Nirvana Turns Four Today! What’s Next?
Four years ago, 176 persons gathered in the old Fiction Lounge in Kingston to witness the launch of Nirvana Magazine. At that time, I barely had a clue how a magazine was supposed to be run and barely any clue how many asses I would have to kiss in society to get to where I am now. So where am I now? Sitting in my living room around the dining table writing this as it’s the fourth anniversary of Nirvana Magazine and drinking an Appleton Special mixed with Coca-Cola. Did I mention it’s 5:37am?
Let’s get one thing straight, this is not about me! Londie Murray by himself didn’t make Nirvana Magazine what it is today. Without my team, none of this would be possible. This blog post is about the growth of a brand and the impact we’ve had across the Caribbean.
When Nirvana Magazine was launched four (4) years ago, the focus was solely on highlighting fashion designers from all over the Caribbean. This idea came about because nobody else was doing it the way it should have been done. Over the years we’ve featured designers such as Theodore Elyett, Simone Michelle, Lubica, Kazz Forbes, Keneea Linton-George, Spokes Apparel, Andre Rowe, Christian Boucaud, Kaysian Bourke, Roger Gary, House of Rhule, Nicole Millwood, Carmichael Byfield and Rebecca Stirm just to name a few. All of these designers are still actively designing and most importantly, they are still selling and doing well across the Caribbean.
Nirvana has been fortunate to participate in several fashion related events across the Caribbean. Cayman Islands Fashion Week, Miss Turks & Caicos Universe, Miss Bahamas World & Universe, St. Kitts Fashion Week and The Collection Moda here in Jamaica. These events have allowed us to grow the brand across the region and I am truly grateful to the organizers of the events mentioned above.
Before I speak about the changes and how we’re moving forward, I must outline one major thing. Nirvana has had it’s challenges over the years. Financial challenges are at the top of that list. See, magazines depend on advertising to survive and without that ad revenue, the task of publishing is nearly impossible! Those financial constraints forced us to revaluate how we operated and we’ve made the necessary adjustments and expanded our focus from just being a magazine.
I am going to save you the sob stories about the many failures and setbacks and just show you exactly how we plan to move forward. Let’s start with introducing The Nirvana Group and breaking down what we now have to offer. The Nirvana Group is a Digital Media & Marketing agency. At the core, we offer film and television production, photography, social media management, brand consulting and creative strategy, event management and public relations. Most notably, we’ve worked on and produced two episodes of Real Housewives of Atlanta and quite a few other corporate projects here in Jamaica and we plan on continuing that trend. Nirvana Magazine is now a product of The Nirvana Group and we will resume the publication of our magazine with a new issue every three months for the remainder of 2017.
Nirvana Magazine will be taking on a new approach as it relates to what we publish. As some of you already know, Nirvana is a fashion magazine but that changes in this issue! We’re now a lifestyle publication and our focus is now more than fashion. From here on out, readers can look forward to a magazine focused on highlighting Caribbean lifestyle. So, think fashion, culture, entertainment, travel, luxury, real estate, food, health and fitness. We’re bundling all those areas in one publication. We’re also focused on attracting younger readers. So a huge part of our marketing will be targeted at the high school to college audience but our content will not be specific to them. Our content will be for everyone but presented in a way that will grab the attention of a 16 year old high school student or a 65 year old retiree. The issue shown above will be released to the public on the 1st of July.
We believe in growing the brand regionally and as such we will also be launching Nirvana Magazine Cayman later this year as well. Stay tuned for more information on that!
In addition to the printed publications, NirvanaMagazine.com will operate as a daily lifestyle news platform focusing on all the areas mentioned above. To do this, we will be working with students from the various universities across Jamaica who are training to become journalists through our internship programs. We’ve received hundreds of requests from students local and abroad interested in an internship or full time job producing lifestyle content. The internship programs we offer will provide these students with real world experience and training in journalism from seasoned professionals in the industry. These media professionals will not just be from Jamaica but also from other Caribbean islands as well as the United States of America.
Our first cohort of interns will start our program on the 3rd of July and readers can expect daily new lifestyle content on our website by the second week of July.
The last thing I would like to mention is Nirvana TV. No, we’re not buying a channel on a local cable network! Instead, we’re producing lifestyle content for YouTube. A dedicated team has been put in place for this and the first set of shows we produce for our YouTube channel and viewers can expect content to be online by the end of July. Nirvana TV will also be able to facilitate the live streaming of events via our website and the first major event we will stream will be in September of 2017.
So, now that I have outlined some of our plans for the future, I must also say that these plans have already been set in motion. As a young entrepreneur, I still don’t have it all figured out but I am doing my part to change the way we see Caribbean lifestyle with the help of a very capable team.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to a few key people who, without them, Nirvana would have been dead a long time ago. My co-founder Kellon Williams, editor-in-chief Mario Palmer, financial advisor Makeda Williams, Shanoy Coombs, Kerry Clarke, Kibwe McGann, Robert Stewart, Delano Forbes of Phase 3 Production, Gary Matalon of the KLE Group, Davion Forbes, my family and most importantly the many supporters and clients throughout the years.
I look forward to the future and doing my part in helping to develop the creative and media industries in Jamaica through what we do at The Nirvana Group.
Cheers!
