Meet the Founder of Intrigue Mag, the Unisex Publication Redefining Media

In an industry where everything moves too quickly, I’m a firm believer in supporting other journalists and niche magazines. One that I admire and follow comes from Jessica Toscano, founder of Intrigue magazine, a unisex lifestyle publication which is the first of its kind. I had the chance to speak to her about what makes a successful entrepreneur, and what it takes to survive in a cutthroat industry like media and still chase our dreams.

Q: Talk to me about your magazine, Intrigue Mag. When did you start it, and what were you trying to build?

A: Sure, so it’s kind of a funny story. I wasn’t really trying to build anything substantial at first. I was 19, freshman year of college, blogs were huge at the time. My aunt was my only mentor, I didn’t really have anybody in the journalism industry to look up to, so I didn’t really know what I was doing. And she had said, you know, you should start a blog so you can showcase your writing. So yeah, I sat with it for a while, started a couple of blogs that I didn’t really love and couldn’t keep up with, just because I wasn’t passionate about them.

Eventually I landed on a dot Weebly called Intrigued by You, that was the original name. And basically what I would do is I would go around campus and I would talk to 50 men and 50 women, because I always knew that I wanted it to be unisex, but I didn’t really have that word yet. And I would ask like kind of embarrassing questions, so I would go up to men on campus and say like hey do you mind if I ask you some questions for my blog, and it would be something like what do you prefer your girlfriend to wear to bed, and I would have like options.

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Q: What did the blog look like back then?

A: That’s a great question. It looked really different. It was still basic, but I had all of my friends step in as models for photo shoots. We took all of our own photos for every single article, which is kind of crazy to think about now, because honestly who has the time for that. Everything was built from the ground up, like every color, the logo, everything on the website was hand-selected. And the articles at that time, it wasn’t fully editorial yet, but it also wasn’t like a typical blog either. I was using real data, but not like national studies or anything, I was kind of collecting it myself.

Q: When did you start seeing a bigger direction for the brand?

A: I kept revamping it the more I learned about editorial. And I started noticing that brands were moving in a unisex direction, even if magazines weren’t really there yet. What’s funny is I started asking for pronouns and using pronouns on the platform before I was really seeing that in publications. I have a lot of friends in the LGBTQ community, and at that time some of them were transitioning, so it just felt important. So that was kind of the direction I started to head in, and the gap that I saw in media that I wanted to fill.

Q: What was the biggest challenge when you launched?

A: Honestly, the biggest challenge was not having a background in business. I didn’t grow up with that. So I had to use my journalistic ability to learn everything step by step. A lot of research, a lot of figuring things out as I went. Managing a team isn’t really the part that worries me. It’s more making sure I’m doing everything ethically, legally, and figuring out how to scale when I’m doing this from a self-funded perspective.

Q: What are the most important lessons you’ve learned?

A: The number one thing, and I’ve always been this way, I never believed in starting from the bottom. I always believed in shooting for the stars. So even with freelancing, instead of reaching out to smaller blogs, I immediately started pitching top-tier publications. My first real published article was picked up by Self Magazine. The second thing is consistency. And honestly, I’m still working on that. If you’re not consistent, you’re kind of losing trust with your audience. People want someone who’s on top of their work. And you’re not really building momentum, you’re building it, then losing it, then building it again, then losing it again. It just kind of keeps going like that.

One thing she kept coming back to was how unpredictable entrepreneurship actually is.

A: Every day is different. I think if you’re not an entrepreneur, it’s kind of hard to fully understand that. Because it’s easy to have friends and family who are supportive, but not always in ways that are actually helpful. Like people will say things like don’t over-exhaust yourself or why don’t you just take a break, and I get where that’s coming from, but it’s not always realistic. Because you can’t really just step away if you’re in the middle of something, or if you have deadlines, or meetings, or things like that.

You’re kind of responsible for everything, so it’s different. And then honestly sometimes things just happen and you don’t plan for it. Like recently my laptop crashed while I was working on the website and I couldn’t access anything, and I was like okay great, now what. So I had to stop what I was doing, go buy a new one, and then wait a couple of days before I could even get back into everything. So yeah, it’s not really predictable day to day.

Q: What are you focused on right now?

A: Right now I’m trying to build a team. I would love to build a team and be able to scale the publication. There are so many things in the industry right now that just feel kind of upside down. You hear a lot about content being cut because publications are trying to prioritize advertising, and I think that takes away from what those publications were built on.

Q: Who has been your biggest supporter?

A: Originally, my aunt. She was the one who encouraged me to start. She passed away about a decade ago, but I still feel like she’s here, and that she’s proud of me. Now, my parents, especially my mom, have been really supportive. Even during tough moments, like getting laid off, they’ve always believed that I’ll figure it out.

Q: What do you think about the current media landscape?

A: There’s a lot being said about the media right now that isn’t really true. I think for the most part journalists really do want to uncover the truth and make a difference. Of course, like any industry, there are people who operate differently, but overall I think that’s the intention.

Q: Final thoughts?

A: There’s something I always think about, which is that helping someone else succeed doesn’t really take anything away from you. I think especially in this industry people can be competitive in a way that turns negative sometimes. But if you’re confident in what you’re building, you don’t really have time to focus on tearing someone else down. And if you’re not being supported in a space, then it’s probably just not the right room for you.

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