Safiyyah Warren Moore grew up around newspapers, printing, writers, photographers, and publishers. Her father, Hugo Warren, was the publisher of the Philadelphia New Observer an extremely popular weekly newspaper. Not only that, her grand- father J.H. Warren II and her great grandfather J.H. Warren Sr. published the Washington New Observer, a weekly tabloid in Washington D.C., for many years.
It should come as no surprise that Safiyyah has taken on the role of publisher herself. Three years ago, Safiyyah founded an online lifestyle publication called On The Scene Magazine. Safiyyah credits her family lineage with giving her the vision and gumption to start her own publication. “J.H. Warren was my great grand-
father, and he started the publishing lineage on my father’s side. He started the Washington New Observer. Before that, he was an editor for the Pittsburgh Courier, and he started a publication called Highlight. He was always, from what I understand, into media and publishing. He was always interested in highlighting informative content. He was resourceful, always making sure people got the information that they needed. Following in his footsteps was his son J.H. Warren Junior who carried on the Washington New Observer and my father was the founder, publisher, and editor of the Philadelphia New Observer, which he got from working with his father and grandfather.”
When Safiyyah started On The Scene Magazine, she was determined to continue the family legacy of providing positive content and being a people’s publication. “There is a void not only of positive information but information of substance. We are inundated with negativity and sensationalized news that I don’t think is resourceful or food for thought for our people. That is what drives me to provide positive information that can be utilized by our people,” she shared. “We cover a full gamut: News, Sports, Entertainment, Education, Business, and Health Fashion what I like to call edutainment as long as it is positive.’
When the Philadelphia New observer ceased publishing in 2008, it left a huge vacuum. Safiyyah wanted her magazine to fill that void, but she waited until she was in a better position to start an Online vehicle. Mrs. Moore’s editorial approach was not to restrict the scope of her magazine to Philadelphia or the tri-state area. Using the technology at her disposal, she can get stories, articles, and pictures from all over the country and world. “I didn’t want to limit myself, and I felt as though other regions could benefit from our content and we could benefit from penetrating those markets as well. It was a definite decision, especially if you have the technology and the ability to reach a broader base. Why not use it? There is an advantage to having a digital magazine versus a print publication, the time-sensitivity and I can create more space in a digital publication than in a traditional print publication.”
The COVID-19 pandemic offered challenges to securing content, accessing events to cover, and having material to publish. Yet these challenges also provided opportuni- ties to be resourceful and innovative. “At first, I thought COVID limited me because right before COVID hit I was invited to numerous events like the South by Southwest concert and festival in Austin Texas. For me, it was great because it was a national event, but then everything shut down, and at first, I thought this would stagnate us. But looking back, I took the lesson and the blessing and strate- gized and reorganized how we can best serve our market. Out of this time came the branding products, and we were able to still do stories. I look back on the past year and the last three years, and I’m proud of that. I didn’t let the coronavirus and the pandemic affect me, and I put the work in (to reorganize). Now I’m ready to let everybody see where we are going.”
During the pandemic, she came up with the idea to use marketing products like clothing to boost revenue and the magazine’s profile. “We started with one hoodie, and the slogan was The Black Press Is the Voice of Black America. That saying came from my grandfather, who had it printed on a Tee shirt back in the ‘70s. I have the original shirt. It was my father’s shirt. I always had my father’s stuff, and I saw it again, and it was like an epiphany be- cause the Black press is the voice of Black America. I discovered it wasn’t trademarked, so I got it trademarked, and I merchandised it in the form of a hoodie. Then we came out with a Tee shirt, and we have another line that will come out soon and some other amazing projects that I’m not at liberty to speak about now. I really want to be innovative in the media world. It’s something I got from my dad. The banner for the New Observer was, ‘Innovators of the positive news format,’ and I want to be an innovator.”
Short term, Mrs. Moore wants to expand the awareness of the magazine. Increase the product line and its marketing and add more written content. She also wants to branch into video content. Long term, she wants to be able to publish more editions. She is looking for writers, photographers videographers to add to her staff. She wants to penetrate the incarcerated population because she feels there is an untapped talent resource for writers. She wants to develop an app so people can access On the Scene Magazine.
“I want to be a media maven. I love what Cathy Hughes is doing. I would love to expand beyond just a magazine and print and expand into visuals, movies, stage plays, and books. She is looking to expand her relationships with the Black Journalists associations, the PABJ, NABJ, and the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association). I grew up attending the NNPA conferences. We want to partner with Chambers of Commerce. There is strength in numbers, and we at On The Scene Magazine can offer a great benefit by being another resource and another mouthpiece for some of these organizations disseminating information.”
On The Scene Magazine is colorful. It’s interesting, it covers a variety of topics, and it is free. It can be accessed and read at www.onthescenemagazine.com.
