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A hit with the rich and famous

Her magazine caters to the affluent Westchester county in New York. Meet Esther Davidowitz

NICHE MATTERS Esther Davidowitz PHOTO: S. R. RAGHUNATHAN

You could bump into Bill Clinton mowing his lawn. Or Ralph Lauren taking out the garbage in Westchester. Well, all right. They'll probably have interns, or enthusiastic struggling designers to do that for them. But the point is if you live in Westchester, which is a tremendously tony county in New York, you'd probably just yawn good morning in their direction before you headed to your yacht for breakfast.

"It's a very well-to-do area," smiles Esther Davidowitz, editor-in-chief of Westchester Magazine, a regional publication for the county, who is in Chennai on holiday. "Bill and Hilary live in my neck of the woods... Christopher Reeve lived there." She adds, "Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20, Vanessa Williams, Ralph Lauren... "

Home to the rich and famous, Westchester is also where Davidowitz runs her immensely successful magazine, which has been growing from strength to strength ever since it identified the county's biggest need, and started working to fulfil it. "We tell Westchester how to spend its money," she grins, adding that the "service-lifestyle" magazine tells the county's many affluent people how to live their lives by regularly listing practical and up-to-date information on the best schools, restaurants and shows in town.

Beginning as the innovative but relatively unsuccessful Spotlight magazine, the publication was originally rather unfocussed, writing on everything from New Jersey to New York City. Then, about six years ago, Davidowitz, who was editor of Spotlight, was asked to redesign and re-launch the magazine as a regional publication concentrating only on its home county: a move that made the magazine a must-have on every affluent Westchesterian's shopping list (probably wedged between caviar and Dom Perignon).

Increased circulation

"In the past six years, Westchester has doubled circulation, which is quick," says Esther adding, "We have a circulation of 70,000 and about 300,000 readers." Discussing how regional magazines are doing extraordinarily well in America, "Especially post 9/11, since people don't travel as much, as they don't want to leave home," Davidowitz says that they strictly concentrate on their very niche, but sizeable audience, aiming every single story at them. "The focus — it's so targeted there's no question about who it's for, what it's about," she says.

"The New York Times has a Westchester section, but it's not 1/5 as good as my magazine. Trust me." Stating that her magazine is "really really good at what it does" thanks to her small, but dedicated staff, and stable of freelancers — mostly from the county — Davidowitz denies that writing about just one area continuously makes finding new stories difficult. "I have more articles than pages."

Since their mission statement is to cover Westchester in a way that nobody else does, the magazine's team of writers leaves no Porsche unturned in their quest to get readers all the information they could possibly need.

Subject-specific

Discussing how they bring out issues centred on one subject, Davidowitz, for example, says their pets issue was every pet lover's guide to Westchester. "It listed babysitters for pets, doctors, day care centres, gourmet... " Then there was a cover story on "how to get everything fixed. Tune pianos. Sew carpets... "

The magazine has also spawned other publications, including a Home and Garden magazine since all those very rich people who read Westchester also have overwhelming houses. Which works out well for the reporters too. "We get to see some beautiful homes." Provided, of course, they can wheedle their way in.

"We've got into a bunch of homes already," says Esther, reeling off names of high fashion designers and Christopher Reeve. "Now, I'm desperate to get into the Clinton home," she laughs, "We're still working on it."

SHONALI MUTHALALY

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