If there is anyone who understands the importance of home, it is Mary Taggart, Editor-in-Chief of Ottawa At Home Magazine. As head of the Ottawa based décor and lifestyle magazine’s editorial team, she has earned a reputation for her creativity, decorating talent and charity work. At a time when the publishing industry was severely disrupted and magazines all over the world have either had to pivot or fold, Ottawa At Home grew, its glossy pages a staple on the city’s publication circuit. I caught up with Mary to talk about the magazine, leading an editorial team and how we can create inspiration in our own space.
“I started design as a child and always had an attraction to interior aesthetics, but it wasn’t a direction I took right out of school. I completed a degree in English and Education, which is where I thought I wanted to take my career. I started my family shortly after university however and in seeking something outside the home, enrolled in a residential decor program at a local college.”
Mary started her own design company after completing the program and went on to make a name for herself in Ottawa designing model homes.
“Model homes are a lot of fun because they are essentially a blank canvas. You don’t have the restriction of a family living in the space so you can create your own family home from scratch.” she says. It was through this that she got involved with the media, doing segments on television to give advice on decor and interior design. At the time Mary was a regular contributor to the Ottawa Citizen’s home decor column. It is there she discovered her true passion, inspiring people to create their own spaces instead of doing it for them. Writing for a home decor magazine seemed like an obvious fit. An opportunity came up with Ottawa At Home Magazine, and it was a perfect match.
A self-professed “magazine junkie,” we talk about her early years with the publication.
“At the time Caroline Andrews founded it, it was a unique product offering in Ottawa and it was really exciting for me to take something that someone with a very strong magazine vision had started.”
Caroline Andrews went on to run several Canadian magazines, including Style at Home, Canadian Living and Elle Canada.
We talk about how the magazine has grown and evolved as a print publication since Mary took over, at a time when magazines have had to become primarily digital offerings.
“We are an advertiser driven magazine, not a subscription-based product so strong relationships are key to surviving and thriving in this space,” she tells me. “By combining my role as publisher and editor-in-chief, I am both the heart and the head of the magazine—something that isn’t always a popular business model in conventional journalism, except in this case it works.” Mary attributes the strength of this model to understanding the business climate and knowing the kinds of stories people want to read. “We won’t do a story for the sake of advertising revenue, if it doesn’t make sense for the brand,” she says.
Mary believes that the true differentiator for the publication, however, has come from distribution—an area she feels was a weakness and one she has strengthened.
“Every business that subscribes to the Globe and Mail, gets a copy of the magazine, so that is a big network for us. We are also in a lot of local businesses—coffee shops and grocery stores. We hired a door-to-door delivery company to distribute the magazine in targeted neighborhoods and that was a huge success. We print 30,000 copies of the magazine and I can pretty much guarantee that 29,890 will get into the hands of a reader!” That kind of specificity is not only impressive, it is illustrative of the deep understanding Mary has of the Ottawa magazine market, the kind of content readers are looking for and an unwavering belief in her product.
Our conversation turns to the current climate, where millions of people are being forced to stay home and maintain social distancing measures. I ask her about how we can make our spaces more conducive to the challenges of living and working when we are forced to spend so much time inside.
“Create a space of your own,” she tells me. “No matter how big or small your space, you need to find your corner and make it yours whether for work or leisure. Examine your needs, if you need to work, reflect or just spend time alone, everyone in the family can define their nook and do what they want with it.” She explains further, “One of the amazing things that’s happening at home right now is that people are looking at their spaces and trying to understand what they need from it. Home is no longer a place to come to at the end of the day, order takeout and go to bed, but a place to be enjoyed—and I am seeing a lot of creativity there. We are faced with something much greater than just needing a roof over our heads right now and this security is causing people to look at their homes, whatever the size, with fresh eyes.”
At a time when big home renovations and redecorating projects are on pause, I ask Mary for some quick tips on making our spaces more inspiring and using what we have, to spruce them up.
“My biggest suggestion is to paint all the walls on the outside of main rooms like the hallways and walk through spaces, in a neutral color. That will help make your space feel more open and breathable. The impact is amazing,” the decor maven says. Her research in color therapy, and years of experience have taught her how a simple paint job can make a world of difference.
“Another suggestion is to create excitement around food,” Mary says. “We are seeing people move away from quick, convenient meals to taking the time to prepare recipes, work on presentation and create ambience around mealtime.” She suggests avoiding recipes with very obscure ingredients however, because of supply shortages. “It’s time to bring out those appliances at the back of the kitchen cabinets, julienne our vegetables and try that risotto we have been meaning to, while engaging the whole family—even making a math or science project out of it. We have the gift of time and it is important we remember that because there is isolation fatigue around staying home. Finding a bit of natural glamour in simple ways is rejuvenating.”
That Mary has a passion for the home and creating inspiration within four walls is evident. Her success comes from years of observation, a keen eye and talent for telling stories, but she is quick to acknowledge that it is attributed as much to what she does not know, as what she does.
“I don’t think there is any shame in not knowing how to do something or admitting failure. I subscribe to the Peter Principle and have been fortunate to work with an incredible team, many of whom have been with me since I took over the magazine more than ten years ago. When I took on the job as editor-in-chief, I did not know everything. I was lucky to be able to learn from incredible people around me and be well supported. I believe you need to work with people that are better than you at certain things to truly be excellent.”
As our conversation winds down, I am keenly aware of Mary’s generosity. She is well recognized, well connected and well positioned—through the magazine she has met and become friends with Kimberly Seldon, a Toronto based designer and Lisa Tant, former editor-in-chief of Flare magazine and Creative Director at Nordstrom Canada. But her generosity of spirit comes through in how she speaks about everyone she has had the opportunity to work with and projects she has been able to lend her name to. Through the magazine, she has been able to support initiatives that she is passionate about, including Winterlude, the capital’s largest winter celebration and events around Canada’s 150 celebrations.
Finding inspiration and creating uniqueness at home has become an important aspect of life for millions of Canadians and people around the world. Mary’s story is inspiring to anyone who is passionate and creative and wants to carve out a niche for themselves—at home or professionally. She has had an exciting and invigorating career, and for a traditional girl at heart, it has truly been a dream job!
