Today we’d like to introduce you to Tae Stubbs.
Tae, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Hyer Magazine started by finding a way to utilize all my creative talents at once. In 2016, I was blessed with the opportunity to dance as a lead in Teyana Taylor’s “Undercover” music video where I met a very wide & diverse network of creatives. After we discovered we had similar interests, we began connecting and doing more creative projects together. We would write our films/movies and film them then try to send them off or we would create our own music videos and use them for our demo/dance reels to book jobs. Unfortunately… At that time dancing wasn’t booming for me whereas I was still teaching dance at local dance studios to high schoolers and adults but where I thrived at was modeling. I’ve always had a good eye for fashion, patterns, scouting style/fads that I’d look good in so I took my talents to New York for fashion week. Prior to that, my friends would always notice I had great photos and they would want me to take their photos after I bought the camera to take my photos because I couldn’t afford to pay other people to take mine.
It was that moment that grew the company to where we are now; I couldn’t just be a “photographer” that took people’s photos for money. I wanted to create something good and something so good to where it could travel and reach others; whether for inspiration, motivation, advice or whatever thing that seemed to fit whomever life… I wanted to create something visual for my people/my friends that they could use to further their careers and also help expand others businesses. Hyer is an acronym for How You Escape Reality and it means how people get away from their everyday life that they’re forced to live. We photograph people how they want the world to see them, not how the world perceives them. Since 2018, we have been able to capture models, entertainers and influencers in Fashion Week for two years now, create ads for companies all over the United States and reach audiences outside this country (Africa, Canada, Paris). With all that we possess creatively, all of my friends have benefited from our company and outreach/outlet puts the spotlight on them in numerous ways that help us thrive together.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road but it has been an exceptional journey. Although we are blessed, we have faced a huge downfall being in the printing industry because it is dying. Majority of the road is very very impatient and love instant gratification and we have struggled greatly with it in the past. I believe that there is a huge misconception of getting information out to the people about how fast can we deliver or how long will they see it. With physical magazines, who is on the cover and what can they get from it matters to the greatest extent. Currently, our dilemma falls within the COVID-19 breakout but how we’ve manage is to stay virtual and always find positive ways to shine light on what’s going on; good and bad, we will always let our readers know what’s up and what the real is.
Please tell us about Hyer Magazine LLC.
Hyer Magazine is a publication company that highlights hidden figures in communities that thrive in the entertainment, fashion and culture industry. We help push or help find a way for others if we can. With us being in business for the last two years, our success comes from being able to get to events or create events with people or for the people that want to become successful in the three categories we focus on. We also create ads for companies and push their product/business to reach our target audiences and readers. Hyer is known for amazing photography and creating stories for others who may not have had a voice or for those who cannot develop a direct and concise plan to get to the big bosses that need to see them. I believe personally that our company prides ourselves on telling each story as it is and delivering it to who needs to see it; we have had many models come to us for distribution to agencies just form word of mouth promotion and we find the root of the problem of why an agency wouldn’t sign them, work on that opportunity, shoot their marketing material, print it and send it off. Our success rate so far has been 67% but we’ve only focused on 4 of 57 models that actually dedicated their time and efforts towards their futures. We are very much different from other publications because we mold the people how they want to be seen and not how we want. We listen and we move on what we hear directly.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would definitely do over our financial strategy. We started with a few hundred bucks and we underestimated the cost of inventory and didn’t follow our trends when we first started. In addition to finances, I would hire a mentor or advisor that specialized in marketing or public relations because we don’t always know the right answer to getting people’s attention. Our ultimate goal is to get better and with proper education and strategy we believe we can do it. I love who we are and what we stand for and we plan to continue to grow and become bigger. I would never start over this process or take back the struggles because it has made us much much stronger.
Pricing:
- Hyer Magazine Volume 11 – $15.99 (Release Date 09/01)
- Hyer Magazine Volume 10 – $15.99
- Hyer Magazine Volume 9 – $15.99
Contact Info:
- Address: HQ
167 Porter St NE
Office 2
Warren, OH 44483
(We are working digitally only, no visitation allowed at this time) - Website: www.hyermagazine.com
- Phone: 3303071174
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @hyermagazine
- Facebook: Hyer Magazine
- Twitter: @hyermagazine
Image Credit:
Tae Stubbs, Anthony Schick, David Kage, Karl Lee
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