We may be a nationwide company with a lot of deliverables month-to-month, but we still operate with connection at the center of everything we do. Whether we’re serving our readers and clients or thinking about how to create the best opportunities for our team members, we recognize strengthening communities all starts with highlighting genuine people.
N2 has more than 550+ Area Directors all over the U.S. publishing around 800 magazines, highlighting 25,000+ clients, and 2,000,000+ monthly readers. That’s a lot of numbers! We also have more than 300 passionate and highly-experienced team members working to support the entire publication process. This month, we’re highlighting a few of the stellar women behind this process – starting from collecting people’s stories to the publications that tell their stories to the printing process that gets them in mailboxes nationwide. Read on to learn more about some of the women at each stage of the publishing journey!
The Women of N2 at Every Stage of a Publication
Stage 1: Collecting Stories and Photos
Agnes Martin, Stroll Area Director
N2 Area Directors have a unique opportunity to bring community together. They manage a local magazine that introduces readers and advertisers through monthly issues filled with stories and news straight from the readership.
Agnes publishes a Stroll magazine.
If your pub didn’t exist, how would your community be affected?
When I first ramped up Stroll Royal Oaks Country Club the HOA had its own official publication. It was very costly to the community and did not contain a lot of information about the people in Royal Oaks, mostly do’s and don’ts. When I went to print, the residents were eager to be a part of the new magazine. Royal Oaks is a private, gated community and residents were excited to find out more about their community and their neighbors.
Each month I highlight a different family on the cover. That’s over 144 covers so far! If Royal Oaks Living did not exist, residents would not have the enjoyment of knowing who their neighbors are each month. At events, I always see residents meet and become friends who didn’t realize they lived on the same street. I know Stroll Royal Oaks Country Club has made an impact on the community by the way they participate each month with family, pets, birthdays, anniversaries, and more. I’m happy to place reputable businesses in the publication so readers have a resource of trusted partners to choose from.
The most rewarding part of your role at N2:
The most rewarding part of my role with N2 is sharing what I have learned over the 12 years with my fellow Area Directors. N2 changes lives and I am a part of that. Nothing is better than seeing someone take the leap to join N2, watch their business grow, and witness a life changed for the better.
What’s your favorite part of what you do?
Coming from New York to Houston, I left part of my family behind and all my friends. N2 has given me a chance to make so many new friendships throughout the 12 years – with my fellow Area Directors, residents, and business partners. Just a few months ago I was invited to my client’s wedding and we were seated at the family table. What an honor! I love people, I love to change lives, I love going on appointments not knowing what that day will bring. I get all this while making a great living for myself and my family.
Stage 2: Perfecting Stories for Print
Shauna Gobble, Editing
Our Editing team works magic! Editors review each story for grammatical errors and ensure stories meet our high standards. This team loves nothing more than reading through submitted articles and making tiny grammar fixes that make a big difference in how readers enjoy their stories.
Title: Copy Editor & National Articles Writer
If your role didn’t exist, what would be affected in the pub process?
If my role didn’t exist, our finished publications would be a lot less pretty!
The most rewarding part of your role at N2:
The most rewarding part of my role is the opportunity to work alongside and learn from our creative designers, knowledgeable writers, and my super-talented fellow team members to produce beautiful, polished publications.
What’s your favorite part of what you do?
My favorite part of what I do is geeking out with the Editing team over pressing grammatical conundrums!
Stage 3: Creating Effective and Eye-Catching Ads
April Minton, Ad Design Manager
We have advertisement designers who create fully-customized ads for our awesome clients. They specialize in looking at ads creatively and pride themselves on helping our advertisers stand out.
Title: Ad Design Manager
If your role didn’t exist, what would be affected in the pub process?
There would be a lack of communication between departments on advertisement-related issues, as well as a lack of ad-related process improvements and growth.
The most rewarding part of your role within N2:
I love seeing ad team members receive positive feedback and recognition for their hard work. They are a talented group of creatives and they constantly amaze me with all they accomplish.
What’s your favorite part of what you do?
I love working to make the overall ad design experience better for designers as well as for those working in the field – our Area Directors and their clients. It also brings me great joy to be a (very small) part of helping businesses across the country find success through advertising with N2.
Stage 4: Designing a Beautiful Publication
Jeni Moser, Publication Design Manager
With perfectly-edited articles and expertly-designed ads at the ready, a publication designer then determines just the right layout for the content. This team combines stories and advertisements to lay out a beautiful publication they’re proud of. It’s fun, like a big puzzle!
Title: New Products Publication Design Manager
If your role didn’t exist, what would be affected in the pub process?
Wow, this is a tough one. I’d like to think that I play a very small role (my team does the heavy lifting) in getting around 211 pubs each month to the finish line on time and up to quality standards. There are essentially two small teams on my team who create different products which have different needs in terms of the branding and look, number of pubs per deadline, and amount of time they take to produce, so that involves constant management of workloads to accommodate each product needs to make it to the finish line on time.
The most rewarding part of your role at N2:
The most rewarding part is getting to work with a team of talented, creative designers who are so dedicated to excellence.
What’s your favorite part of what you do?
I love when something I communicated sparks an idea or inspires another teammate. This is not something you always know has happened, or something that happens very often, but when you see someone’s face light up with an idea or a realization, it’s cool. It’s like chasing the dragon –. inspiring other creatives!
Stage 5: Reviewing Designed Publication for Quality Assurance
Danielle Madison, Preproduction Success
The designed content of each magazine begins in digital form. It’s then sent to the Preproduction Success team, who reviews each page with a fine-toothed comb because they take their role of quality control seriously.
Title: Production Success Specialist
If your role didn’t exist, what would be affected in the pub process?
The majority of my role is problem-solving print and mailing issues on behalf of our Area Directors. Without my position, these bumps in the road would go unchecked, resolutions to problems wouldn’t be made, and there would be a significant lack of communication all around. I love that I get to connect these dots every day!
The most rewarding part of your role within N2:
Helping people! I get to research with other internal teams to find solutions to problems, communicate our processes, and meet needs. It’s pretty awesome!
What’s your favorite part of what you do?
Definitely communication. I love talking to people and making their day better and brighter. I know putting publications together can be really hard. I want our Area Directors to know my team sees how hard they’re working and our biggest goal is to help them get these pieces of art into mailboxes all over the U.S. so that we can share all of their hard work and talent with the community.
Stage 6: Turning Publications Into Physical Works of Art
Felicia Thomas, Print / Production Delivery
At this stage, each publication now passes through multiple Print and Production team members’ hands. They turn the prepared pub into the holdable, readable, perfect-bound magazine readers will love. And after team members ensure mailing addresses are up to date, they hand-deliver every publication to USPS for mailing. From there, our publications are sent to our amazing residents, top real estate agents, new movers, and medical professionals across the country.
Title: Production Delivery Coordinator
If your role didn’t exist, what would be affected in the pub process?
If my role didn’t exist the Production Delivery Driver would have to do both jobs, and with the increase in volume, it would be very hard for them to split their time between jobs. The driver would have to have excellent time management because they would need to make sure all pubs are mailed out on a daily basis as well as making sure all of the post office runs are done.
Sometimes runs to the post office could take longer than expected – meanwhile, more pubs are being dropped off to you to ship out. Having one person in the production of the Shipping Department wouldn’t be as efficient and you wouldn’t get as much work done with just one person because that one person would not be able to handle the amount of work that is being produced.
The most rewarding part of your role within N2:
The most rewarding part of my role within N2 is that I get to see the whole process of our magazine being published from start to finish and knowing that I had a role in shipping it out to the neighborhoods and to our clients.
What’s your favorite part of what you do?
My favorite part of what I do is being able to ride along with my partner sometimes and go with him to the post office because he and I have built a relationship with the people at the post office.
Another thing I like about what I do is looking at the finished product right before I ship it out and just being proud of what my teammates have done!
There you have it – from people, to pubs, to print! We are an experienced group of hundreds of Area Directors and team members who are passionate about helping every N2 publication business succeed. And we’re excited to highlight just a few of the amazing women who make it happen every day. Happy reading!
