New Editor-In-Chief Of Pacific Magazine Talks Diversity
Speaker 1: 00:00 Taking a break from work in politics now to dig into the social scene in San Diego and talk about what we can all do with the other 16 hours of our day. Pacific magazine has been known as one place. You can find all of the happenings around town. And now with the new name leading it, the magazine has more to offer. Nina Garin, our former arts and entertainment editor is now the new editor in chief of Pacific magazine. Nina, welcome. Hi Jane. Hi. All my KPBS friends. I couldn't graduations on your new role. Thank you. Um, the artist Lizzo graces, this month's cover of Pacific magazine. It is the first issue with you at the helm as editor, how has the cover and issue different than those before it? Speaker 2: 00:41 I was really excited that my first cover was going to be Lizzo. You know, Pacific magazine is the magazine of downtown in Pacific beach and also of what's happening and when you're planning a magazine and you see that Lizzo is coming, there's no question she has to be on the cover. Um, I will say I was happy that I was able to bring some diversity to it because Lizzo is an African American woman. She is also a plus size woman and she's proud of all of that. And I am happy to have that representative. When you're walking down the streets of downtown, does that signify a new direction for the magazine? I mean the magazine is still going to be what, what it is, which is we know what's happening all the time specifically in downtown, in PB. But yes, I would like to bring a little bit more arts and culture. Speaker 2: 01:40 So in November we're going to have a new Q and a with um, someone in the arts and we're going to always spotlight a local band. And I think we're trying to also diversify economically. So along with talking about the fancy restaurants in town, we want to try to talk about like the taco shop that you might not notice. So diversifying everywhere in October is moving by as fast. But, uh, what's coming up this month? Of course we have Lizzo if you have tickets, you're really lucky and sold out. It's sold out and it was sold out for awhile. Maybe they'll release tickets. What we do have in the October issue is a the other Los Muertos Roundup. So that's another thing I was happy to bring. Um, and so you have a lot of these kind of day of the dead events, like a symphony screaming of Coco or even learning how to make bread for the, for the holiday and yeah, all the art galleries and theaters and parties, you'll find all that. Um, we have a lot of pages devoted to it. Speaker 1: 02:43 So I was looking through the pages of this October issue and I saw this section called blind date. What is this blind date? Who are Michael and Denise? Speaker 2: 02:53 Blind date is one of our most popular, most red features. We have a professional matchmaker, a woman in charge of it. She's our managing editor. Her name is Jennifer [inaudible]. She thinks of fun places for them to go and what the experience will be. And then she and a photographer go along on this date and she documents what's happening as it's happening and they're down to take their photos. And it's actually a pretty fun feature. I think a big part of being in your 20s and thirties is dating and I think that's why it's a really popular feature and then most months she follows up to see how if they're still in touch and a lot of times they stay in touch. I don't think, I think we just, I just edited this one today, the blind daters in October, I don't think time, Speaker 3: 03:45 sorry. Sorry to spoil it. Great. It seems like it's reality TV meets magazine. It is reality TV P's. The ones in October went on a trapeze date Speaker 1: 04:01 and it was pretty fun. It may seem to be getting along and then nothing. Nothing. Okay, well that's all right. Sometimes it doesn't work out till November one seems the November one seems optimistic. Okay. Speaking of that, what is on tap for November? What's in the in next month's issue? Speaker 2: 04:19 November, we're actually highlighting a lot of the holiday stuff because I love November and I like, I'm a planner, so you're going to get your Nutcracker roundups and your holiday shows. And then you will see the debut of these new features I was talking about. One of them is, uh, a profile on this band called [inaudible], which is the first and only Kate Bush cover band. And it's these really, really great San Diego women who formed a band. Just honor the greatness of Kate Bush. So you can read about that. Speaker 1: 04:51 Interesting. And I'm curious to know, cause you know, you say that, um, there's going to be more diversity, uh, in this magazine. Why is it so important to you to bring diversity to Pacific? Speaker 2: 05:03 Well, I think Pacific represents San Diego and San Diego is a city of diversity. I grew up in Chula Vista. I am Mexican, I am Jewish, I'm a woman. All the friends around me were Filipino plaque, everything. And so I want them to be able to feel like they can pick the magazine up and it's all over downtown. And downtown is all kinds of people. And I don't want people to walk by and feel like, Oh, this magazine is not for me. I want you to feel like, Oh, this is for me no matter what's on the cover. Speaker 1: 05:34 All right. And like you said, you grew up in Chula Vista, um, as a kid and a teenager you grabbed hold of every magazine you could at the local store. Now that you are editor of Pacific magazine, how does this make you feel? Does this feel like a full circle moment for you? Speaker 2: 05:51 It does. I really didn't know that. I would love it as much as I do, but I, I do feel that kid, I, I lived at the top of a Hill and I would have to walk down to the thrifty and buy all my magazine and then we'll walk up holding like September was a really hard month to do that. Um, and then I F I was so excited and I feel that way now getting to kind of run the magazine and I have an amazing staff. They're all great writers, really smart women and one one man. We all get along really well. And I just feel like very happy and I think that that will show in the issues to come. I've been speaking with Nina Garin, editor in chief of Pacific magazine. Nina, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks so much. It was good to be back. Speaker 4: 06:37 [inaudible] Speaker 5: 06:42 Oh, Whoa. My run for president, even if the ain't no person switching up the messaging this to Jane, I'm a whip and my rent. I really need you in my condo bone. You pay my rent.
