September is always a special month in the Forsyth Woman magazine world – it’s our anniversary month! Nineteen years ago, my mom, Keela, launched this incredible venture after transitioning from her corporate job of nearly 25 years. It was part of a significant downsizing, and she chose to take an early retirement. She and I joke often about how bad both of our memories are, but one very vivid memory I have is when she made the decision to move forward with Forsyth Woman. I was 15 years old, and she was 46. Her family and friends thought she was crazy (the woman had NO publishing experience), but this only pushed her to want to succeed even more. I’ve always admired this about her. Growing up with not one, but TWO parents who were entrepreneurs made for a unique childhood that taught me tons of lessons about hard work, perseverance and passion. 

This month also marks my 50th issue publishing Forsyth Woman! Keela handed over the reins with the August 2020 issue with plans to retire at Lake Norman. If you’ve been a reader for a while, you know that isn’t how the story goes. After trying out the retirement life for a bit, she decided she had her heart set on starting a magazine in the Lake Norman community and LKN Magazine was born in September 2022. (Happy 2nd Anniversary LKN Magazine!) 

Over the last 50 months/issues, a LOT has happened! We’ve survived COVID and its extremely scary effects including a worldwide paper shortage, which was possibly even scarier than COVID in the publishing world. I opened a CrossFit gym, Washington Park CrossFit. We launched our annual Women on the Move conference, which has been more powerful and inspirational than I ever thought possible. We also launched the Forsyth Magazines podcast. WHEW! What a whirlwind! 

We have an incredible team that works so hard each month to bring you, our readers, this magazine. We also have so many amazing advertising partners that trust us with their marketing dollars each month – this magazine certainly wouldn’t be possible (and free to pick up!) without them. 

So, THANK YOU! 

THANK YOU to our readers for picking up Forsyth Woman each month, for tuning into our podcast, for following us on social media, for attending our many events…THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. It’s a blessing that I get to wake up and do this for a living. I mean, wow. 

If you are reading this, you’ve already seen the absolutely phenomenal photo on our cover this month. Amber (owner of Alkali Hair Studio) had quite a vision, and if I do say so myself, I think Jon Eric Johnson (JEJ Photos) did a remarkable job of bringing it to life. I had the honor of attending this photo shoot and witnessing the talent in front of and behind the camera. You can read all about Alkali and their very exciting news HERE.

Wishing you a wonderful month of September, and I hope to see you at a Girls’ Night Out soon, as well as at our first-ever Boutique Crawl event happening on October 5th. Grab your tickets for the FW Boutique Crawl today!

All my best,