Like many of us at age 20, I had no idea yet what I was doing with my life or career. I had been working retail jobs and as an office manager for an acupuncturist, where I occasionally helped with digital marketing and events. 

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I realized I needed to figure out an unconventional path to build the career I wanted. So in 2012, I decided to launch my first business — an online magazine with original content by and for women, which became a proof of concept for what I was capable of as a writer, marketer, and leader.

Over the course of three years I brought together a team of 60+ writers and editors across the world. We published 2,000+ long-form content pieces. I built our social media channels organically to 10K+ on FB (this was mostly pre-Instagram) and thousands of followers on Twitter and Tumblr. We also made an impact in the broader media landscape, with our articles quoted and linked to in places like The Atlantic, TIME, Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Refinery29 (with whom we built a partnership), and more.

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At the height of the site's popularity, we were seeing 20K+ daily page views.

My goal was to monetize the site through advertising and affiliate revenue, which never transpired in a meaningful way. The online publishing space was already trending downward at the time, and I was too focused on the content, social media channels, and managing our writers (in addition to a full-time job) to give monetization the focus it required.

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I shut down the site after three years but am eternally grateful for the experiences and relationships that propelled me to where I am today.