We Got A Facelift, Baby!

Letter From Laurel

February 9, 2003

Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be rolling out our redesign, folks, and we really hope you like it. Click here to comment.

Why the change? mediabistro.com isn't just a job board any longer.

We've added SO MANY new services for our media community that the old design could no longer accommodate them. For example, we now have:

• Classes and adult education in 8 cities
• One-day seminars
• Media PERSONALS
• AvantGuild memberships
• Online Portfolios for your work
• Resume Revamps
• How to Pitch To Articles
• Event transcripts: Entertaining, Educational Panel Discussions with Media Insiders

Sometimes, I have to pinch myself when I think of where this site has taken my life -- and the lives of so many media people.

It all started with one cocktail party at a bar/restaurant in the East Village, Jules Bistro. Ten years ago, a friend and I decided to throw a party at Jules in order to meet more media people like us (we were both freelance writers at the time and felt disconnected from the greater media community because we worked from home).

Making introductions at the parties and helping people connect was second-nature to me and became a fun (and unpaid) sideline. Soon, the monthly parties developed into a social centerpiece for editors and editorial types who wanted to expand their circle of friends and contacts. What I loved about it was that it was a true community. Regular attendees formed friendships, dated, gave each other career advice, and yes, sometimes offered each other job leads or freelance assignments.

When a friendly downtown programmer offered to put up a web site for me in 1997, to enable my media attendees to connect electronically, I said "why not?" That first single-cell-amoeba-of-a-Web-site, with no frills and few hits, ultimately grew into mediabistro.com

Since that time, mediabistro.com has become a small and thriving, business. Originally, I manned it from my bedroom on 3rd Street. But in 1999, I received some funding for it, which helped me pay for a redesign, move into office space, hire a staff and generally expand our offerings. Today, mediabistro.com is PROFITABLE!! We have over 100,000 registered users (from reporters to advertising copywriters to designers) around the world; 2,000 of you have joined AvantGuild and hundreds of you attend our parties in major media cities.

We're always coming up with new ways to introduce media folks to each other. From dinner parties to spelling bees to basketball leagues to our Pre-Valentine's Day Personals Party.

I've met many, many of you at our events. I hope that some of you who are reading this -- and who I haven't yet met -- will be encouraged to come out and say hello some time. Either way, enjoy our offerings, give us feedback about what we are doing right or wrong and stay in touch.

Five years on the web, my friends -- and still growing. That's because of you!

much love,

Laurel
founder & cyberhostess
mediabistro.com
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