Brown Girl is an online magazine for girls with a South Asian background. With its motto ‘Smart.Hip.Beautiful,’ the publication contains articles on beauty, fashion, relationship, career and cultural advice.
Director of the magazine and UT graduate Aditi Mehta became interested in creating the publication as early as middle school, but it wasn’t until her senior year at UT that she put her idea into play. ‘
Brown Girl magazine was created when Mehta had to come up with a marketing plan for class.’
‘We wanted to create an outlet for girls who could find girls that they can relate to, build self-esteem and be proud of who they are,’ Mehta said.’
After her May 2008 graduation, Mehta began researching how to start publishing the magazine and made the decision along with UT graduate Pooja Patel and UH alumnus Asma Hassan to turn the magazine into reality.
‘(Brown Girl) has been something (Mehta) wanted to do since middle school, when she noticed that there really weren’t any publications for girls like her,’ Pooja Patel, an executive editor for the magazine, said. ‘You know, South Asian girls here in America, we’re just like everyone else, but with some interesting tweaks.’
The editors said they hope given the closure of many newspapers and magazines because of high production costs, their publication is entering a new frontier of online reading that will expand to a broader audience along with a more interactive experience with them.’
The publication continues to expand, currently staffing three editors, eight writers, a photographer and a director.’
‘For our first edition in October, it was only me, (Hassan) and (Mehta) that were providing all the material and jazz for it, but now we’ve grown so much in these past few months. It’s exciting just to watch us grow and grow. We just launched our third issue March 1 and we’re gearing up for the fourth one in June,’ Pooja Patel said.’
The ladies magazine also has a section for the guys. In ‘Ladies Liaison,’ guys can provide their input about topics relating to fashion, beauty, relationships and what guys really think about girls.’
UH pharmacy sophomore, Survam Patel, writes for the’ ‘Ladies Liaison’ section. For the last edition, Patel wrote an article called ‘I Know What Boys Want’ which underlined what things guys really look for in a girl and what guys really want in a relationship.’
‘I basically get to write whatever I think should be addressed. (I) have cool topics for people who aren’t necessarily in a relationship, like gift ideas, or how to do stuff like smoky eye correctly,” Survam Patel said. ‘
So what can readers look forward to in Brown Girl’s next edition?
‘(All) I can say is that we have some really amazing things in the works,’ Pooja Patel said. ‘We have topics covering summer trends, relationship advice from our very own Ladies’ Liaison and we also have more substantial (articles for) issues (like) career advice, what it’s like straddling two cultures (and more).”
Brown Girl can be read online at http://browngirlmagazine.com.
