This month marks the third year anniversary of Life & Thyme, a feat that only seemed like a distant dream when I first launched this website in the fall of 2012. I still remember thinking “how is this all going to work?” when I clicked publish for the first time. I had no prior experience in publishing, much less running a publication in a digital and printed state. With no clear indication of what lay ahead (spoiler alert: I still don’t know), we eventually found our groove and the stories we wanted to tell by having a balance of consistency and exploring new ideas in the realm of media. As time progressed, our voice and our stories began to refine and take shape like an aged cheese. Stories went deeper, our short films became more cinematic, our access widened, and our contributor network became more global.

Fast forward to today, three years later, I look back at all the lessons I had to learn and continue to learn. I would be lying if I said it has been easy or if it gets any easier. In fact, building this brand has been the single most difficult challenge I have ever endured, while also being the most fulfilling. There was no real model to follow (food media is still stuck in top 10 lists, trend reporting, and subjective restaurant reviews that I have trouble understanding why they are still a thing) nor were there mentors in my life to show me the way. The type of storytelling and journalism I wanted to consume simply didn’t exist (and continues to be relatively non-existent) in the food industry.

Life & Thyme is still very young and very indie, which makes it even more special. But despite our youngin state, we have managed to accomplish quite a bit: we have three issues of our printed magazine under our belt with an issue releasing every quarter, we actively publish exclusive content for lifeandthyme.wpengine.com on a weekly basis, and we continue to produce short films that push the envelope between food and cinema. Our company is multi-faceted because we have to be. Media is evolving and no longer can it just be a singular thing, so we continue to remain nimble while also exploring new avenues of storytelling across print, video, photography, social, and web. But by no means have we “made it”—we’re David in a world of very old guard Goliaths.

With the introduction of this new Life & Thyme Journal, my hope is to provide context to the stories we create and insight into our creative process, who we are, lessons learned, and a behind the scenes look at our journey that continues to evolve. In addition to my own ramblings and reflections, you can also expect various voices from my team and contributors to express their own perspective of what drives them and how they do things. Unlike our L&T Stories, Journal entries will be sporadic, informal, and a little off-the-cuff, but will hopefully be reflective of the people that make Life & Thyme possible.

Welcome to the Journal.

AD
Founder