The Being A Broad Story
One spring morning in 1997, a 25-year-old British teacher living in Japan woke up with the idea to start a magazine for other foreign women. Having noticed that every time foreign women got together there was an outpouring of information-sharing concerning everything about their lives, and that there was a distinct lack of media addressing such necessary (and sometime unnecessary but entertaining!) issues related to being a woman in Japan, Caroline Pover decided that a magazine would be a great way to bring those foreign women together to support each other. While a few foreign women’s organisations did exist at that time, they each had a specific focus ‘97 this organisation was created to be a network open to ALL foreign women, regardless of age, time in Japan, employment status, relationship status, or motherhood status. The network was to reach out to all foreign women, who all shared one thing in common ‘97 Being A Broad.
Not knowing anything about publishing, Caroline gathered a group of like-minded foreign women together who wanted to write, and set about learning how to edit and layout their work. The first issue was released in September that year ‘97 a black and white, photocopied, very basic-looking 16-page magazine. Caroline would carry copies in her backpack on her way to school and hand them out to unsuspecting foreign women on the trains or on the street. Somehow one of those copies got in the hands of an Asahi Shimbun journalist, and news of the magazine spread throughout Japan to Hokkaido and Fukuoka.
Publishing from a tiny six-mat apartment in Tokyo, Caroline would roll back her futon so the writers and other volunteers could all get together on her floor and pack up the magazines each month, to send them out throughout Japan. Magazine publishing is an expensive business, and after 13 issues, Caroline finally decided to stop the magazine.
But the online network continued, and Caroline was now a recognised expert on the lives of foreign women in Japan, in frequent demand as a speaker, and advisor. She decided to write a book to help foreign women make the most of their lives in Japan, interviewing over 200 members of the online network to form most of her research. Starting from July 1999, she wrote every day after school, and eventually stopped teaching to focus purely on her book. Figuring she knew enough about magazine publishing to help her on her way to learning about book publishing, Caroline decided to self-publish, under the name Alexandra Press (named after her mother). In July 2001, Caroline’s book ‘Being A Broad in Japan: everything a Western woman needs to survive and thrive’ was released. Breaking into the usually closed publishing industry in Japan, Caroline established a direct relationship with the Tower Records chain in Japan, in whose Shibuya branch her book became the number one bestseller!
As she built her distribution network throughout Japan, and as her book gained more publicity, Caroline was soon asked to publish other people’s and organisations’ work. Several book projects and one magazine later (Caroline took over the well-known Weekender magazine in 2004), Caroline took on an Australian woman with a young child, who was keen to get back to work. Emily Downey took over the Being A Broad reins, organising events and managing the website, while Caroline focused on the Weekender.
In early 2006, Caroline invited Emily to become a partner in Being A Broad, and together they decided to relaunch the magazine that started it all, almost ten years earlier. With the Being A Broad pages Caroline had added to Weekender magazine gaining so much support from both readers and advertisers, the timing seemed right to bring back Being A Broad magazine. At the end of that year, the magazine was relaunched!
Caroline has been asked to speak throughout Japan, about her experiences as an entrepreneur and as a prominent foreign woman, and also to provide support and inspiration to men and women, Japanese and foreign. She was recognized for her contributions to the foreign women’s community at Foreign Executive Women’s 20th anniversary gala dinner in 2002, and was awarded Best Entrepreneur at the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan’s British Business Awards at their 60th anniversary celebrations in 2008.
Now, Caroline and Emily co-publish the monthly Being A Broad magazine, with their great editor, Danielle Tate-Stratton. With events such as girls’ nights, brunches, career seminars, makeup parties, clothes swaps, wine tastings, singles get-togethers, and gatherings for mothers and their children, Being A Broad has supported thousands of women during their lives in Japan. Take a look around this site to find out how Being A Broad can help you make the most out of your life in Japan, and get in touch if you’d like to get involved!