Running a publication or magazine doesn't always have to be making tons of money and visits in order to be considered successful. Side gigs exist for a reason and can help you supplement outcomes that can't otherwise be achieved in your day job. We speak with Jasmine Watts, Founder of Miss Millenia to run down her experiences and what you can expect.

Podcast Transcription

Vahe Arabian: Welcome to the State of Digital Publishing Podcast, episode seven. State of Digital Publishing is an online publication and Q&A providing resources, perspectives, and collaboration and news for digital media and publishing professionals in digital media technology and audience development. Today I'm speaking with Jasmine Watts from Miss Millennia Magazine and she's ... takes a different approach to publishing. She does it as a side gig. Let's listen in. Hi, Jasmine, how are you?

Jasmine Watts: I'm great. How are you doing?

Vahe Arabian: I'm good, thank you. Thanks for taking time to chat with us. Just for those who aren't aware of who you are and anything about Millennia Magazine, can you just provide a bit of a background?

Jasmine Watts: Yeah. Of course. So, I'm the creator and the Editor-in-Chief of a publication called Miss Millennia Magazine. We're all alone and it’s for Millennia women who are career driven and on their way to doing big things in life. So we like to write content from ... about travel, career, personal development, just overall motivation in general.

Vahe Arabian: It sounds good. It's a very passionate thing and also very aspirational for others, for people who need advice, just for everyone, our audience as well. The reason why I've brought on Jasmine is as well, is because she doesn't do this as a full-time gig and given that it's the New Year and everyone wants to kick off their New Year’s resolutions, I thought given Jasmine's success in the magazine, I wanted to bring her on to just give you guys the opportunity and to hear how she's been able to do this as a side gig and build up Miss Millennia Magazine. So, if you don't mind Jasmine, can you provide a bit of a background around how you started Miss Millennia Magazine and the reason for why you've kept it as a side gig and how has it benefited you as a side gig?

Jasmine Watts: Yeah. Absolutely. So, I started a little after I graduated from college, a few months actually. My reasoning being that I was having a hard time with finding a job and so, I had a group of people who could resonate with how I was feeling, trying to decide on what career to pursue, where I wanted to move, and where did I want to go with the next stages of my life.

Jasmine Watts: So, I created it and I've been doing it ever since. I've been doing it for almost seven years now and I started it because I thought it would be a great way to bring in extra income since before I started the magazine, I was doing freelance writing and I thought there's so much more potential to make more money if I was actually the one who was doing the publishing.

Jasmine Watts: So that played into my role too as far as why I decided to create Miss Millennia and as far as doing it as a side hustle, I've always kind of done it on the side while I was looking for a career. I majored in fashion and I decided I didn't wanna do that once I graduated so that kind of started my whole struggle with finding what I wanted to do with my life. I started pursuing a career in marketing, which I love now, and upon doing that, the magazine was always a place where I could build new skills, test out things that I learned and my jobs that I had. Also just have a creative outlet for the things that I couldn't do and the jobs that I had. So, it's always been a piece of me that allowed me to be my full self in some places where I couldn't do that.