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Welcomed Additions

Michelle Maskaly//January 2, 2014//

Welcomed Additions

Michelle Maskaly //January 2, 2014//

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The Editor’s Letter as published in the January 2014 issue of Pet Age.

Happy New Year!

New Years is by far my favorite holiday. As a kid all the extended family from around the country would gather at my Aunt Rosie and Uncle Joe’s house in Brooklyn for a New Year’s Eve celebration that included some of the best Italian food you’ve ever tasted and so much fun that your sides would hurt from laughing.

Although those days are long gone, the memories will never fade. Since then, I have created my own tradition of spending it with very close friends whom I adore.

There is something about starting a new year with a clean, fresh slate that I just adore. But, I don’t believe in resolutions. Instead, I like to think of goals, experiences and projects I want to accomplish in the upcoming year. For example, last year one of my goals was to learn how to play golf. It took until November to take my first lesson, but at least it still happened.

Looking at the January edition of Pet Age, you might pick up on some of the goals we set for ourselves – working to expand the aquatics area of magazine, adding more policy information to help small businesses with our Washington Watch column and reaching out to experts in their respective fields, such as John Mack from Reptiles by Mack, and having them write a little about topics that will help our readers.

You will also notice we’ve expanded some of our other sections as well. There are additional stories about the latest trends in both the dog and cat section, we’ve broken up the aquatics sections to cover aquariums and ponds separately and we’ve taken a new approach to the grooming section.

We know readers of the grooming section are two very distinct groups. There are groomers, and grooming businesses, who want tips on the latest styles and how to run their business, as well as the newest products, and then we have retail business owners who do not offer grooming services, but want to bring their customers the newest shampoos, at-home fur sprays, nail clippers and more.

As a result, you will find two stories in that section, one written by Daryl Conner, a groomer herself and geared toward our groomer audience, and a second story geared toward the retail business owner who carries grooming products.

Speaking of new additions, we are very excited to welcome several new contributors to Pet Age. Pet expert Sandy Robins will be writing about dogs and cats for us, while Debi Hilley, head stylist at A Cut Above in Georgia, joins our grooming section and starting next month Joe Olenik will be our go-to person for all things pond related.

In addition, you will be seeing more columns from contributors RD Webster, of Market Strategies, and Andrea Fischetti, of Chicago Pet Video. We also want to welcome a new column called, “The Scale Count” written by all-around reptile expert, Robert Stephenson.

But, it doesn’t stop there. We have a lot more exciting features, and events planned for the year that I cannot wait to share with you.

What kind of goals are you setting for your business in 2014? Maybe it’s adding new services, like dog walking, or attending more trade shows. Whatever it is, I would love to hear about it, so send me an email and let me know.