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Founder and editor in chief, Cathrine, launched Local Wolves when she was still in high school. Four years and nearly 40 issues later, you’ll probably recognize some big names on the covers of this popular music and lifestyle magazine. Despite great success, Local Wolves hasn’t lost the scrappy spirit and close connections within the community that helped build it.
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How did you get started?
Cathrine: I was working at a few other publications in high school as a concert photographer where I conducted interviews and wrote live reviews of shows that I got access for in the Orange County and Los Angeles area. After a few months of experience, I decided to create a music blog dedicated to the local shows that my staff and I were covering. You can tell from past issues, we began to incorporate band interviews, then moved into food and lookbooks as well. After I graduated from high school in 2012, I decided to take a break from Local Wolves to focus on my college courses. A few months later I stumbled upon a YouTube video of Jc Caylen and Connor Franta. And then came across Our2ndLife (O2L). It sparked my attention to reach out to these content creators to be featured in the publication. Luckily, we found what Local Wolves was all about. We’ve been doing the issues for 4 years and learned so much along the way!
How does L.A. inspire what you do?
C: I find inspiration from hanging out with my friends. I’m in Long Beach, but we go into L.A. a lot, and they take me to a lot of different places. I get inspiration from all around L.A., because I see a lot of creatives walking around and they’re obviously doing something fun and cool. and it’s really fun to meet them at coffee shops and stuff like that. I don’t have a set-in-stone place where I find inspiration, it’s just bits and pieces here and there.
What goes into making each publication?
C: A few months before we launch a new issue, we set the tone and begin looking for the cover star. We’ll start blasting emails trying to get the talent on the cover, but sometimes we’re lucky, sometimes we’re not, or sometimes the timing just isn’t right. The theme and cover go hand in hand, but sometimes we don’t get the cover we want, so the theme has to shift. My design team and I also do mood boards. Sometimes we want simplistic designs, sometimes we want more color, but my design team knows exactly what I want for spreads, for covers and pages-wise. We work through different documents just so everyone knows the deadlines, and assignments are given based on schedules because everyone is still freelance. Photoshoots and interviews are usually around a month or two in advance. My teams have similar design backgrounds, so it’s easy for me to see whose style fits which feature we’re doing.
Before the issue is due, I go in and download everything they send me and I start putting it all together. After that’s done, I start doing the post for the blog and website, and then we do the cover. We get the high res, test proof, check and then when it’s ready I tell my team it’s ready to go live and we prep it for social media, change all the headers, all the profile pictures — it’s a process but now I know how long it takes to do it.
Any advice for your readers?
C: Even if you’re still in school, it doesn’t mean you’re limited in creating things. Growing up, I felt constricted and felt like I wanted to create things. Don’t feel restricted. Just stay motivated, stay grounded and have a good group of friends around you.
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