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Business

Digital magazine launched with support from fellowship scheme

03 September 2015

 

A former journalist has launched a digital magazine to promote the achievements of the region’s women, with support from a unique fellowship scheme at Teesside University.

Express North, which launches today, has been set up by Lucy Richardson, a former senior reporter at The Northern Echo and Hexham Courant. The digital magazine will have fresh content added five days a week in written and video format and will feature career profiles, real-life stories and opinion pieces as well as fashion and beauty. Express North can be read online at expressnorth.co.uk/

Lucy set up her new venture with support from the University's DigitalCity Fellowship scheme. She said: 'I felt that there was a big gap in the market for something new. 'The internet is buzzing with local female Facebook networking groups and the Federation of Small Businesses held its first North-East networking lunch for women recently,'she said. 'I want to create something that’s interactive, regularly updated and can be read as easily on a phone as a laptop. I also want to present stories in different ways - a fashion store’s top autumn/winter picks would work well as a YouTube video as would a tour of Festival of Thrift in Darlington later this month. 'The working tagline for the Express North website was ‘no beach bodies, no kiss and tells but lots of revealing women',' she explained. 'I'm fed up of standing in line in a supermarket or chemist faced with magazine headlines that shame celebrities if they are not a size zero and praise them for pinging back into a bikini days after having a baby. I want Express North to be the antithesis to those publications.' Revenue will be generated from local advertisers wanting to target the niche market. Lucy received support through the DigitalCity Fellowship scheme in the form of a start-up grant as well as four days of help and advice from industry experts. DigitalCity is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Lucy added: 'As a result of doing articles for Express North I’m now in demand for writing stories for other North-East businesses and offering PR services to get their news into local media.' The fully-responsive Express North website was designed by former DigitalCity Fellow Malik Jani, of Laughing Beards, as part of the mentoring programme. She added: 'When I applied for the fellowship scheme I just had mock-ups of what I wanted to create but now that dream has been turned into a reality. The feedback I’ve had so far about Express North has been really positive. I'm excited about what it could achieve and want to create my own success story.' Laura Woods, Director of The Forge, Teesside University’s front door for business, said: 'It's good to see Express North, led by a female entrepreneur, championing the talent and achievements of the region’s women. We’re delighted that through DigitalCity we've been able to help launch another great business in the North East.' For more information about how Teesside University can your business idea become a reality visit The Forge.


 
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