Boonton Township resident Megan McWilliams, who shuttered her health and sustainable living magazine, Relevant Times, fifteen years ago for family reasons, recently had an epiphany. The publication’s former readership had quietly moved from the fringe to the mainstream.
“It’s no longer just earthy-crunchy, out-there types,” says the 44-year-old McWilliams. “Today, people are concerned and interested in how they can contribute. In other words, it’s all still relevant.”
She drafted Boonton sustainable-living activist Jenifer O’Neill as associate publisher and managing editor, and together the two resuscitated the magazine, whose first issue hit the stands in November. (The free magazine is available at more than 150 eco-friendly outlets in New Jersey, including select Whole Foods stores and natural grocers in Sussex County.) In addition to articles on sustainability issues, natural recipes, poetry, and green product reviews, there are also an online resource center, an e-newsletter, and a radio program that airs on a Blairstown-based internet station (homegrownradionj.com).
“It’s a lifestyle enterprise, not just a magazine,” says O’Neill, 45.
The reader response, says McWilliams, has been “one hundred percent excellent.”
For more information on the magazine, visit relevanttimes.com.