Notes From the Publisher & Staff

Life in Plastic, It’s Fantastic!

How happy are we to bring you a Barbie issue of SPLURGE! Magazine? Well, let’s just say it rekindled all the Barbie-fashion feels from childhood and made our pink-loving hearts skip a beat!

It was a blast selecting winners from the many, many entries we received for our Barbie and Friends Lookalike Contest. It was pure joy shooting our fashion section outside a Barbie dream house (thank you to the Crowdus family for letting us invade your space!). And it was fantastic fun reading fashion columnist Lauren “L” Mercado’s trip down memory lane from her own Barbie childhood, and seeing how many Barbie facts we knew in our “Let’s Go Barbie!” article.

We all have our Barbie memories, and some of them show up in our adult life. Publisher Jody Klein loves Barbie pink so much, she used it to decorate her SPLURGE! office, as you can see in the photo above, right down to pink office chairs! Piper Ewy of Wichita, who was kind enough to let us use her very pink Range Rover for the cover of this issue, was inspired by Jody’s office when she first spotted it in 2018. She and mom Jennifer met Jody there for a modeling meeting, after which Piper decided to let her love for pink run wild! She got a pink bedroom remodel, bought more pink clothing — and received her pink car when she turned 16.

We got to play real-life Barbie with our contest winners, Addi Lowell, on the cover, and Brittney Culley, in our fashion section. Both women are, like Barbie, smart, strong and hard-working, besides being beautiful! It was a pleasure working with them. And it was fun picking out their outfits for this issue — almost like we were 10 again!

Thanks for enjoying this delightful issue with us, and keep your eyes peeled for pink!

XO, Jody and Amy

12828 E. 13th N., Wichita, KS 67230 316.267.3678

Publishing Company Inspired Koncepts, Inc.

Owners Dr. Terry and Jody Klein

Dr. Dennis and Ann Ross

Steve Ruud

Publisher and President Jody Klein - jody@splurgemag.com

Vice President Amy Palser - amy@splurgemag.com

Associate Publisher Kelsey Ralston - kelsey@splurgemag.com

Editor Karen Long - proofing@splurgemag.com

Account Executives Kim Azaria - kim@splurgemag.com

Debi Devor-Mullins - debi@splurgemag.com

@splurgeict splurgemag.com

Accounting Firm of Esther M. Mollhagen, CPA

Graphic Design Mitch Gee

Contributing Writers Julie Underwood Burton, Alexis Evans, Julie Hying, Karen Long, Lauren “L” Mercado, Amy Palser, Levi Schwertfeger, Joe Stumpe

Guest Columnists Nataliya Biskup, Nahid Holmes, Gregory Lakin, Eric Litwiller, Joseph Spaniol, Amy Sprole, Randy Yeisley

Fashion Photography Darrin Hackney Photography

Local Faces Photography Michael Carroll Jr.