Ah! Mazing Vendor Feature!! African Bride Magazine

Hello Beautiful People!!! Today we have the pleasure of introducing you to Tola Oluyemi, the Editor-in-Chief of African Bride USA Magazine. We have been sooo excited about this magazine here at BCG, we cant stop talking about it! So it was about time we sat down and talked with Tola, and found out what the motivating force is, behind the magazine that we hope to see "change the game"! I hope you enjoy reading! 

(from left to right: Editor-in-Chief, Tola Oluyemi; Executive Editor, Michelle Okolo; Creative Editor, Tope Lufadeju)

1.   BCG: How did the idea for African Brides Magazine come about? How long ago was it?

Tola: The idea came about four years ago while planning my own wedding.  I was able to easily locate mainstream wedding vendors like florists and cake chefs but when it came to locating vendors that cater specifically to African weddings like live bands, caterers, DJs, etc, it became more difficult and I basically had to make decisions based on word of mouth from their previous customers.  I discussed this with my older sister who had a similar experience while planning her own wedding.  We thought that it would be nice to have a one-stop vendor database to easily locate vendors for African weddings, hence the inspiration behind our website www.africanweddingsus.com.  So as you can see, the website was our first inspiration and the magazine idea came a little later.

BCG: What was the process of getting your magazine off the ground?

Tola: We knew that in order for the magazine to be a success, we needed to conduct an extensive market research.  The magazine industry has one of the highest failure rates; 90% of all new magazines fail within the first year.  We knew it was a huge risk so we spent the most part of the first two years studying the market and other publications.  Once we had the confidence to proceed, we started working on other major aspects of magazine production like editorial content, design and layout, printing, and circulation.

BCG: What was the hardest part of getting into the magazine business? What type of challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Tola: I would say one of the greatest challenges was finding time to work on the magazine; I have a full time job as a financial analyst, I also try to be a devoted wife and mother so joggling everything at the same time was quite challenging since the only time I really had to work on the magazine was at midnight on most days.  Luckily, I have a supportive husband who was understanding and helped out a lot.  Another significant challenge was breaking into an untapped market since we are basically the first publication catering to brides of African descent.

BCG: What is the MAIN purpose behind the magazine? What are your goals?

Tola: Our goal for this magazine is to be the ultimate reference-to guide for all brides of African descent when planning their weddings, not only in the USA but globally.  We want the bride-to-be to pick up a copy of this magazine and be able to pick out all her vendors and not only that but also find inspiration from our editorials, be it real weddings, color inspiration articles, or bridal fashion spreads.  We also want to learn more and share the beauty of various traditional African wedding customs and attires.

BCG: Where would you love to see African Brides Magazine in the next 5 years? What are your dreams for this magazine?

Tola: We would love to see African Bride magazine on major newsstands across the globe.  We see it being a source of inspiration to brides and wedding professionals worldwide.

BCG: What is your MAIN motivation? What keeps you going when you want to just stop and give up?

Tola: What keeps me going is the fact that I love everything about weddings; this is fun for me.  I love meeting talented wedding professionals and learning more about the wedding industry.  We are also involved in charity efforts so it feels good to know we are helping the less privileged. 

BCG: What makes you the HAPPIEST about this new venture?

Tola: I am happiest when I hear back from a vendor or bride about a good experience.  Even though we are new, we’ve gotten several emails from vendors who were found via our website and brides who located vendors on our website and it makes us happy to know that they were pleased with their experiences.

                               

Dapo and myself!

MC Francis keeping the crowd GOING!

One of the Lovely Models, Watta

Bewaji Designs

Rip the Runway contestants

Legsssss for Dayssss

Stephanie and MaryAnne of Cote Minou

Keynote Speaker, Summer Amin

Idia Fashions

There you have it!! I have posted some pics of the African Wedding Magazine Launch taken by Kirth Bobb Photography! The decor and planning was done by us here at BCG Events! I hope you enjoyed the post and getting to know the brains behind the machine! Let us know what you think!


Tola and her team are also offering a 10% discount on advertising rates to anyone who mentions they found them right here on our blog, they can email advertising@africanweddingsus.com!!!!




Stay Beautiful My Loves,
Memi 

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