner from the roof and make her part of the act.
Becoming obsessed over which of the 35 Toyota dealerships within three hours of the Triangle would have the honor of replacing Betsy, I searched for one that had the exact model I wanted at a rock-bottom price. The winner: Massey Toyota in Kinston.
Prob. No. 1: Sometime over the 16 years I had lost the title, and North Carolina law dictates a two-week waiting period for a duplicate. So I waited.
Prob. No. 2: Motorists had gone on a buying frenzy, and Cash for Clunkers was running out of Uncle Sam’s greenbacks after just a week. The project was stalled while Congress decided whether to oil it with a couple billion. So I waited.
The day Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Hispanic and third female justice, the Senate also funded the “clunkers” extension. For just a moment, I didn’t know which news was bigger.
On what turned out to be the final weekend of the month-long program, I received a copy of my title. Betsy and I hit the road for our last, glorious ride — a two-hour journey to Kinston.
The old girl’s air conditioner and radio were inoperable, her ripped seats were patched with duct tape, and rust had started taking over her body. She coughed and wheezed. Yet she cruised into the dealership like a champ and, it seemed to me, in the final turn held her hood high.
Debra Simon
Editor & Publisher
From Carolina Woman's September 2009 Behind the Pages
Pleasure to Meet You
In a journalistic career spanning several decades, I've profiled dozens of personalities. But squeezing those years into a few paragraphs is a tricky bit of magic when the years are your own!
Where to start? I chuckled over Snoopy's "It was a cold and rainy night." I conjured up Ted, the anchorman on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," intoning, "It all started in a 40‑watt radio station..."
But that's sort of how it happened. So here goes: It all started in a newspaper office at Queens College of the City University of New York.
As a lonely 17‑year old freshman, I didn't know a soul on the campus of 30,000. One day, I walked into the college newspaper office. In a figurative sense, I never walked out.
When I was 18, I won a summer internship as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Three of my articles wound up on the front page! Reuters, the international wire service, hired me fresh out of college to cover the commodity futures exchanges in New York
A few years later, I moved to Connecticut as an editor of The Hartford Courant, the largest newspaper between New York and Boston. Then I accepted a position as assistant business editor of The Miami Herald, where we produced a weekly magazine called "Business Monday."
In those years, my favorite motto was "Never Postpone Your Life for a Man," a saying I had spotted in ‑ of all places ‑ Glamour magazine. Then I met my husband, a native of the Triangle, and life took a detour.
The News & Observer offered me a job, But I turned it down for two reasons.
First, my other motto, "Question Authority," had always plunged me into hot water with corporate types. (My favorite performance review said, "She's without question the best editor with whom I've ever worked, but she's also a pain in the behind.")
Second, the members of my family have always been an entrepreneurial lot ‑‑‑going back to Grandpa Simon's horse‑and‑wagon moving company early this century. Now, I decided, was my turn.
Selling ads by day, writing articles by night, I launched Lean Times, the monthly health and fitness newspaper in the Triangle. After five years, I sold the publication and turned the proceeds into a lifelong dream -- a 1-1/2-year backpacking trip around the world for my husband and myself.
We were sleeping under a mosquito net in the South Pacific island of Tonga when the idea for Carolina Woman hit me.
A few months later, I was back in the Triangle ‑‑ selling ads by day and writing articles by night.
Debra Simon
Editor & Publisher
From Carolina Woman's November 1995 Behind the Pages
Q: How do I submit an event to the calendar?
A: E-mail events@carolinawoman.com. Be sure to include the date, time, title, description and a phone number readers can call for more information. You also may submit photos attached as .jpg or .tif files - minimum resolution for digital photos: at least 4 megapixel digital camera photos, or 170 dpi .tif files. Deadline for next month's issue is the 10th of the current month.
Q: How do I get in the "Update/News About Women in the Triangle" section?
A: Send a press release to update@carolinawoman.com. Attach headshots as .jpg or .tif files. - minimum resolution for digital photos: at least 4 megapixel digital camera photos, or 170 dpi .tif files. Include a phone number at which the editors can contact you if they have questions.
Q: How do I subscribe to Carolina Woman magazine?
A: Send your address, along with a check for $16.95 for one year, $26.95 for two years, or $34.95 for three years to Carolina Woman, P.O. Box 3529, Cary, N.C. 27519.
Q: How can I advertise in Carolina Woman?
A: Check out the media kit here; call our office at (919) 852-5900 and ask to speak to the advertising director; or request more info by e-mailing ads@carolinawoman.com.
Q: How do I take a classified ad?
A: Download the form here, or e-mail classifieds@carolinawoman.com for more information. Carolina Woman does not accept credit cards online.
Q: Where can I pick up the magazine?
A: We're all over the Triangle! E-mail circulation@carolinawoman.com for more information.
Q: How can my business become a distribution location?
A: Follow the steps here or e-mail circulation@carolinawoman.com for more information.
Q: What is the Guide to the Triangle?
A: An annual phone book that lists female-owned and female-friendly businesses in the Triangle, as well as local women's organizations, events and attractions.
Q: Where can I find the Guide to the Triangle?
A: Typically, anywhere you find the magazine.
Q: How often is Carolina Woman magazine published?
A: Monthly.
Q: Are you affiliated with any other publications?
A: No. Carolina Woman is independently, locally owned.
Q: Do you accept freelance articles? Whom do I contact about an article idea?
A: Generally, we do not accept unsolicited articles or hire freelance writers. Our editorial calendar is set at least a year in advance. However, you can e-mail article ideas to articles@carolinawoman.com. Please be aware that we receive hundreds of ideas every year. If you have news about a local woman you would like to see in the magazine, or if you are having an event, you can submit a press release to update@carolinawoman.com.
Q: Does Carolina Woman offer an internship program?
A: Yes. We offer three unpaid internships per semester in journalism, advertising and graphic design. Click here for more information, or e-mail resume and cover letter to projects@carolinawoman.com.
Q: How long has Carolina Woman been around?
A: Since 1993.
Q: Who is the cover model? How can I become a model? Do you hold your own photo shoots?
A: We can't provide information about the model. We do not hold photo shoots.
Q: How can I find a specific product or service provider I saw in an article?
A: E-mail your question to articles@carolinawoman.com. Please provide the issue month and the headline of the article.
Job Opportunities
Account executive - Carolina Woman seeks a professional with advertising experience for a sales position. Must have three years’ experience selling ads for print publications. E-mail resume to projects@carolinawoman.com.
Internship Opportunities
Carolina Woman, the magazine for women in the Triangle, offers these internships each semester and during the summer:
- Advertising/Marketing interns may work with potential and current advertisers, assist account executives with selling or creating ads, help incorporate new marketing strategies, and assist the advertising director.
- Journalism interns might research and write articles, receive a byline for the Update and Events sections, organize syndicated materials, proof columns, and assist the editors and the publisher.
Submit resumes and cover letters to projects@carolinawoman.com
The Carolina Woman Guide to the Triangle is the best source of local information for savvy women.
It offers scores of business listings with phone numbers, addresses and Web sites for female-owned firms and other companies that recognize the power of a woman’s dollar.
Need a lawyer? You’ll find one here. Fingers doing the walking for a manicurist? She’s in these pages. Chomping at the bit for a delish restaurant? You’ll discover plenty.
The quick-reference guides to area Attractions, Events and Organizations make it a snap to fill your social calendar and get involved with the community.
New this year is a Newcomers’ Guide, which features everything from town halls to utilities. Fresh content also includes the cat’s pajamas in pet listings, which range from boarding to veterinarians. We’ve even altered the name of this publication from previous years’ “Resource & Business Directory” to “Guide to the Triangle.”
What hasn’t changed is our pledge that you won’t see any out-of-state chains in these pages. All the firms are locally owned or run. Just like us! This publication is brought to you annually by the same local sisterhood who produces Carolina Woman, the monthly magazine for women in the Triangle.
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