We’re in NYC (Don’t worry, it’s not for long!). Editor Lisa Yamada shares what exactly we’re up to, and the path that brought us here over the last 5 years.
Image courtesy of Kenny Louie
Five and a half years ago, I launched FLUX Hawaii during what’s now known as the Great Recession of 2009, the nation’s worst since the Great Depression in the ’30s. Of course, starry-eyed with optimism, this was of no matter. I was convinced that the market would bear a magazine of this kind—the kind that told stories others wouldn’t; the kind that reflected Hawai‘i’s vibrant culture both past and present; the kind that derided perceptions of lackadaisical living and instead promoted a people and place always moving forward, never stagnant—constantly in flux. Of course, everyone around me balked. Traditional media scoffed. My biggest supporters were also my harshest critics. The magazine, which I consider an extension of myself, has been called despicable, fluffy, frivolous, irreverent, violent, and shocking. Yet here we are, five and a half years later, taking this show on the road, with distribution expanding nationwide and to Japan.
To celebrate this, we are partying on in NYC during New York Fashion Week, hosting an event with international alohawear brand Reyn Spooner. This exclusive event will represent Hawai‘i’s modern and diverse culture to the global audience present in New York during fashion week, including industry bloggers, media, and designers. And of course, while we’re here, we’re also meeting up with the Hawai‘i ohana in NYC, a vast and talented group of people on an island of a very different sort.
Looking back at a folder on my desktop labeled “My Future,” filled with ideas, budgets, competitive analyses, marketing strategies—all the essentials of business planning 101—I found an early version of a media kit from February 2009 that noted our vision: “At the very center of the Pacific, Hawai‘i serves as a place of influx, as a bridge between the East and West. Given this unique positioning, our vision is to reorient both how our city, as well as the rest of the world, conceives of our islands.” It has always been my desire from day one to showcase the diversity of Hawai‘i to the world. While we’ve evolved and grown up a lot over the years, our vision remains the same.
As we move into exciting new stratospheres, my hope is that you, Hawai‘i, and its people near and far, will keep doing what you’re doing. Our future depends on it.
With aloha,
Lisa Yamada
Editor
Tag along on our trip with #FLUXinNYC on Instagram and upcoming posts.