There’s a new, totally awesome print magazine launching for girls ages 5-10. In a world where girls are constantly being fed information on how to look and act, KAZOO offers them something radically different. Rather than give them rules to live by, KAZOO gives girls tools to create, build, explore, dream, play and ask questions. Every story in each issue will be developed or inspired by top female artists, scientists, engineers, chefs, athletes, writers and others. We were lucky enough to do a Q&A with Erin Bried, its creator. As Erin explained to us, “I’m kickstarting the project over the next 11 days and if I’m successful, the first issue will be out in July. If you have a moment, please check out this video, created by a pair of Emmy-nominated and Sundance Award-winning filmmakers, for KAZOO. It celebrates the strength, creativity and power of girls, and in just over two weeks, it’s gotten about 100,000 views on youtube.”
What magazines or publications from your past did you draw upon for inspiration for Kazoo?
I spent the past 16 years at Conde Nast, most recently as the Editor at Large at SELF magazine, where I wrote more than 140 cover stories. (Prior to that I was a Senior Editor at Glamour and a Senior Staff Writer and Editor at Women’s Sports & Fitness.) But the inspiration for Kazoo didn’t happen at One World Trade. It happened in Barnes and Noble in Park Slope. I was there with my 5-year-old daughter, looking for a magazine for her to read. I don’t think there was a single title for young girls that didn’t include a story on pretty hair or good manners. What’s more, every cover I saw featured a princess, a doll or a little girl wearing makeup. Since my daughter happens to prefer pirates to princesses, we left the store that day empty-handed.
Then, while walking her home from school another day, she said to me, “Mom, did you know that space is for boys?” I was shocked, especially since her absolute favorite thing to do right now is to pretend that we’re part of a “super-fast species” that lives on Saturn. I told her that space is, of course, for anyone, and explained, as calmly as possible: “You can do anything you want to do, and be anything you want to be.” It infuriates me that she’s just five years old and is already being told, this time by a boy at school, what she can’t do, where she can’t go and what she’s not supposed to care about.
I know we can do better for our girls. In fact, we must, because this sort of messaging that we see in the media (and in the toy aisles)—that’s there’s only one right way for a girl to be—has real and negative consequences.
What are your goals and plans for Kazoo?
My goal is to create a magazine for girls, ages 5 to 10, that inspires them to be smart, strong, fierce, and, above all, true to themselves. It’s hard to believe it, but there’s no other magazine out there like it.
What’s the style of the magazine?
Kazoo will run about 44 pages per issue and feature a mix of illustrations and photography. It’ll be playful, colorful and full of pop.
What kinds of content do you intend to maintain throughout the magazine’s life?
Every issue will feature science experiments; comics; art projects; recipes; interviews with inspiring women from athletes to astronauts; and fun activities, including secret codes, jokes, mazes, search-and-finds and more. And every story will have a Kazoo spin. For example, if we run a maze, it won’t be a generic “Get the bunny to the carrot!” Instead, it’ll be “Get Diana Nyad from Cuba to Florida!” and it’ll include a sidebar on who she is and why she rocks.
Again, please consider donating to the time-sensitive Kickstarter campaign for this amazing magazine!
Erin Bried is a former Condé Nast editor with over 16 years of magazine experience. She’s worked as Editor at Large at SELF magazine, where she’s written over 140 coverstories, as well as Senior Editor at both GLAMOUR and WOMEN’S SPORTS & FITNESS. In addition, Bried has also written three books, including HOW TO SEW A BUTTON (Ballantine); HOW TO BUILD A FIRE (Ballentine) and HOW TO ROCK YOUR BABY (Hyperion). She’s hosted her own web series, Basically Simple with Erin Bried, on ulive.com and has appeared on The Today Show, Fox & Friends, The Katie Couric Show, Better TV and National Public Radio. She lives in Brooklyn with her better half and two young daughters.