Starting Up
Iguana magazine

Owner: Christianne Meneses Jacobs

Opened: After a successful sample issue in August, the first issue will debut May 20.

Type of business: Spanish-language children's bimonthly magazine geared towards kids 7 to 12 years old.

Financial backing: Personally financed.

Motivation: Jacobs, a native of Nicaragua, and her husband Marc, felt that children who are growing up bilingual in the United States should have a magazine to help them retain their heritage and culture.

Planning: Researched for a year, talked to parents and other teachers, went to Latino book festivals and organized the first issue.

Experience: Jacobs was involved in her high school and college newspapers and is a second-grade teacher at Garfield Elementary in Phoenix as well as the mother to a 3-year-old daughter who is half Hispanic.

Biggest obstacle: "Getting the name out there," Jacobs said.

Marketing: Mass mailing to bilingual schools, Latino book festivals in Miami, Phoenix and Los Angeles, a magazine subscription service and library and school subscriptions.

What makes the business unique: Jacobs said Iguana is the only magazine in the U.S. to cater to Spanish-speaking children and to be originally written in Spanish. "The editor of Highlights [for Children] is a subscriber, and she is sending us some of her bilingual writers," Jacobs said.

Information: Iguana c/o NicaGal, LLC., P.O. Box 26432, Scottsdale, AZ 85255 (480) 206-5474 and www.IGUANAmagazine.com.

— Annemarie Moody

© 2005 The Arizona Republic. Reprinted with permission.

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