When fashion, pop-culture + university-smarts collide, what do you get? The brilliant and beautiful SHEI Magazine.
When words like ‘quarantine’ and ‘isolation’ are part of daily life, isn’t it intriguing to find a platform based upon inclusion? Yes, we’re talking about a publication whose foundation is unification, and whose design and content offer eye-opening celebrations of the unique and beautiful.
We’d say it’s downright refreshing.
So for those not yet acquainted, allow Current Magazine to introduce to you: SHEI Magazine, a fashion, art, and pop-culture publication entirely run by students at the University of Michigan.
Yes, very cool.
Who is SHEI?
Founded in 1999, SHEI offers a voice to the entire student body, and provides a unique opportunity for students pursuing fashion and media aspirations. As participants within the SHEI team, students obtain pertinent experience as relates to these ever-competitive industries. SHEI staff become equipped with an impactful, competitive advantage over their competition post-graduation.
SHEI creates opportunity for experience. Participants learn to balance priorities, adhere to deadlines, and execute with dependable responsibility — while also engaging discipline’s opposite: the calm space that feeds creativity and expression. Students learn to balance these opposite worlds. And clearly, they do so effectively.
The SHEI Team
SHEI Magazine is a home for students interested in fashion and media, but it’s also a vocal platform to discuss topics of today; it’s where voices are heard, and unique fashion and beauty are flawlessly displayed.
To be entirely run by students is no small feat. Magazines require consistent collaboration and numerous talents. There’s a continual give-and-take with deadline-driven stress, and yet they must also embrace the necessary fluidity to encourage creativity. It’s a tricky trifecta, indeed.
Yet the SHEI Magazine staff, led by Natalie Guisinger, SHEI’s Editor-in-Chief, and Publisher Colleen Jones, are well-versed in this cooperative balancing act. From their print, fashion, and photo editors to creative directors, graphic designers, digital teams, models, business teams, an executive board and more, they’re working hard each day to deliver publishing excellence on schedule. And loaded with creative expression.
“SHEI provides a community and opportunity for personal and professional growth at the University of Michigan,” said Jones. “SHEI is the only fashion, arts, and culture publication officially recognized by the University of Michigan. Our magazine is fully student-run which means that all SHEI members choose to participate in this organization because they feel passionately about the content we create and the values we promote.”
SHEI Embraces All
During their time on the SHEI staff, they embrace and share the nature of acceptance. Of finding belonging — and offering that platform to the student body. They embrace collaboration with any and all walks of university life. In fact, the more differences, the better opportunity for growth — as a publication and as individuals.
“When I joined SHEI as a sophomore, I recognized and appreciated SHEI prioritizing inclusivity and diversity,” said Guisinger. “For me, it has always been a judgement-free space for creating editorial content.”
And what happens when a judgement-free zone collides with creative expression? We get fabulous collaboration and insightful perspectives.
SHEI has Guts
Content within the publication includes current, thought-provoking, if not edgy stories written with wisdom arguably beyond the authors’ years. It is unpredictable. And it is real. It’s the voice of the university generation — and the photography and creative direction that jumps from the pages, coordinates seamlessly — albeit unpredictably — with its content. Again, it’s unique. And it is, indeed, creative.
SHEI has Aspirations
Students read SHEI for its display of fashion and design, but it’s more than that. It’s a community, and they’re working to expand their readership’s reach.
“I think people read SHEI because they want to learn more about current fashion trends and to gain inspiration for their own wardrobes,” Jones said. “As a freshman, I started reading SHEI because I met members who seemed excited about and fulfilled by the work they were doing. SHEI’s publications give a glimpse at different students and communities at our university that I may not have been exposed to otherwise.”
SHEI’s wish? As with any driven organization (or person), the goal is to keep growing. “We not only cater to U of M students,” Guisinger said, “…our content doesn’t just stay in our insular campus, but rather, it disseminates into Ann Arbor’s community and beyond.”
Reaching beyond, in fact, is an aggressive goal for the publication. For how far a reach do they aspire? National is the pursuit. “Our executive board believes that investing in our members and encouraging their professional growth will help SHEI achieve our goals and increase national viewership,” Jones said. “This year, we’ve focused on streamlining our brand across all platforms and creating content safely despite the challenges posed by COVID-19.”
SHEI’s a Click Away
Want to learn more? SHEI publishes a bi-annual print magazine, as well as a free, monthly digital magazine, SHEI Digital. Check out their website, or follow their Facebook and Instagram pages.
