View From The Launch Pad - Ça Va? Magazine

Ça Va? Magazine, debut issue

 Samira Georgi and Amanda Minnie Williams-Vasquez are what you’d call audacious and ambitious.

Together, they have just launched Ça Va?, a glossy, new magazine about arts, fashion, environment, and business innovations. The extent of their audacity and ambition is especially apparent when you consider the corporate-backed competition in similar genres, and at a time when print media is allegedly in the throes of its own slow death.

After attending a splashy launch party recently for the magazine at Ulah Bistro on trendy U Street in DC (and the ladies certainly know how to throw a party for the glitterati), I became interested in learning what sparked their endeavor and where they envision it going – a sort of “view from the launch pad” before the takeoff.

What inspired you to start Ça Va? Magazine?

Before becoming a magazine, Ça Va was a closely-knit circle of creative talents, business innovators, thinkers – any aspiring individual willing to share their our talent, work, and experiences. Getting feedback from people in the same or a different fields helped each of us brainstorm strategies, give and receive advice…but most importantly, feel inspired and energetic about our passions.

We even began receiving requests from people who wanted to be invited to our meetings, and discovered that there are many talented people who want to share their work with the world, but don’t have the platform to do it.

So how does someone become known for their talent, if there’s not anyone to give them a chance to become known?

We decided that we wanted to be that vehicle to promote the ideas and works of talented people – who other publications may have overlooked – with a focus on authentic experiences and insight into any aspect of the human condition, aimed at bettering the spiritual or professional lives of our audience.

Is there a particular niche or demographic that your magazine aims to represent that isn't covered by others (either in print and/or online) - ie., City Paper, Washingtonian, Washington Post Style Section, etc.?

Ça Va? Magazine’s audience is the educated, multicultural individuals who are interested in a variety of subjects and ideas. Our focus is to entertain and inspire readers by profiling not only creators, but also the environment that is being created. The magazine is designed primarily to showcase the diversity of talents among people and businesses in Washington, DC – but also talents from the rest of the world.

According to your Web site, you plan to focus on the arts, fashion, beauty, business innovations, business growth, and environmental and health topics. Can you preview some of the features you're working on for the coming months that can readers expect?

We have a wide range of topics in the works, running the gamut from Holistic Health; Passive House-Energy Efficiency in Buildings; art from Japan; photographers and artists from Washington, DC as well as Russia; a nonprofit organization helping children in Thailand; and event coverage in Washington, DC, and more.

Will you have a core staff or writers, or will the articles/stories be dependent on contributing writers, or syndicated stories?

We have staff writers as well as contributing writers.

Is Ça Va? Magazine going to be strictly print or online as well?

We’ll print quarterly for the first year. However, we’ll place a lot of material on our Web site: http://www.cavamagazine.com/. Our debut issue came out on January 24th.

In the process of launching the magazine, what challenges have you encountered and how have you overcome those challenges?

There are always challenges in any new project. We encounter new challenges almost daily. We are also learning a lot as we work more on the magazine. Our staff is young and highly motivated. With a lot of inherent determination and teamwork, we’ve been able to overcome every challenge that’s come our way.