Cathy Olmedillas spent the 90s working for indie magazines including The Face and Sleazenation before becoming a mother in 2002. She subsequently moved into advertising, and has since launched internationally renowned kids magazine Anorak, and recently its sister publication DOT, for the under-fives… She lives in London with her 13-year-old son.

What made you launch Anorak?
The magazines I worked at in the 90s were massively inspiring and after that, I always knew I wanted to launch my own – I just didn’t know what they would be about… When I became a mum, I looked around at the kids magazine market hoping to find the same quality of magazines that I had been brought up with; but things had changed massively. Magazine shelves were filled with plastic tat and throw-away, polarised mags. I wasn’t keen on spending £4 a week buying what essentially would last two minutes and had no real value, so I thought I should try to launch my own.

Initially I was laughed at by distributors who thought the Anorak concept wouldn’t work because it was unisex and had no recognisable characters on the cover. That thankfully didn’t deter me. I contacted Tate Modern and Borders and both agreed to stock it. Ten years on, things have not changed that much in terms of the tat that line newsagent shelves, but at least parents have a real alternative.

How did you take your business from an idea to universally-respected brand?
The first five years of Anorak were more of a project than a business. I had no real idea how to run a business and was more interested in the creative output than my balance sheet. I invested £7,000 of my own money for the first couple of editions, which I recouped with sales and some brand work.

The last five years have been dedicated to turning it into a real business, while still paying all our contributors. That has been a steep learning curve (how harsh the lessons can be!) but it is finally paying off as we are now in our second profitable year, with sales increasing with every issue.

Two major things have helped me build the business to what it is now: one is social media, which has been fundamental in finding and establishing an audience, and the other is the work we do with some select brands through our illustration collective Studio Anorak.

 

What does your average working day look like?
My week is roughly split in three: admin days, meetings days and creative days. On admin days, after my son gets on the tube to go to school, I cycle to our studio on Curtain Road and start working at around 8.15am. I usually spend the morning sending books to our Little Editors, orders to our warehouse, answering emails from readers or shops, processing invoices and overseeing general publishing-related tasks.

The rest of the week is dedicated to meetings with partners or brands, and creative stuff like commissioning artists (my favourite bit!), researching the next issue by going to museums, galleries or The British Library. I am usually at home around 5pm and while my son does his homework, I’ll catch up on more emails or do some social network scheduling. Then, we cook, chat about our day and we finish the day by catching up with our favourite series on Netflix.

What are the biggest challenges/rewards of running your own business?
The biggest rewards are the creative ones and also the absolute freedom of being able to do what I want, when I want. I also feel especially lucky to work with so many talented people. The only challenges are business-related, like cash flow and VAT returns and sometimes (but not too often) I wish I could switch off completely. I can think of only a few days this year when I found myself not thinking about Anorak and it was a really enlightening but slightly odd experience!! 

How do you source new ideas?
I go to museums at least twice a week if not more, and I read lots of books. I do find a train journey helps, too, with new ideas; when I am away from a screen or waiting in line somewhere. I carry a few notebooks around as an idea can strike at any time. A childhood memory or a conversation with my son can also spark a new idea. 

Do you feel publishing is under threat?
Not at all and certainly not from the experience I have had with Anorak and now DOT. We are doing better than ever and I know from speaking to kids books publishers, the industry is doing very well. We did do a few apps and also a digital edition some time ago but the returns were not the ones we get with publishing real books with real ink. Nor were the rewards. For me, anything digital is a tool whereas the printed matter is an experience. There is only one area where I think the online world could work really well for Anorak and that’s with Anorak TV. But for that, I need more time! Soon! Soon!

What are your top tips for inspiring creativity in children?
Children are inherently creative so it’s fairly simple: expose them to as many different experiences as possible and their natural curiosity will take over. I think if anything the biggest challenge is not kids but some grown-ups who need to re-acquaint themselves with creativity and not put quotas and targets on learning!