Girls D.I.Y
By Candace Robertson
It is expressed in the study of literature and film that use place as character that a person is never fully in one place until their surroundings begin to affect them as they in turn begin to affect their surroundings. Therefore, I sat down with the Editor and Founder of Venus Zine, Amy Schroeder to find out how she has acted upon popular culture, how her female inspirations have influenced her journey both personally and professional, and how her brand of positive feminism is adding to the arenas of journalism and music. Does she feel that women have anything to prove?
With fortified Midwestern values such as hard work, honesty and fairness, she grew up admiring musicians like Liz Phair, Lauryn Hill and bands like Hole and L-Seven whom were not seen as “anomalies because they were women or hyper-sexualized” either. She looked up to women who were serious about their craft, who were just as “raw and edgy” as the men in their field.
She started Venus out of boredom, but continues out of necessity to highlight “women’s achievements, the culture they are creating and women’s significance.” Becoming, if only in appearance, more a ‘glossy’ magazine, Venus still focuses on the content and creation of the many ways women choose to express themselves. But, with a “shoestring” budget, in a non- traditional women’s market, Venus’ appeal holds up the pillar of acknowledging the creative expression of women with a select few, such as Bust being their main competitor. After starting in print Venus also competes with Bust online at Venuszine.com including additional articles, contests and links separate from its print publication because if you could get it for free, why would you buy it?
Amy understands that there is still a hard road ahead, for example, when she puts out an article like the “Best Female Guitarist of All Time” and non-subscribers complain about Venus doing a horrible job. Don’t get her wrong, constructive criticism and suggestions are what keep a small press like Venus going, but subscriptions keep the magazine on the shelf and the website running. So I wonder, with her new issue of women in hip-hop, will someone lose their shirt if she leaves out Yo-Yo.
At one point during our conversation, she mentioned how she wishes Venus didn’t have to exist. If the playing field were even, and equal artists could receive equal play she believes that she wouldn’t have to single out women. But “coverage of these women is sorely lacking.” That’s all she is doing highlighting achievements and skill at the same time participating in what she has tried to avoid, being separate from the men as if female guitarists, for example, are of a different species. Conversely without magazines like Venus continuing the feminist tradition of encouraging the veracity of the XX chromosomes versatility would Rollingstone have put those two female guitarists on their list of the top 100 guitarist of all time?
Despite the Jane Doe critiques online and the hardships of figuring out the game of distribution the hard way, Amy has learned a lot as a businesswoman about how to achieve her evolving vision for Venus. She would say that she “isn’t screwing up as much now” but with a journalism and copyediting background her creative and business instincts have sharpened to the point of her brainchild’s level of international distribution. With her trusted and hard working, mostly volunteer staff “she sets the standard of quality of the final product” of her magazine by managing her editors across the country and delegating ideas and goals across the board to continue Venus Zine’s growth, and she’s grateful for the ability to contribute to a magazine she’s still fired up about.
Amy Schroeder is what is known as the managing editor formerly one of few known female publishers of her own magazine, independent or corporate. She says, “You just won’t find a lot of women CEO’s or CFO’s.” Is it that women can’t have their cake and eat it to.
On one hand, my older sister, Ayanna, a doctorial candidate at Argosy University, once said about business and men versus women, “If I spent all day in the office, came home ignoring my kids and pretended my wife was stupid…I’d be a CEO too.” On the other hand, I look at Amy, she’s happy and paying her bills. She’s not “in it for the fame” or even the acknowledgment of her peers that she’s one of the few women to do what she does. At 31 she has a clear vision of her own measure of success and plans for the continued evolution of Venus Zine. As she stated earlier her work isn’t about being separate from the men or crushing anyone to reach the top. Venus is for the artist who knows their art and why they create it, and already feel half way there.
