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Camille Bethel
It took her a while to figure out what she wanted to do but
now, Aliyyah Eniath, the brain behind Caribbean Belle magazine,
is positive that publishing is her calling.
One year ago, this 25-year-old Central woman left ASJA Girls
in Tunapuna where she taught Literature and English for two
years, to publish her own magazine.
Eniath, who graduated from the University of the West Indies,
St Augustine with a BA in Literatures in English said, for
years while going through university, she wondered why she
was studying literature. Now she knows.
“My
aspirations have always been to provide something positive
for women, but I was not sure what it was.”
Her father, she said, had registered a publishing company
in her name, so when she came up with the idea for Belle,
it felt like this was the natural thing to do.
“Sometimes,
the things that you are meant to do just falls upon you,”
she reasoned.
Eniath, who is passionate about equality for women and women’s
health, said her concept for the magazine came from this passion.
“I
thought that there needed to be a platform for women that
did not only portray fashion and beauty but a magazine of
substance that portrays self-esteem and self-worth and soothes.
“At
the launch of Belle, I cited some of the United Nation’s
millennium goals and one of those goals is gender equality
with women in the workplace.”
The magazine will also be used to provide a stage for discussing
those millennium goals, she said.
Eniath admitted that publishing the magazine was a challenge
but it was not one she could not overcome.
“There
was so much to do and it was my first attempt at a magazine
so I was very nervous,” she said.
“I
had to go out there and try to find the best writers and the
photographers that I could work with, without knowing about
any of these things before.”
The only knowledge she had prior to publishing Belle, was
about the printing industry because her family owns a printery.
“I
had to learn about colour correcting and what is good photography
and so much more which was a real challenge,” she said.
However, the support of her family, who are skilled in printing
and graphics helped a lot.
Having to make the final decisions, Eniath admitted, did make
her feel a bit pressured.
“I
camped out at the printery to make sure that there was no
error on the pages.
“I
remember standing and waiting at the press for the pages and
the pressmen would bring samples of the pages for me every
ten minutes. I knew if there was some splash of colour that
was not supposed to be there, people would really take me
to task.
“I
know I was going to be accountable for everything.”
Critique was something she expected, she said, but she was
confident.
“I
never thought that the effort was going to fail, and truth
be told, I am very happy with our first publication.
“The
way I see it, this first issue is the worst we can get so
it’s all uphill from here.”
Before starting Belle, she said she enjoyed playing the piano,
landscape painting, reading old English novels and swimming.
Now spare time is a luxury.
Her publishing company Safari Publication Ltd also received
exclusive rights to the official guide to the Fifa World Cup
2006.
“So
the guide and Belle are the two things I will be working on
for the next few months. But Belle is my baby and will always
come first,” she said with a smile.
Eniath always wanted to be a writer, but admitted publishing
Belle is just as good.
The quarterly magazine is now available in bookshops in both
T&T and Jamaica. Eniath promised that the other issue
will undoubtedly be bigger and thicker.
“This
is just the premiere release, a sample of things to come,”
she said with a confident smile.
