She Turned Other People’s Stories Into a Media Company w/ Nichole DeMario

She didn’t set out to build a media company. She just kept saying yes to the right opportunities.

Nichole Demario started in journalism during a time when jobs were scarce and stability wasn’t guaranteed. What began as freelancing and pitching herself to publications turned into something much bigger. Over time, she stepped into a growing role inside a local magazine, helped expand it into a second publication, and eventually took ownership of both. What she’s built today didn’t come from a perfect plan. It came from recognizing opportunity and running with it.

In this episode, Nichole shares what it really looks like to build a business rooted in storytelling. From the behind-the-scenes reality of publishing to the moments that have stayed with her the most, this conversation goes beyond business strategy. It’s about the power of real stories, why people downplay their own experiences, and what happens when someone is finally ready to share. Because the moment you stop minimizing your story and start owning it, you create connections, impact, and opportunities you never saw coming. 

So, if you’ve ever questioned whether what you’ve been through is worth sharing, this episode will challenge that completely.

Connect with Nichole:

Instagram: @womantowoman.connect

Instagram: @momtomon.connect

Instagram: @storiedelements

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/momtomommag

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womantowomanmag

Website: https://www.sendmediacompanyllc.com/

Chapters:

00:40 Why Nichole chose publishing

03:40 Starting in freelancing and early career moves

05:40 How Mom to Mom Magazine began

06:40 Creating Woman to Woman Magazine

07:40 Taking ownership of both magazines

08:40 Why storytelling matters so much

10:40 The impact of physical magazines

13:40 How the business evolved over time

16:40 Pivoting during COVID

18:40 The power of adapting under pressure

20:40 A story that created real change

23:40 Why sharing your story is healing

25:40 The story that almost didn’t happen

31:40 What people don’t see in their own communities

34:40 Why people downplay their stories

36:40 How Nichole chooses which stories to tell

39:40 Why sharing what you want matters

44:40 How her real estate journey started

49:40 Lessons from house flipping

51:40 Balancing multiple passions and businesses

52:40 Where to connect with Nichole 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hey there and welcome to Business Over Cocktails. I'm Lauren Najar, your host and hype woman, bringing you real talk about entrepreneurship. This is the podcast where we dive into the bold whys, the messy middles, and the game-changing aha moments that lead to success. You'll hear unfiltered stories from entrepreneurs plus bite-sized solo episodes inside the Business Chaser series, where we cut through the noise and get straight to what actually drives sales, visibility, and growth. So whether you're here to get fired up or finally feel seen in your business journey, pull up a seat, pour your favorite drink, and let's have a real conversation. Hello everyone. Welcome back to Business Over Cocktails. I'm Lauren Najar, and today I have Nicole DiMario. She is, I have my notes here because there's a lot to say about what she does because she does all of the things. She's the owner and lead consultant of Storied Elements, and she's the owner and publisher of Mom to Mom and Women to Women Magazines by Send Media Company. She is a mom of three little kids, a wife, and you do a lot of other things too, which we'll get to that as well. But thank you for coming on. I'm excited to chat more with you today.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Me too. This is exciting. I'm I'm never on this end of the questioning. So I understand the butterflies and like the anxiousness that I probably put on people all the time.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, that is so true. And I had asked you that right before we recorded of like, have you been on a podcast before? And I know that we've had conversations too, like over the last few months, especially of maybe like you also doing more of this because you are always interviewing people. And so it is interesting to like get to know you more outside of the magazines. Absolutely. Like you do write a lot of articles for the magazines. Like you always, if in case you're not familiar, and and I know that we're gonna have people that are listening that aren't local, which I know the magazine isn't specifically local to Northwest Indiana anymore, but that's how it started. And so people here in Northwest Indiana or even the Midwest are very familiar with Mom to Mom magazine, Women to Women magazine. They are the in-print magazines. You can go and pick them up at the grocery store, but now you have them available for subscriptions and digital downloads and all of the things, and you have been expanding more. But I will say if you are familiar with the magazine, you just always have an opening article and you have an opening thing in each issue. So you do share your story. It's just in print usually.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Right. And, you know, it's tidbits of like an inside look of something that may be going on in my life or something that I'm witnessing in the world. You know, so it's kind of like my little slice of what I think is going on or why we're doing what we're doing in the magazine, how we found the people that we're working with, things along those lines.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

So can you take us back all the way to the beginning? Sure. Why publishing?

SPEAKER_00 3:13

It's funny. I graduated college when the first big economic downturn of our generation happened. And I kind of asked myself, how am I going to stand out? How am I going to market myself when my degree is in journalism? And I watch some of my classmates and friends kind of going about it in a variety of different ways. One person in particular was rooming with four other people in a podunk town to afford rent and getting paid less than minimum wage. And while novel and bootstrapping and backpacking your way through journalism certainly has its place, I knew it wasn't exactly what I wanted to be doing. And so I first kind of went into the direction of a communications role and I figured I would round myself out. But I always straddled this communications world and magazines. And it was only because of pitching myself to different publications. So some had newspapers, some had magazines, some had only a digital footprint. And some of my first opportunities that presented themselves happened to be magazines. I really think at that point in time I was willing to take anything. And, you know, I was freelancing for publications all across the country and some global, and it took a chance on me. So when the time came for, you know, kind of the next move where freelancing is a hustle, you know, like anything. And, you know, you'd get a rapport with an editor, but an editor would leave. And, you know, then you'd have to start all over with the new editor, and maybe they brought in their own freelancers or they had a different approach. I fell upon Mom to Mom magazine. It was started by a local mom who was not from the area. She had at the time, I think, one small child, maybe two, and she was looking for something, a resource, a community, an outlet for her voice. She was also a journalism major and had worked in some New York media, and came to the area and said, There's nothing here, and just decided to start something. She had nothing to lose. And I think it was about a year old when first came across my radar. And I was like, hey, I'm not a mom at the time. I was like, but you know, this is my degree, this is my background, this is what I've written about. I noticed a lot of really good stories, I'd be happy to pull them and push them your way. I really liked that she was independently owned and operated. It was a woman-owned business. She had no ties to any other media, and she could essentially do what she wanted. So that kind of started the whole foray into magazines. And I'm not someone who can just sit and do the same thing over and over again. While I loved what I was writing about and the stories that she was giving me the green light for, I was like, hey, what else can I do for you? You're essentially a solo entrepreneur. You've got to have something, you know, as long as it's not math and accounting, like I'm I'm there. What else can I help you with? And so it just started evolving over time. And eventually, so that was 2012. Eventually, I felt like we were passing over other stories that just didn't fit into the parenting mom niche. There were so many other stories to be told. And so after probably a year of brainstorming of, you know, how do we expand the magazine? What sort of features should we be telling? Woman-to-woman was born. And so that was 2019. And the kind of agreement, if you will, was that that was going to be my baby. And, you know, I was going to, you know, see it grow and do the same thing that she did for mom to mom for woman to woman. Eventually, she took a different role and decided that she wanted to be more of a silent partner or advisor to the publications. And she really wanted to put all of her eggs in a different basket. And so I had the opportunity to take on ownership of mom to mom as well as woman to woman. And then now I published both. So the reason why magazines, back to your original question, it just sort of happened. And the beauty of it is people still love the tangible. I think it's if you look at the marketplace right now, while they're not magazines, bookstores are huge right now. And people want that physical copy of something, you know, especially if someone's featured. You know, I I have little care packages and bundles that I send to people that are featured and they they want to pass them out to mom and grandma and share it online as well, you know, because a lot of times it's a resume builder for people and they want it on their own platforms and be able to, you know, put it in their own portfolios. So we've definitely branched out more and more and more over the years. We kind of perfected Facebook and focused our efforts there and most recently have started to expand into Instagram, which sounds late to the game, but it was one of those things where you can only do so much and do it well. So we started to get into Instagram. We have something called issue, where people can digitally view the magazine and it's as if they're flipping through like an e-reader. That's very cool and integrated into our website. Now we have a newsletter that goes out. So there's so many opportunities to consume the content. And for advertisers, it's becoming more and more of a no-brainer for them because they get all of these things just by aligning themselves with us.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah. I don't think I knew that you like I knew you partnered with the magazines, but I don't think I knew that women to women didn't come first. Like I thought that woman to woman still existed with mom to mom. So that was so interesting. I don't think I knew of that part of it. And I like the idea of, you know, you mentioned like there are so many more stories to tell because there are, and the two magazines are so different, right? It is mom focused and then woman to woman, and it could be anyone. And there's you've told a plethora of stories because it's not just business owners either. It's you've had series on like domestic violence, you've had stories on building a business and becoming a mother, or like I was on the magazine and I shared my cancer journey, and I was on both, I was actually on both covers for that month. So, like, there's so many different like points of view. I'm curious though, what is it about telling people stories that you love so much?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

I think for me, this tagline that keeps coming up is real relatable content. And my goal was always for the magazines, no matter where someone was in the country. You know, I say from California to New York, that they could pick up the magazine physically or digitally and feel something. And, you know, whether that be inspired, motivated, or just empathetic and really giving people something to hang their hats on. And I think storytelling is the crux of everything that I do, both for my consulting business and the and the magazine. And maybe it's because I was a nosy little kid and I always said, why? You know, well, this is someone's journey. Well, why and how? So I I always wanted to know so much about people and things that it just comes second nature. And and I think when people pick up our magazines, they they feel something and they they can relate, even if it's not directly. Or, you know, another thing that I love is they might read the whole magazine and feel something. Maybe they don't, but they they enjoyed what they were reading. And, you know, it was still entertainment to some level. And then they pass it on to someone that they know could use that particular story, whether that be a health piece, a financial piece, our cover story. And it's one of the things we tell our advertisers is it's hard to track how many times the magazine gets handed off. The physical copy gets handed off so many times. So we're in doctor's offices. So that's, you know, you're you're waiting for your appointment, you're flipping through, the magazine gets set back down. You know, that's that's one touch point, you know, that happens multiple times throughout the day. But I can't tell you how many stories of people have come to me and said, it's made its way all the way through, you know, my aunts and my cousins, you know, is there any way we could get a couple extra copies? You know, are they are they still out? Can you mail them to me? So we know that people are connecting with it and there's there's something to it.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

I will say from my personal experience, because I've written many articles for both magazines. And I know like one of the first few times when I had that, it could because it was physical. I know my husband picked up like 10 copies.

unknown 11:54

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

And like gave them to his parents, like I think gave them to like his aunts and uncles, and like my aunts and uncles. And I know that I had some friends too that were like, oh my goodness, like you're in this magazine, like I want to pick it up. And then for sure, when I was on the cover of everything, that like I'm sure we took the whole stash from the clone point stracks. And then just continuing on, like, I know that whenever I do write an article, like I do get some copies as well. And like I will keep them because I like to have that physical thing because we don't get that that often, especially in this world now, especially for me and as a business owner, like because I don't have a lot of physical things, like everything I do is online. So it's really cool to have those magazines. And actually, your two recent cover models that you had, I know both of them very well. And both of them needed me to pick up a bunch more copies for them. So, like, to your point, like I feel like every time, and actually one of my clients wanted me to pick up some copies too. So I made a simple trip for her. So it is so cool, right? Cause and just like you said, you know, we have we just had Barnes and Noble open up again in Cheryl, right? And Cherylville is a town like near us and we where we grew up our whole lives. And, you know, they used to have a Barnes and Noble when we were in like high school and college, and of course, like that all went away. And to your point, yeah, like everyone wants just like that physical copy, book like actual reading of books and buying the books is just coming back. It's kind of like how records were like a few years ago, right? Like people were getting record players again and actual records. I think, yeah, books are definitely coming back.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah, I I don't know if it's COVID inspired, you know, there wasn't a lot for people to do. You know, they could still order things on Amazon and books were still accessible, you know, and then you have the whole, you know, side of it of book clubs and people wanting to connect with people. And, you know, I had one reader, uh longtime reader who was featured at one point in time, and she would do these little group meetings, and she started a magazine book club for a little while pre-COVID. And I need to reconnect with her actually. I'm curious if that came back at all, but it was adorable. Like it was like I had a fangirl and I was like floored, you know, that someone could care that much about the things that myself and my team are doing that they wanted to bring people together to discuss the magazine like a book club. It was so neat. And I hope other people start doing that. You know, I want them to look at the magazine and say, I love all of this. I don't love this per se. And, you know, can you can you give me more of this type of content? You know, I'm all ears and you know, all feedback. You know, so I'm I'm constantly picking up these little breadcrumbs of things that I hear people are interested in and concerned by, whether that be like you mentioned earlier, domestic violence issues, you know, whether that be mental health in their teenager, you know, all these these different heady topics. We want to know what what's going on and what people care about. What are they dealing with?

SPEAKER_01 15:02

How did the vision for the magazines change from 2019 to now?

SPEAKER_00 15:09

You know, I I think at its core it hasn't for the most part. I think really, you know, we started branching out with other features. So for the most part, for the people that have seen the magazines, we have these sections that some will pop in and pop out, but for the most part, they're the same. And then we find expert contributors to plug themselves into that format. But I think really what's what's changed for me is just thinking bigger and figuring out what that looks like. So, you know, certainly anyone could say, okay, you have a magazine, it should, you know, sell it from end to end wherever you can. But I had to strategically think about do you expand across the country right away? Do you pick a pocket and say, okay, now we're in the Midwest? You know, are there any competitors in the area that, you know, we we need to consider? So there's just lots of things that we we had to take into account. And then obviously starting the magazine in 2019, it was Q4 of 2019, and we had no idea what was about to happen about six months later. So that in and of itself was interesting. And I think that influenced a lot of the thought process faster to faster to get to digital, I should say. Because in 2020, obviously we all know what happened in 2020, and we were, you know, we were following our same model. We mom to mom worked. We, you know, we had the locations that we wanted. I knew I wanted it to get nationwide, but at the very least, we were following mom to mom's model of local first to drop things off in particular areas, free pickup, et cetera, et cetera. And then COVID. So then we were direct to people's door. And that was that was a good test. And I hate to say anything positive came out of COVID, but you know, because it was so hellacious. But positive things happen during moments like that. And for us, it was while we can get to digital faster, there is a response in the marketplace for this, a positive response. And things like subscription. Although I sat on the idea of a subscription for a while just because we needed to make sure that the magazine could stand on its own. It was pretty evident that although people could conveniently go to their library or grocery store, doctor's office to get the magazines, there's nothing like it just showing up in your mailbox. So that's you know, some of the big pivots. And COVID proved a lot of those things for us. And now it's happening. It's slowly rolling out, slowly rolling out, but it's happening.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

No, it is happening. And I think um to that point though, it's, you know, you mentioned how you've that was the vision when it when you started out, right? And so I think a lot of times when push comes to shove or your back gets, you know, backed up against the wall, like and you don't have a choice, you have to pivot. And you've mentioned that a few times, like pivoting and and that kind of thing. So I think, yeah, like if we recognize COVID as a whole, like it it was a dark time, I think, for a lot of people. But I I credit COVID for the success of my business. Like, you know, I started my business in fall of 2018, coming up on seven years, but the first year and a half of that business, you know, it was hard. Like I, you know, I was still working at a day job where I had to commute. And when COVID made me stay home for two and a half years, my business really finally took off, probably faster than it would have. And so, yeah, like I think, I think in those moments, and and we see that we see those things too, right? Like Uber was built during a recession. A lot of these like big companies that we know now were built during recessions. And so, you know, a lot of things came out of COVID that changed for the better. You know, unfortunately, COVID had to happen, but you know, that's what happens. Like when you, when you are forced up against the wall, you're forced into a corner, you're gonna have to pivot. You can't just give up. So that's a really cool story to learn. But also, too, it just goes to show you, like, yeah, like you were meant, like this was meant to happen and this is this was in your favor.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Absolutely. And I think too, we sat on the idea trying not to perfect it, but we didn't know what the other thing needed to be. So we had mom to mom, but we didn't know what that what was the other thing. Could it be an insert within mom to mom? Did it need to stand alone? And you you test all these things out, and we had so many conversations, and then when we finally figured out what woman to woman was, there was no way in hell I was going to back down from it. Like kind of COVID be damned if I've kind of fine. And then that sounds so bold and cocky, but I was like, you know, when everything shut down, I was like, okay, how do we get this out the door? And at the time, you know, my business partner was still very much involved, and and she had a lot of relationships with our printer. And, you know, obviously their a lot of their business had had gone away due to COVID. And we all just kind of collectively said, let's make it happen. Let's get it to people's doors, you know, let's let's get it to the places that are still open. Let's talk about the things that people are scared about, you know, concerned about, inspire people because businesses were born during that time. You know, people were home and suddenly trying to figure out homeschooling their kids and you know, creating these hobbies that turned into businesses. And we wanted to tell all of those things. So, you know, it while hard, you know, it it allowed us to test out so many things that now we kind of cherry-picked along the way, rolling these newer things out, newer ways of of doing the magazine. And it's exciting. It's exciting that it still can grow. And I think it stings to the way my brain works and and it keeps me wanting to put the time and effort towards it because there's no stopping it. It can grow and grow and grow in front, whether that be from a subscription, whether that be in design, and especially with stories, because there will always be something. There will always be someone with a unique story, a triumph over adversity that we can share. And I think one of my favorite things recently, kind of going back to one of the questions you asked earlier, someone was featured on the cover of Mom to Mom. And she hadn't told her postpartum journey yet. And it was very much entrenched in some mental health crises. And she was finally willing to share that that part of her, as well as kind of the next two years thereafter, inspired her business. And what was incredible was not only did she say that it was therapeutic for her to sort of get this off her chest, but she started getting contacted by people who were like, I'm not ready to talk about what I've experienced, but thank you for making me not feel so alone. And then she had these other opportunities that popped up where someone wanted to use her in a test case. case and they wanted to use her as an example for a program that they were putting on. And so they they were connecting in that way. And so that was going to be a way for her to apply it in more of a clinical setting. And she she actually works in the medical field. So you know it was right up her alley. And then on top of it, through that process of talking to us, it helped her determine where she wanted to focus next in education. So she was going back to school, I believe she was getting her master's and she figured out exactly where she wanted to be. She's like, I was kind of thinking of a couple different things and and this this helped solidify exactly where I wanted to go. And that was with one story. And I don't say that to like pat myself on the back because I had no idea of what would come of one person's story. I know it's real. I know it's relatable because that's the funnel or filter that we put everything through. But to see all the positive ripple effects is pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah. You know, if someone again like I've shared my story here and I share my story a lot like you know on my social media as a business owner everything that I've gone through. And I think like that's the piece too of like when you do share your story, like you are going to get that feedback from somebody right. And like anytime that I will do a speech or connect with somebody whether that is you know like just trauma-based things or cancer survivorship or whatever that is like you do get those people who do come up to you. And it is such a game changer not only for the person telling the story but then you are providing that space. And that's kind of what I'm doing like with this podcast is like I don't think people need to hear like oh how to like build your publishing company right like that's going to take 15 minutes. That that will be I can give you the knowledge and like let's just go with like a checklist and like that's easy because it's not necessarily more knowledge that you need. Sometimes you just need to believe that what you are doing or what you've experienced like is your story and your story so important to your growth and your success. And so whenever like having you on here and having all of these people on here like it's so important that they get to hear or people get to hear like the inner workings and the behind the scenes. And I want to ask you again when it comes to like the stories you just mentioned a good story that you just had for the magazine but do you have like a certain joy about like any maybe any particular story or any moment that you've had thus far about sharing someone's story?

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Hmm let me think that one was a recent one that it just you kind of get a little bit of air about yourself and it gives you momentum to find find the next thing. There was another one recently that and you talked about at the beginning that was extraordinarily powerful and almost didn't happen. And that was around domestic violence and there was an actually human trafficking and I had stayed connected with this phenomenal woman her name is Dr. Gobel she is from the area but she is doing things across the country that are just astounding. Her her resume is out of this world and her whole practice has been around helping human trafficking and sex trafficking survivors find the next phase of life. So she helps them through therapy. She was actually during COVID working to create a safe house in the area and so she was looking for land or a building. So I had stayed connected with her we had her on the cover I believe it was August of 2020 if I recall correctly either way had told me that they they finally got a home opened and they were bringing in a certain number of women regularly and it was kind of funneled into they had resources for people with children. They had resources for men but this particular home was solely for women and I had told her you know now that you're and running you've had people go through the program is there anyone that you think would be willing to tell their story? So she reached out and there was a young woman who had just about completed the program and she's young like maybe 20 21 incredibly intelligent had gone through some absolutely horrific things with her own family. Her mother was trafficking her from the time that she was about eight years old. There was reason to believe that sex trafficking was also a component but I didn't push I it was very it was a very open-ended conversation not like any interview I had ever done before. I I really just let her talk and share what she was comfortable with. But she was using her for labor trafficking and she would be 10 years old up until 3 a.m at her mother's business being forced to help in different settings and it all seemed straight if you like if you just listen to that it didn't sound so hellacious aside from the fact that it's a 10 year old staying up until 3 a.m when she has to go to school and you're just like what kind of parenting is that but there was so much more where she you know she wanted to excel in school and sometimes her mom would take her out of school for stretches of time. She would be beaten if she you know spoke up about being tired or you know there was there was so much fear built into her and I I know we only brushed against her story. But she finally realized that the only way that she was going to survive and thrive was to get out from underneath her mother. And she had tried to reach out to some other family members and said I just can't live like this anymore. I'm at her business you know for hours on end I'm trying to go to school and she was at that time I think she was probably about 15 maybe a little bit older and she decided to run away and she called a crisis hotline and they eventually aligned her with this program. And I think for me, you know, to see such a young woman be so brave to tell her story to someone that she didn't know. She didn't know the magazines but she trusted that her story meant something she trusted that she was doing something worthwhile. You know she had at one point thoughts of whether her life mattered whether she would ever be out from underneath this this rule if you will and so she shared that with us and what was so incredible was that she was just about to graduate college and she was going to become a nurse. She wanted to help other people that may be in similar situations but she knew that she needed to put in the time and effort in her own therapy journey to be strong enough to help someone else you know and make sure that she stayed true to herself so she didn't trigger some of the things that were were harmful. And I say that it almost didn't happen because we had a photographer lined up hair and makeup which is pretty standard for our shoots and we were going to shoot it in a way that kind of obscured her face and you know and and did you know some close ups in different ways. And she panicked it was like 6 a.m the morning of and she had a full-blown panic attack with her therapist and said what if she finds me she doesn't know where I am and it was so eye-opening to realize someone else's experience and you know I wasn't taking any of it lightly we were making sure that we weren't sharing her location and we kept everyone you know very abreast of the situation. So you know I talked to Dr. Gobel my contact and I said okay what if Nick's hair and makeup completely you know we eliminate that I had a conversation with the photographer I said can we do things like side profile, deep shadows, silhouettes and they knocked it out of the park and everyone was so respectful and so kind. And at the end of the of the shoot she asked her therapist if she could have a couple recent photos of herself that the photographer took that we would not share because she was feeling so confident in her new phase of life and so the photographer got them through to her via her therapist. They obviously never saw the light of day in terms of publishing but it was phenomenal. And again I don't take it lightly that someone trusts trusted us that much to share something so deep. And I knew just by talking to her that there was so much more that she endured and you know she was just getting competent enough to share that little bit. And I know that's some pretty petty stuff to share for people to know about but I think for me if I think of someone picking up that particular issue and they're like well this isn't this isn't my life you know how do I relate to this particular person it's like no this stuff is happening right underneath your nose it is happening in your community it's happening in your neighborhoods and you have no idea and I think oftentimes people look past signs, they look past red flags that spidey sense that a prickly feeling on the back of your neck oftentimes you're right and I think people get scared to meddle. I think people get scared that they could be wrong. And sometimes if you know something you just have to say something and you know find the channels or you know there's there's ways of I've heard of people that you know you see something going on in public, you stop someone maybe heading to the bathroom and you you walk in and say do you need do you need help? Can I help you? Can I let you borrow my phone? There's all these amazing things that people can do and had it not been for someone that she knew who told her about this crisis hotline that when she got to an area that she could borrow a phone, it changed the whole course of her life. And I think that's really important for people to realize that not every story that we tell will necessarily be something that's going to change your life, but you could possibly change someone else's.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yeah that's a story that's going to stick with you right like you you tell stories you tell so many stories even in one single issue of a magazine and that and I remember that issue too because I remember the cover being there's no one on the cover.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Yeah. It was so different than anything that we had done.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Yeah and so I I remember that being you know just it was a big deal and I think we might have even been talking around that time too and it's so unique too because like you said there's so many stories. There's so many stories to tell there's so many different perspectives and there's so many people in the community who are battling so many different things. And you might not be a domestic violence survivor or someone that went through anything like that. But that's something that I then have to tell clients too of like by sharing your story you don't have to have this like dramatic story. People are going to take the elements and bits and pieces of of what you did. And like something that you were just talking about there are several members like in our community and like the events that I've gone to or networking things I've gone to like people are starting to make it known that they were almost in like cults as well. So like cults and churches and things like that that they've also had to run away from and when you were talking about this person's story, that's what it reminded me of and I'm like yeah like people are then starting to realize that like when you do speak up and you start sharing your story, it is very healing. It's something that I had to go through as well where I, you know, I I ended up just helping one other person I had gone to high school with who was diagnosed with the same cancer as me a few years later after I was already in remission. And I had a lot of anger like I was so angry. I hated that I feel like my life was put on pause. It felt like I had to forever catch up. You know, I went through all of these things from like ages 21 to 25 and like those core years were dedicated to funerals and hospitals. And when I finally started when I helped one person she had reached out to me we had never really talked before in person. And like now we like celebrate each other because we've been cancer free for so long but like I've never met her in person, right? But yeah, and so like I think like when you and then just a message for everyone who who does have a story and is scared to share like you know you will tell your story when the time is right. But I will also be a testament to that it's like when you do share your story, it is very healing. Regardless of how you share it like it could be something like that where it's in print and you can tell someone the story and they write it for you or it could be like speaking in front of a bunch of people if you're ready for that. Like it can be at any point whenever you're ready to tell the story.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Absolutely and then I think people once they're at that level in life and they are willing to share their story, I think there's beauty in the fact that there's so many positives that are on the other end after that happens in any way that you tell your story. And I think people have so little regard sometimes for themselves and for their own story or they'll they'll downplay what they experienced or they'll say why you know why why would someone even care? And then they realize you know the the sheer volume of what their experience actually means when it's told and when it's out there. And sometimes I think if it's just that one person, like in your case, one person who now has a person who understands and that's that's pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

I love what you said about downplaying your story because I resonate with that a lot. I resonated with that a lot because my parents pass away and I had cancer twice and I would downplay my cancer diagnosis. I would downplay my parents passing away because I didn't end up like in a living in a car somewhere right and so like I love that you said that because every person has a story to tell. Doesn't matter how big or little it is like everyone has gone through something. Everyone has experienced something that has meant something to them, triggered them, changed the trajectory of their life like people have a story and yeah I love that you said that so that's what I really want to hit home. I have one last question for you. Yeah absolutely you meet so many people there's so many stories to tell right like how do you decide what stories to share and when a lot of times you know I'm keeping a running list and I know a little bit about their background and then you know I kind of puzzle piece it into the magazine.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

And that's probably not the norm or the standard if you looked at other publications, you know, they're working months out and they have giant storyboards and they're you know putting together these issues before you know months and months in advance. And I feel like some of that effort you lose that authenticity or opportunity to pivot when needed. So I think about an issue where the war in Ukraine had picked up and had we booked out everything and planned everything out we would have missed out on telling the story of two sisters who were collecting items for school children in Ukraine and they were traveling there. And there's so many different iterations of that but I'm gonna do this a long-winded way so you know for me you know like I said I try to keep a chunk of the magazine open for opportunities so those types of opportunities don't get lost. So that we're not so handcuffed to a production schedule that we can't tell stories that are happening right here, right now. So it's a lot of just hearing you know hearing little things I love when people share things on social media because then I get to creep and be like, okay, let me send you a direct message, introduce myself, let you know that I'm interested in your story. Not every time is it cover worthy, not for any particular reason. Sometimes someone's just really good at health and wellness and you know it it fits into that niche or sometimes it's more self-care business related. We have a section called navigating business. Other times they just have a really cool career and I want to be able to tell people about it and you know be able to showcase all the different ways that you can make something out of your degree or non-degree. I want people to be able to see those opportunities. So puzzle piecing it out keeping you know keeping tabs on people you know letting them know that if they're once they're ready they can reach back out. So it's a a little bit of a lot to make it happen, but I'm constantly monitoring every little thing. And it feels nosy and it can feel it can feel sometimes intrusive but I just like pop into people's lives and say hey I think you're cool or hey I I like what you said about this. Instagram has been phenomenal for our expert contributors because people really lean into their their niche and you know most people you know that if they're doing well and they have a successful Instagram account if they're service based or or what have you, they're usually really quick to collaborate with us, which is really exciting and they'll you know do like a long form of what they're already doing on Instagram. And I love it. So we've we've been using all of our social media accounts and like I said I I drop into people's direct messages all the time. So anytime you see someone doing something cool or you yourself are proud of of something, share it. And you never know I I could be reaching out. But at the same time too to that end regardless if you have no aspiration of ever being on a magazine cover or being in print or digital or writing an article if that's just not something that you ever want to do from just the baseline and from my own experience and my own upbringing people don't know what you want. People don't know what you want to do next. People don't necessarily know about your accomplishments. And I think when we downplay ourselves or we are hesitant to share share things out because oh I I don't do social media or I don't want to brag. That's all well and good. And that's understandable. But maybe choose it differently. Brag about it on LinkedIn if you're worried about it showing up on Facebook or Instagram. Tell people what's going on because opportunities they open up doors open up your name gets brought up in a room that you are not in. But I learned this a long, long time ago probably when I was a teenager no one is coming for you. You know you you have to make these things happen for yourself. You know it's not all that novel but I was the first person in my family to attend and graduate college they especially didn't know what to do with me when I told them that I was going for journalism and broadcast journalism on top of it. They're like who who is this kid? Like my parents I mean it wasn't it wasn't a like sit down conversation. I just flat out told them like I'm going to college and this is what I'm going for. And oh by the way here's my plan B. If I get there and I don't like journalism I'm gonna switch schools and become a pediatrician. Okay? Okay. And that was kind of how it went. And so they just had to deal with it. But it was one of those things where I got to college and no one knew who I was I was no one's kid. You know no one was going to bring me into the dean's office and help me roadmap my life. You know my my parents were great cheerleaders and you know they were certainly cheering me on but they didn't know what to do with me. So you know they were just like okay go for it. You know, they saved their copies of the magazines when I freelanced and things like that. But at the end of the day I had to figure out how to tell people what I wanted and you know explain you know that hey I'm doing this job right now but I don't plan on being here until I retire. This is what I want. So if you know of anything, think of anything, you know I'd love to have a conversation. I'd love to have coffee. My life looks a little bit different now with three little kids that I haven't talked about having three under three and a half, you know, that grabbing the coffee looks a little bit different but you know I I share what my visions are for my consulting business. You know I I tell people what I want to do with the magazine and you know it it helps bring people along you know but also my dream and my goal is that if someone needs change management communications or you know someone wants to be part of the magazine that my name is one of the first names if the name that they think of yeah and to that point there's so much that you do because I remember four years ago when you reach out to me maybe you were lurking on me as well like how you look you lurk on everyone else. It was it was because you were started posting things I was like who is this person? Like no she looks familiar sounds familiar and like I like what she's doing. Who who are you?

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Do I need to know you're friendly neighborhood stalkers Nicole DeMario lurking around the corner. So like real quick because I wanted to get to this part because you have all these magazines you have the the media company change management is something else that you do. But one of the things I wanted to touch on was that when we connected it was so refreshing to hear someone in Northwest Indiana and I was living in Chicago at the time I could not wait to get out of Northwest Indiana because I feel like anything that I was trying to do or just the connections that I was making just weren't like helping me get anywhere to where Needed to be. I didn't like my job. And so, like I, you know, when I was started my business in 2018 and we connected, I think, in 2021. And that was when I first started. It was, well, it was 2020 or 2021. I forget when I first wrote my first article for you. But then we started talking. And then it was just so refreshing to hear someone who thought like me. And I credit you a lot to you, like really started my comeback into Northwest Indiana a little bit more. Like, okay, there's someone here that thinks that what I do is cool and wants to showcase it because I just never got that. It was just like people didn't care. People didn't care. People didn't understand. People were annoyed, you know, thinking that I wasn't that this wasn't legit. And so like I think of you a lot when I think about like how I started making connections, like when I when I backtrace it, right? Because we didn't like meet in person or anything, but we talked a lot. And at that point, you didn't have plans to have kids. I didn't plan to have any plans to have kids. And we were, and you were like, Yeah, you know, like we're just gonna keep flipping houses and doing all these things. And like it was just so nice to connect. And then life has changed, right? Like you guys were flipping houses, then you got pregnant with a set of twins. Like, yes, you have three kids, but you have a set of twins. And then, and then I had Danny, and then I think your youngest is younger than Danny because she's not two yet, right? Right. She's just over a year. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

Had another one right before reality set in of like, you have twin toddlers. Let's one more. What it's all crazy. Let's just make it a full-blown circus.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

Yeah. And so I'd love to know, okay, so like why house flipping? What was your kind of game plan with that?

SPEAKER_00 45:49

One of the first jobs that I had, my parents or my family really had a connection to a family that had a real estate office. And I was 14, I think, babysitting and things like that. And one of their partners said, Nicole, I have a little job for you. Would would you like to stamp postcards and label postcards? And I was like, sure, sounds easy enough. So I'd sit in this like little back office and I, you know, I was, you know, putting stamps on and things like that. And, you know, my eyes and ears were open because I thought it was really interesting that one of the managing brokers was a woman. And she was very successful and also very kind and never blew me off. I was just some teenager sitting in her back office, like doing this grunt work that she now could pay for pennies instead of having like her office manager do the job. And I was so curious about her. She was a single mom. These are all things that I learned later. She was a single mom, but you know, she had been in the business for a number of years. Her son went into business with her. And, you know, it was more than like the put-together ensemble, the nice car. It was just her overall aura, if you will. And so I was like, there's something about this real estate thing that helped her get to where she wanted. Never had my sights on like becoming a realtor or anything like that. Story for another day. I eventually worked for a realtor association after college, but that's that just kind of very random. But I essentially worked for her office all throughout college. During the summer, I would work full-time. And so it was just kind of a watching and learning and realizing that people were doing things like flipping houses. They were purchasing properties and they had rentals. That was a core, like core component of their business. And their success was they owned a lot of property and they they were landlords. And so it always kind of sat in the back of my mind. And honestly, again, it's a COVID story. We kind of put ourselves in a bubble. We being myself and my husband, I had no kids at the time. And we were gonna go visit my sister, who lived in Florida at that particular time. So, you know, she was in her bubble with her boyfriend. I don't think they were engaged at that point, could be wrong, but either way. So we we kind of quarantined ourselves, we get together for New Year's Eve. I am the type of person, it doesn't matter how late we stay up, it doesn't matter how much we indulge, I will always be up early and I will always be up before everybody else. So here I am in Florida, middle of January or late December, and I had walked to Starbucks, got a coffee, and I sat on their balcony, and I they were living on a canal at the time. And so just watching, you know, these beautiful boats and yachts go by, and I'm reading about real estate. And because it's just always been something that I've enjoyed reading about passively and how hot the market was. And at the time, we were living in a house that was built in the late 1800s, right off of the Crown Point Square. So, again, for people that aren't local, like super cute downtown, very walkable, historic homes, lots of history. And I was like, okay, I love this house. It was always a bucket list to live near, live near like a downtown like Crown Point, live in an old home. I was like, but I'm good now. Like I've experienced that part of life. Why don't we sell our house and make some money? So day or so later, maybe a couple days later, we were heading back home and we drove. We didn't want to chance flying with COVID. And you got a lot of things to talk about in 20 plus hours in the car with your significant other. So if you think international travel is fun, you know, put yourself in a car with no kids, nobody else is your distraction. And I was like, hey, so I was reading, you know, when everyone else was sleeping, you know, when I did my coffee run, I'm like, what if we just sell our house? And my husband's like, oh, okay. And I was like, okay, so we had our realtor already, and I was like, I'll give her a call. Like, let's finish this. Like, we had a little project going on in the house. I was like, let's finish this project and we'll get her in and like see what the house is valued. And it it gave us a chance to put some money towards an investment property, and that's kind of what we did. And I it's super long-winded as to like why, because it's so out there compared to the other things that I do. We found a house that was off market. It was a younger person who had wanted to kind of do his thing in investment properties, and he was just over it. They were trying to have a family, and he just he wanted the cash. So we found this great deal and uh lived in it, sold the house, lived in it while we were fixing it up, and we played the game of do we resell or do we rent it out? And we ended up renting it, which was really cool. The first person that we selected as our tenant in 2021, or I'm sorry, 2022, after we had renovated and and gone through the process. She's still our tenant today, and she's wonderful. So we had this like wonderful experience with doing it. And I think eventually we'll probably do it again. We probably won't go the route of living in the house that we're fixing up just because it comes with a lot of living under construction that is not your own. But it it was kind of a full circle moment for me seeing what I saw in that first boss and you know, really respecting everything that she was doing and how hard of a worker she was. And she was someone who had no connections either, and she made those connections for herself. And I hope to do more of that. And I love that this particular tenant was able to move from um some pretty deplorable conditions into a home that she and her kids are very comfortable in. You know, she's constantly messaging me and saying, like, these flowers popped up and sending me pictures of the lawn after the lawn gets cut by our lawn service. And so she's just living a good life. And I'm so glad. Like, I know there's horror stories in being a landlord. And certainly I have dealt with plumbers and I've dealt with pest control when some sketchy-looking black bug got into the house, you know. But you know, at the end of the day, you know, it's it's still pretty fantastic to know that she's living this great life and this happy life in this home that we decided to flip and make comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Yeah, there's so many things that you are passionate about. You're your typical multi-passionate entrepreneur. Because I I also resonate a lot with what you said too, is like, yeah, like I did this, like this was a goal, and I did this, and now I want to move on to something else. And I I still find myself to this day, I think even being a mom, like it might slow down that process. And kind of like what you said, we're not gonna live in a house, like when we have construction, especially with children, but like you can still pivot that dream and tweak it, and you know, you can still go after that passion. So we can talk for hours more and get in depth of all of these things. Maybe you'll just have to come on again. We'll have another conversation, but tell everyone how they can connect with you and all of the things.

SPEAKER_00 52:51

Yeah, so right now we have two titles within Send Media. So it depends on what you're interested in or both. We have Woman to Woman Connect on Instagram, Woman to Woman Mag on Facebook. Same with mom to mom, same setup, mom to mom connect, and mom to mom mag on Facebook. And then, of course, our website is sendmediacompanylc.com, and you can see full issues, back issues. We have an archive, a blog. You can DM me through any of those and you'll get to me pretty easily or the website as well. I'd love to hear what people are up to and see how we can make something happen out of it.

SPEAKER_01 53:25

Yeah, I love that. And we'll have all those links at the bottom of the show notes as well. So if you want to connect with Nicole, please do. Nicole will be back with us for the Business Chaser episode later this week, where she will take us through her expertise. And thank you so much for being on. My pleasure. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Business Over Cocktails, where real stories and bold business moves come to life. If this episode lit something up in you, share it with a friend, tag me at Laura Najar or the podcast page at Business Over Cocktails. Make sure to leave a quick review as well. It helps more than you know. Until next time, keep chasing what matters and building the business that feels like you. Cheers.