BY DEBORAH NEDELMAN
Whidbey Life Magazine Publisher
January 5, 2017

As we enter the unknown of this fresh, new year, I am holding a picture in my mind of all of us, connected by our love of Whidbey, holding one another’s hands, offering support and a squeeze of eager encouragement as we step into the future together.

For the last month, all through the holiday season, our management team — Petra Martin, Claire Moore, Dianna MacLeod, and I — has been hard at work mapping out a new business structure for Whidbey Life Magazine. We’ve held many meetings, spent hours examining what excites us about this work, and questioned how we want to grow WLM. An early step in our process involved examining our mission statement and rewriting it to reflect our values and intention:

The mission of Whidbey Life Magazine is to support and enrich the culture of our community by telling the stories of life on Whidbey Island. By shining a light on the beauty of our landscape and the creative and inspiring people who live here, WLM hopes to facilitate connections across our island cultures.  

Everything we do will be done in the spirit of fulfilling this mission. We want to be a vehicle for sharing the wonders of Whidbey Island with one another, those who live on its farms, in its towns, and in its forests; those who visit the island regularly; and those who are meeting it for the first time. We want to focus on the wonders of our island as points of connection across our many political, social, and economic differences. This is what we’re about, and we are full of enthusiasm for the tasks this mission sets out for us.

This year, as in years past, we are committed to bringing you two beautiful issues of our print magazine. We’re committed to adding new stories, blog posts, and photo essays to our weekly online magazine.

And we are committed to connecting with you. We’d love to hear your reactions to what we’re doing, what you want more of, and your ideas for new avenues we might explore.

We at Whidbey Life Magazine recognize the privilege of our position as ambassadors of this beautiful island and are grateful to take that on with your support as we step into 2017.

Before becoming publisher and editor-in-chief at Whidbey Life Magazine, Deborah Nedelman, Ph.D., MFA, spent most of her time writing, editing, coaching writers, leading writing groups, and collecting advanced degrees. There was even a time when she worked as a clinical psychologist and raised two kids. These days, she wakes earlier, gets to bed later, and has Whidbey Island on her mind most of the time. 

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