Building Community Through Storytelling for Women with Leslie Bailey
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Photo Credit: Faith Blackwell Photography.
Leslie Bailey is a journalist and the co-founder and CEO of Indy Maven, a media company for women in Central Indiana. Indy Maven launched in 2019 with the mission of bringing high-quality content and community to the women of Indianapolis. In February of 2021, Leslie was listed in the first Forbes Next 1000 class. She is opening a co-working, social, and leisure space for women in downtown Indianapolis in the spring of 2022.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I call myself an accidental journalist. I’m originally from Michigan but moved to Indianapolis for college where I was a communications major. I sort of fell into the profession by way of blogging. My blog led me to write for a local city publication, followed by a columnist job at The Indianapolis Star, then lifestyle editor at Indianapolis Monthly magazine, and everything continued on from there. I’ve worked as a stylist, a freelance writer for national and global publications, and everything in between. I started working in law firms when I was a teenager through my mid-twenties but law school never felt right. But I certainly never planned on starting my own media company either.
What inspired you to start your business?
After years of working in a newsroom led and filled with mostly white men, my co-founder (Amanda Kingsbury) and I were fed up with hearing the leadership say they wanted to reach women due to their highly influential spending power but not interested in creating a product that considered what those women actually wanted from a media platform. In early 2019, we’d both left our jobs and we were looking for something new —so, we decided to create something on our own. We wanted a product that spoke to different types of women, too. It’s not uncommon for me to pick up a local publication and not see a single woman of color. It’s not okay and we’re here to change that. We wear so many hats as women and it’s hard to keep up with everything going on in our own lives let alone our friends and in our community. We strive to make all of that easier.
Regarding the new business, that was inspired because throughout the pandemic, when I’ve asked women what they wanted from Indy Maven, the answer is always “to meet and connect with other women.” That was hard since we weren’t able to do that in person but I knew the natural progression would be a physical space. Combine that with “the great resignation” and so many women starting their own businesses, and needing a physical space that is just for them - well, it felt like the most natural and necessary progression.
Where is your business based?
Indianapolis, Indiana.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
First, we approached a woman we knew who was skilled at organization and business operations and helped us map out what we wanted the brand to be. We created an LLC, got a business bank account - my husband and I put $1,000 into the business, acquired our domain and social media accounts, hired a web company, and planned a 200 person launch party. That was in April of 2019 and we launched the first week in October of 2019. I still can’t believe we’ve survived as a new business through a pandemic. It’s definitely a testament to the need for this product in our market.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Word of mouth and social media. Women tend to be natural communicators and networkers. We had to turn on our social media accounts six weeks early because the word had gotten out about what we were creating and women were already sharing that news and trying to find us online and asking us about it in person.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Aside from starting a business five months before a pandemic hit (and then having a second child in the middle of it), the biggest challenge I had was not trusting my instincts enough and hiring too fast. We were lucky enough to experience quick growth and I thought that meant I needed to hire help but I wasn’t very strategic about it. I also worked with some people that I knew weren’t a good fit for far too long. I spend a lot of my first two years course-correcting what I didn’t know. If I’d trusted myself more, I could have saved quite a bit of time and money.
How do you stay focused?
I’m a big idea person and an enneagram 7 so it’s hard for me but I *try* to stay focused by using lists and tracking things in Asana. If I get off track, I revisit those and it reigns me in.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
By staying hyper-focused on our audience. We’re there to serve them. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what other brands in the market are doing. One way I know that we’re different from some is our commitment to DEI whether that’s through our boards, our contributors, or the content itself. That’s been a priority since day one.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Our audience is our biggest cheerleader. We’ve been able to grow our entire brand organically because of them. Also, creating high-quality content. We don’t just slap something up for the heck of it or because we think it will perform well. We take storytelling seriously.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Being an entrepreneur is lonely but you don’t have to go it alone. That said if you’re looking for a co-founder or partner, make sure it’s someone you are 110% confident in. If you are a solopreneur, be sure to create a village of people around you who are experts in other areas.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
Related to business my favorite book right now is “Building Brand Communities: How Organizations Succeed by Creating Belonging” - I’m not sure I’ve ever learned so much in one book about business and humans in general.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Podcasts. I’ve learned so much about so many subjects by listening to Jenna Kutcher (Goal Digger), Rachel Rodgers (Hello Seven), Amy Porterfield (Online Marketing Made Easy), Stephanie Cartin & Courtney Spritzer (Entreprenista), Cathay Heller (The Cathy Heller Show), Dana Malstaff (BossMom), Luvvie Aijayi Jones (Professional Troublemaker), and Kenra Adachi (The Lazy Genius), and to name…quite a few. I love to hear different perspectives on similar subjects and because they’re relatively short, I can learn a lot without reading an entire book. Also, I absorb the information differently. Because I spend so much time in front of a computer, it’s nice to listen instead of reading.
Who is your business role model? Why?
I’m going to for sure sound like a cliché child of the 80s when I say this but it’s a tie between Martha Stewart and Oprah. They both built multi-faceted media empires, and somewhat later in their lives. They take calculated risks. None of it was “instant” or “overnight” - they’re playing the long game and clearly, it’s paid off. They’re not perfect by any means but who is?
How do you balance work and life?
By not trying to do it alone. I’ve gotten really good at asking for help or support where I need it whether that’s from my team, my spouse, my friends, or hiring out tasks. I’m also pretty protective of my home and family time - no work between 4:30 and 7 pm or weekends. That’s my time with my kids.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Cooking, binging TV shows or Masterclass, reading, and a nice beach vacation. I’ve committed to reading 24 books this year - excluding audiobooks, not because I don’t think they count as books but because it’s an entirely different physical act for me.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
I’m launching a hybrid co-working and community space that will be a sister company to Indy Maven. There’s nothing like it in the state and I’m beyond excited. I think now more than ever in recent history do women need a safe space to come together, support each other, and create amazing things. The space will provide that for women in our community - whether they’re members or not. There’s been an incredible uprising of spaces like this around the country since the launch of some of the originals like The Wing. They each have their own take on the model and unique needs of their markets which I think is so cool.
My co-founder in this space and I have decided to forgo traditional VC fundraising. This is a huge undertaking but it felt really important to our mission that the entire thing be created by women and unfortunately as we know, options in that space are incredibly limited. I bootstrapped my first business so why not the second? I can’t wait to see what this year holds.
How can our readers connect with you?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lesalina/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lesalina/
Email: Leslie@indymaven.com