Rebekah Schilperoort

For some people, taking a leap of faith is so scary that they never attempt it. For others, such as Seattle Woman publisher Marianne Scholl and editor Karen Matthee, it's the spice of life.

Working out of tiny home offices in Ballard and Bainbridge Island, these women and a small advertising and design staff produce a free monthly magazine geared toward women in the Seattle area.

Their focus is to inform women about the world around them and offer relevant information on careers, business, finance, health, literature, arts and relationships in a way that distinguishes them from other media.

They operate on a tiny budget and barely break even on hard costs.

"We can't even afford to pay ourselves yet," said Scholl with a laugh.

But they must be doing something right because the company, Caliope Publishing, just celebrated its one-year anniversary in October, much to Scholl and Matthee's relief.

"It makes sense to market to women," said Scholl. "Research has shown that women make up to about 80 percent of all home-spending decisions, and I think marketers are really waking up to that."

Averaging about 40 full color pages an issue, Seattle Woman magazine circulation has grown from 25,000 to more than 30,000 in the past year and distribution has risen about 75 percent.

For most of her career, Scholl has focused on journalism, community relations and event planning and marketing. She spent three years as community relations manager at Seattle's Child magazine before she knew what she really wanted to do.

"While I was with Seattle's Child I was actively thinking about what I could do on my own," she said. "Then one day that proverbial light bulb went off-women! I got to be really interested in what women want and I realized women want inspiration, ideas and connections in all areas of life."

That's when she approached her friend Matthee, former regional editor at Seattle's Child magazine.

Matthee had been a journalist for more than 20 years at publications across the country and was editor of the national Sea Kayaker Magazine for six years.

When Scholl talked with Mathee about her idea to start Seattle Woman, Matthee had just settled back into freelance writing and was hesitant to start a new venture.

"Marianne is a very intelligent, dynamic and persuasive woman," said Matthee. "So after I said 'no' about three times, she finally convinced me. But we both decided that if we were going to do this we had to do it with substance, and no fluff."

This is why most of the articles in Seattle Woman focus on important women's issues such as breast cancer and racial and gender difficulties in women's careers, she said.

"I've been blown away by the number of women in Seattle who are doing amazing things," said Matthee.

"People are really excited to read an intelligent publication about real issues--important issues," said Scholl.

Most articles are written by local freelancers. Both Matthee and Scholl knew a number of professional writers in the area from previous jobs in the industry and believe it's important their writers be familiar with the region.

"We really try to focus on who is in the community doing remarkable things," said Scholl. "Women are very interested in the world around them and we want to connect them to that world."

In the first issue of Seattle Woman (October 2004), the lead story, "Why Washington Ranks No. 1 for Breast Cancer," was a topic that had not been covered by any of the major media, at least locally, said Scholl.

She couldn't understand why it wasn't more important for other media to investigate why Washington ranks the highest in the nation for breast cancer.

"It's so important because when women read these stories it encourages them to go out and get a mammogram and take necessary preventative actions," said Scholl.

A more recent article, "Breast Cancer In Disguise: What everyone should know about inflammatory breast cancer," discussed a type of breast cancer that doesn't get a lot of press coverage, probably because there isn't much known about preventatives and treatments, said Scholl.

"Inflammatory breast cancer had gone largely unreported, according to the state health officer we talked to," said Matthee. "I'd like to see us report on these kinds of issues that are often overlooked by other publications for lack of space or time or who just aren't in that niche."

Besides covering serious women's health concerns, Seattle Woman is also about showcasing the extraordinary and the dynamic women here who are contributing to all of the intricate areas of life.

Seattle Woman magazine is distributed to more than 700 locations in Seattle, Shoreline, Edmonds, Bothell, Woodinville, Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Issaquah, Renton, and on Mercer and Bainbridge Islands. Contact Seattle Woman at 1752 N.W. Market St., Box 400, Seattle, WA 98107. www.seattlewomanmagazine.com, 206-784-5556.