DiscoverYour Daughter

I started Discovery Girls magazine when my daughter Alexa was eight, because I wanted her middle-school years to be different from mine. When I was that age, I’d often felt alone. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that other girls went through confusing times and struggled to fit in, too—I just hadn’t known it back then. I was sure there must be a magazine that connected girls and showed them they weren’t really alone. To my surprise, though, I couldn’t find one. The magazine I wanted didn’t exist—so I began to think about creating it myself. Right from the start, I knew we’d need to consult real girls to keep the magazine fresh and—well, real. So I got together with 12 girls from our local middle school, and we spent hours huddled around my kitchen table, snacking on pizza or popcorn and talking about everything they were going through. Working with those girls was such a great experience that I hit upon the idea of traveling around to do our photo shoots. That way, we’d have girls from all over sharing their ideas and experiences. They’d even be our fashion models and cover girls.

10 Years Later

Ten years have gone by, and how things have changed! Instead of being a great little publication no one has ever heard of, Discovery Girls is an award-winning magazine with a readership of more than 900,000 girls! Through it all, one thing has remained constant: our connection to our readers. Well over 700 girls have been Discovery Girls, and many, many more have contributed to the magazine in some other way. They’ve shared their stories, their opinions, and their dreams with us. Most important, they’ve shown true caring for other girls. They continue to inspire all of us at DG every single day. Without them, Discovery Girls would still be just a dream!

Today

One of the most exciting things about creating DG has been always been reading the amazing mail we get. Spend a few hours pouring through our stacks or sorting through the e-mail from our readers (and yes, we ALL still take the time to do that—even me!) and you’re transported back to the days when you were 12. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve received a letter or an e-mail from some special girl and wished we had a way to share it with you, our readers’ parents. Or how many times we’ve gotten back fascinating survey results and wanted to share those with you. Now, we’re so excited that we can!

We also want DiscoverYourDaughter.com to serve as a forum to connect you with other parents of tween girls, just as Discovery Girls connects girls to each other. We hope you’ll join us and visit often. Together, we’ll help your daughters grow up to be strong, confident young women!

Catherine