LOOKING BACK, FACING FORWARD A

The larger the number, the more we celebrate longevity and how much time has passed. But many of those milestones can be traced back to small moments and quick decisions.

Take, for example, wedding anniversaries. I’ve got fourteen years coming in May, so more than a decade of memories, but it still all started with a single question about grabbing dinner one night.

And last year marked my tenth anniversary with WILMA and the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. But even that started years before with a choice to leave the traffic of Atlanta behind for the waterways of Wilmington.

I’m over-simplifying. All these life-altering decisions come with many more steps, and in my case, multiple pro/con lists (no list for the marriage one though, of course … maybe).

As we spend this year recognizing WILMA’s twentieth anniversary in the community, we’ll spend a lot of time talking about how it’s grown and where it’s headed. But I’m also interested in how it began.

Joy Allen, who started the Business Journal in 2000 and WILMA in 2003, says she and the staff wanted a magazine “for women, by women, and about women.” From one editor to another, I can appreciate/commiserate the mountain of details and decisions that took her to get from idea to printer, but I like to think it all came from that moment and conversation.

You can read more about those early days and Allen’s vision on page 65, as well as reminiscing with a few of the other women interviewed by WILMA over the years, in our anniversary section. That section also includes thoughts from readers and participants on page 60, answering the question of so Who is WILMA these days?

Since 2015, WILMA has expanded its work in women’s leadership development, largely through our Women to Watch Leadership Initiative. Starting on page 17, you can read about that work – not just about WILMA’s programs but also learn from other leaders in the community.

One of those leaders is our cover story subject, Edelmira Segovia, whose imprint on the region includes work with UNCW’s Centro Hispano and the New Hanover Community Endowment (page 92).

For the anniversary year, we’ve updated WILMA’s tagline, or description, to: Leadership + Lifestyle since 2003, mixing in that leadership content and the lifestyle coverage that helps you best enjoy living in Southeastern North Carolina.

All of this is part of WILMA’s look forward, starting with the issue in your hands that represents so much hard work from our team to redesign the magazine for its next chapter. Thanks to everyone who contributed their ideas, time, and creativity to the project – and to our readers who continue to share their perspectives and stories.

I’d be remiss to not end on a throwback to 2003 in looking ahead. As Dory says, (yes, Finding Nemo was the top-grossing film of 2003), just keep swimming.

Vicky Janowski, WILMA editor editor@wilmingtonbiz.com