New Brunswick magazine came to publisher in a dream

Photo: Kate Braydon, Telegraph-Journal

A woman in New Brunswick decided to launch a magazine called It's Your Life because the idea came to her in a dream. According to a story in the Saint John Telegraph-Journal, Terri-Ann Cormier had been selling other people's magazines from elsewhere in Canada in her eco-store in Rothesay, but found they didn't meet her customers' needs.

"They really didn't pertain to what was going on down here. We're very different from out west. We're several years behind. What they were saying in their magazines didn't really resonate with people down here."

Then one night last fall, Cormier headed to bed."I went to sleep and the idea came to me: 'Do your own, Terri-Ann'. I swear I don't ever remember my dreams, but I woke up the next morning and I said, 'OK. I'm going to do it.'"

Though she didn't know anything about publishing, she was an experienced businesswoman and had started a networking group for business women in the Saint John area. (She operates a decor business and Naturally for Life, which operates a year-round store in Rothesay and a summer business in St. Andrews, selling green-friendly products.)

"So I do what I do best and I started researching. I went out and bought every health magazine and lifestyle magazine and I started ordering them all and I started calling printers. I sat down with them all over the floor, took a look at them and asked myself what do I like best about them and what don't I like about them."

Last month, she unveiled the quarterly magazine, which is distributed by Canada Post to 28,000 homes in southern New Brunswick. The magazine can also be subscribed to for $20.