WHEN I LOOK BACK
and think about what led me to starting Oofie I remember in the fourth grade when my dad took me to New York City for spring break, my favorite part of the trip was when we went to the swanky office of Domino Magazine to visit my aunt at work. I had never felt cooler than I did sitting in that high swivle chair getting my makeup done by the girls in the beauty department. Looking around the office through my sparkly blue eye shadowed eyes I saw moodboards, fancy cameras lying around so casually, layouts tacked on the walls, everyone dressed to the nines, inspiration everywhere. This is what I wanted to be when I grew up.
The decline of print media shifted my dreams to the next best thing, being a blogger. I shared my outfits and ideas online, but it didnít scratch the itch I had as a teenager ripping up magazines, making collages, and covering my walls floor to ceiling with groundbreaking artists and stunning models. When I finally moved to NYC, walking the streets of Brooklyn I saw over and over ìturn your dreams into realityî tagged on sidewalks. It was time I took my future into my own hands and just make my own magazine. Print media was on the rise again and my nine to five wasnít taking me anywhere, I just had to do it on my own, not letting anything hold me back! So Oofie was born!
Now a year later, Oofie is a worldwide phenomenon! Issue three was the first issue I accepted submissions from new artists I had never met, the response was incredible!! To say Iím grateful is an understatement! This is my lifeís passion and I canít believe I get to share it with you! May these pages inspire, and encourage you to follow your passions! Your time is NOW!
My oofie debut
and Twoofie taught me to trust that working on a big project was indeed possible for me. Making the cover of issue three taught me about the magic of getting lost in an otherwise tedious and repetitive art project; like sitting down to do a 5000 piece puzzle, or slowly building a large paper mache project and then completely scrapping that… twice. It’s the twice that got me. Making this cover was one of the first times in my life that I felt like I had the will to create something perfect, to spend countless hours on a project, have it *flop* and be able to shake it off and start over. This cover art is 17x22 inches, consisting of over 10,000 Perler beads. I filled my sketchbook with a million ideas of how I envisioned the final image. I wanted to capture a feeling that touches on nostalgia, friendship, exhilaration, and joy; a rush of freedom, feeling like you’re flying.
OOFIE GOES TO
CONEY ISLAND
To celebrate the launch of issue 3, we took a field trip to Coney Island to live out the best day ever!
Imagine… You and your very best friend in the entire world woke up early for this! You’ve got a free day pass to the amusement park from her mom’s work, it’s employee appreciation day. There’s a twinge of forboding as you see storm clouds roll in on your drive up. But then the louder voice of the hopeful corner of your heart says, “You know what that means, no lines!” And you say what the hell to a fast pass since you got the tickets for free, it’s like you can’t not. Laughing through the day, there’s a tiny stitch in your side from giggles and getting jostled around on one too many log flume rides. Eight times in a row says you’re putting your fast pass to work. The clouds part as you board your final journey on the big one, Apollo’s Chariot. It’s not until you hit the highest point of the loop-di-loop that you see it, the most stunning rainbow stretching over the park, only visible from way up here in the sky! You scream your crush’s name and turn to see the giant smile on your BFF’s face. This is truly the best day ever!!
