— Woman Sets New Trend with Local Magazines —

by Cindy Bellinger
for The New Mexican
September 19, 2006

Excerpts:

All it took was finding a need, and then Santa Fe Trend, a local magazine, was born. Of course, it wasn't easy; giving birth never is.

Taking some time to sit down with publisher Cynthia Canyon means learning a lot about a woman and a business that are always in the process of becoming.

"I was living in Hawaii when my mother moved here," Canyon said. "I came to visit her and was blown away, so I stayed." That was 21 years ago.

Canyon took a job with the Santa Fe Symphony selling ads and learned she was good at it. For six years, she worked for Guest Life, which took her around the state. It was during those travels that Canyon began getting a sense of what could be done with a publication in Santa Fe.

"I just thought publications in the city weren't as good as the city," she said.

So Canyon started Performance de Santa Fe.

"I thought that's how to market the city, through its many performances. I got $10,000 from the Lodger's Tax fund to do it."

In 1996, she distributed 50,000 copies of Performance. She published the magazine until 2001. During that time she also published a quarterly non-profit art magazine called Arte Contemporary.

"I started Trend in 2000 based on my intuition of what the next wave for art profitable publication would be," Canyon said. "That year I was publishing all three magazines and juggling eight deadlines instead of two or three."

Then, in the midst of refining her publications, September 11, 2001, hit and people stopped paying their bills.

"I believed in what I was doing and kept on," Canyon said. "It was really hard. I stopped publishing Performance de Santa Fe and Arte and focused exclusively on Trend."

Santa Fe Trend covers a combination of art and home design in a "Santa Fe" way, Canyon said.

"It turned out to be a profitable tool, and I liked what I was doing—creating a vision of what Santa Fe was becoming, which is an art and design Mecca," she said.

Canyon hired art director Janine Lehmann in 2001 to create what was to become Trend's signature look, and she then set about building a team.

Part of Canyon's goal was to make the ads flow along with the editorial. She wanted certain angles and moments published in the magazine to give a unique glimpse into Santa Fe's lifestyle. Those decisions helped to make Santa Fe Trend a leading publication first locally, then regionally, and now nationally.

Canyon added that she has never borrowed money and the magazine has always paid for itself.

The magazine was recently valued at $1 million. One year ago, someone offered to buy Trend for $750,000. Canyon didn't sell. She had several other plans in mind.

"We now have a four-year goal," she said. "We want to raise the magazine's awareness. It's all over the country on news stands, but that's not good enough. We want it to be known nationally as the country's favorite magazine for art and design.

We are looking for a 40 percent investor to take it to that level, and I would like someone local who is dedicated."

Alex Tschursin, who owns Foreign Traders, has advertised in Santa Fe Trend since its second issue. "Cynthia is a real go-getter, and we use the magazine because it always shows different aspects of Santa Fe," he said. "It's contemporary."

Greg Heltman first worked with Canyon at the Symphony. "I've known her and watched her grow over a long time," Heltman said. "She's dedicated and passionate about everything she does."

It takes nearly six months to produce a single issue. The publication that formerly went on the stands only twice a year now appears three times annually. An increase which was part of Canyon's national goal.

The challenge of running Trend is "carrying the ball through deadline," but Canyon said she continues to learn how to balance the content with her team members, and also with her own integrity. "I love what I do, and that's the most important part," she said.