 I like what you have
done with this one here.
When we first came up with
the idea of the magazine,
it was a couple of
women getting together
that we didn't know what we were
going to do when we moved here.
We had just picked up our
lives from past careers and--
and thought, well, we're going
to have to create something,
you know?
 So we're going do,
like, the beginning.
 Print is very much alive.
[music playing]
CHRISTINA MONSON: This is
the "Lake Time Magazine" side
of the office.
And this is our process.
So we determine what content
is going to go in each issue.
And then we lay out
the magazine pages
as if you're
looking at a spread.
As a piece gets designed, we
will put the actual designs up.
And then eventually, we'll have
a full wall of finished pages.
And that becomes the
finished product.
My name is Christina Monson.
And what brought me back to
this area is the lifestyle.
 Essentially, what
you're looking at
is the finished product
of our bridal magazine.
Six months after we started
"Lake Time Magazine,"
we started "Lake
Bride Magazine."
And I knew that market
from my previous career
in the wedding
industry in Colorado.
So I knew that northern
Minnesota needed it.
My name is Megan Kellin.
I'm the owner and cofounder
of Lake and Co, which
is "Lake Time Magazine,"
"Lake Bride Magazine,"
and the Lake and Co Shop.
And what brought us back to
Minnesota was opportunity.
KELLY KABOTOFF: The
main part about what
we do as a company in
general is that we like
to tell the stories of people.
So in our magazines,
we tell the stories.
In our shop, we do the same.
So it's really about finding
brands that fit into that.
My name is Kelly Kabotoff.
And I moved back to Grand
Rapids because of my family.
I wanted to raise my kids.
Sorry, I said more
than one word.
Do I have to say it again?
[laughs]
MEGAN KELLIN: Kelly
brings enthusiasm.
At the end of the day, you
can always count on her
to have that upbeat spirit.
And no matter what
we're doing, I've always
got a partner by my
side that says, yeah,
I'm right there with you.
 Yes, everything's
in there for you.
KELLY KABOTOFF: We actually
started as a pop-up shop
in our office.
We officed in Old Central
School in Grand Rapids.
So it went from that small
little idea of, like, hm,
let's see if people
are going to like this,
to having a full store in Grand
Rapids, a full store in Cross
Lake, and we have
store number three
and store number
four in the works.
So I mean, there's been
a huge amount of growth
in just over a year.
MEGAN KELLIN: It's this
progression, you know?
If we were going to talk about
our businesses, we just--
we opened this shop
on such a whim.
And we thought,
well, we're going
to need a place to
work in the back
when we're running
our shop, not knowing
that we would have shoppers.
 The conference table is
really where the magic happens,
I suppose you could say.
[laughs]
We get our work done.
We hash out human resource
issues around the table.
We invite people in.
And you know, it's just--
it's the table.
 Yeah.
So we have the pasties article--
pass-ties, not paste-ies.
Do we need a dictionary?
 Sidebar, sidebar.
Do you know the difference?
MEGAN KELLIN: Christina, she--
she grounds the
whole team in a sense
that she brings that
detail-oriented aspect
to these big ideas.
We've got a lot of things
that we could capitalize on.
And we always need
someone to give us
that very level voice of it.
And we can always
count on her for that.
CHRISTINA MONSON:
I had been working
at an ad agency in the cities,
doing copywriting and managing
some writers.
And she has
publishing experience.
And we saw a need for this
new voice in print publishing,
and got together, and
somehow made it happen.
[laughs]
 We got the map
out, and started
hitting all the towns
in northern Minnesota,
and going out and exploring,
and shaking hands with people,
and having a beer with them.
And you know, it was just
sort of this romantic notion
that we would put
our kids in the car
and go deliver magazines.
And very quickly, we found
out that this was a thing.
By our third production,
we were statewide.
By the summer of 2016,
which was not quite a year,
we were sitting on stands in
seven states and in Canada.
So it really did
spread like wildfire.
 Can we help you
buy anything today?
CHRISTINA MONSON:
For three people
who didn't know each other
to come together and be
able to work so well together
is pretty amazing in itself,
considering none of us knew
each other 3 and 1/2 years ago
when we moved here.
And we all moved
about the same time.
It really is for the
people, from the people.
So we have contributors that
are eye doctors, or yoga people,
or salon people,
people that hunt
mushrooms, all sorts
of different people
that are just out there
doing their thing.
And that's really the essential
difference with our magazine,
I believe, is, it's
authentic stories written
by everyday people.
MEGAN KELLIN: It doesn't
have to be perfect.
The person that's
writing the story
doesn't have to be a journalist.
But they have to be the
one doing the things.
And then we bring
it into our office
and kind of polish
that and fine tune it.
CHRISTINA MONSON: We feel so
fortunate to be able to do this
and to give the
voice to the people
and really celebrate
the land and the culture
that we are surrounded with.
