Genuine debut

CLAYTON, Wash. – Like most young women, 21-year-old Eryn Denison is fascinated by fashion.

But as she pored over the pages of glossy fashion magazines, she found little that was of practical use and much that was offensive.

“You can be fashionable without giving a wrong impression,” she said.

A lot of the styles she saw in the magazines may be hot in New York City, but they wouldn’t fly in Spokane. So, the energetic woman from Clayton, decided to launch her own fashion magazine.

Genuine magazine debuted with a small run in January. Written primarily by Denison, with help from several family members, the magazine covered a wide variety of topics from coffee to politics and, of course, fashion.

Her goal is to produce a publication that can be enjoyed by both mothers and daughters.

“My target audience is women in their teens to early thirties,” she said.

Denison, who’s had no formal training in writing or publishing, doesn’t seem daunted by the formidable task of writing, producing and marketing her product.

“I’m learning so much,” she said. The next issue of Genuine is due out in April.

“The writing style will be more formal, and I’d like to get more writers and contributors involved.”

Subscriptions for this quarterly magazine are $20 per year, or $6 for a single issue.

Denison’s goal is to sell 500 subscriptions by the end of the year.

“Once I have that, I can look into professional printing with glossy pages,” she said.

She’s enjoying producing something that lines up with her values and fills what she sees as a gap in the market.

“It’s so fulfilling to pour your heart and soul into something that really matters to me and that I think will be important and useful to others,” she said.