2018 has been an excellent year for Clever-ish Magazine!
With so much potential for 2019, I can’t help but be excited. Even as we wait in anticipation for 2019, I look back at the past year with gratefulness for all the things we achieved as a magazine.
So I’ll like to share with you all the great things that happened in 2018, notable highlights of the year, and what’s to be expected in 2019!
Photoshoot
The year started with a bang! We had an artistic and fun photoshoot working with Bebabrand Media . The purpose of the shoot was to create images for Clever-ish social media pages and marketing. The shoot was filled with laughter and creativity, and I enjoyed every bit of it! I was lucky to have some friends help out with the shoot, and they got free t-shirts in return! 😉
Expanding Team!
This year Clever-ish brought on new team members, and they have contributed significantly to the expansion and growth we’ve experienced! We’ve had amazing and creative writers joining the Clever-ish team, and it’s been splendid. You would see more of them this coming year as we will make formal introductions! You can read some of their articles here, here, and here!
Podcast Interview
I got the honor to be interviewed on the As Told By nomads Podcast. This is the first time I talk about my journey that led me to create Clever-ish Magazine. I mean it’s been a rocky but very interesting road and I wouldn’t have it any other way. If you want to get a little idea of the backstory of Clever-ish, then you should listen in here :
Creativity and Quarter-life Crisis with Jiji Ugboma
It was a big deal for me doing this interview because I usually do not like to put myself out there. I want the clever-ish brand to stand on its own and be the place where people come to for inspiration and creativity! It’s not about me and never has been. That being said, it’s also important to give people an idea of how it all started. This I hope will provide better insight into the ethos of Clever-ish and why we do what we do.
On Diversity
Clever-ish is a magazine for both guys and girls. Quarter-life crisis and Creativity are not gendered, and so we strive to make content that is relevant to all. It’s been particularly challenging to do this as platforms and magazines such as ours usually cater to a female audience. Hence, guys maybe do not feel inclined to visit our site or participate.
For example, one one of our most recent article on journaling and self-care, The writer Shaune mentioned specifically in an internal email that she wanted one of the photos we use to be of a “guy’s hand as he wrote in a journal” why? Because journaling is something that’s usually attributed to only women and we need to dispell that myth! (Told you the new team members were great!)
Luckily we’ve been able to reach more and more male audiences as evident from our Facebook and Google analytics statistics, so I guess we are doing something right!
In 2019 we are going to make our content more gender neutral and relevant to both boys and girls because we are all in this together and could learn from one another.
Social Media
Our social media audience has become more and more engaged. 2019 will see more social media activity to cater to our engaged and thriving community.
Right now we are running an end of year T-shirt Giveaway promotion! This marks the beginning of more giveaways, promotions, and campaigns in 2019! Be sure to follow our Instagram and Facebook to stay in the loop!
Great Content
The year also kicked off with some fantastic content. We published some great articles that went viral, and we also published some top-notch interviews with inspiring creatives and entrepreneurs. View them below!
My favorite interview this year was with former MasterChef contestant Gabriel Lewis. I remember the exact moment I saw him on Masterchef, and I said to myself “this guy is so inspiring and so creative!”. To have someone as such to share his creative journey with our readers is why Clever-ish exists. Like I said an exciting year!
If you’re wondering what happened to Masterchef’s Gabriel Lewis after being a top 7 contestant,…
Reflection
Clever-ish has never been about me and still isn’t. If I wanted it to be about me, I would have created a blog called “Jiji 4 ever” or Jiji the Creative Juggernaut” or some derivative of that haha! But it’s not.
I created Clever-ish because I wanted a platform to celebrate creative people and provide much-needed inspiration for millennials going through a quarter-life crisis and millennials trying to navigate a creative/entrepreneurial/ artistic path. Our goal is to applaud those who are figuring it out (through interviews and features) and provide content that not only inspires but also provides useful tips that we could all use.
2019!
With our ethos in mind, we are approaching 2019 with the goal of getting even more collaborations and features.
There are so many projects we’ve been working on in the pipelines that will be executed in 2019. I’m excited, and I can’t wait to share them with the world. 2019 equals more features, more interviews, and more content to help you be your most creative self!
2019 is going to be a fantastic year so watch this space!
I hope you have loved being a part of Clever-ish and I hope you are excited to join us on our journey in 2019.
Share Clever-ish Magazine with your friends and loved ones and invite the creatives or wannabe creatives to be a part of our community!
