Sean Pearce, Staff Writer

That’s because the precocious Aurora high school student has more than proven her prose skills with the creation of a self-published magazine dubbed Paper Street.

It was something she had an inkling to do for a very long time.  

“A little over a year ago, I wanted to start a magazine for teenagers,” Olivia said. “I had an idea for a summer company, so when I heard about the government program from my dad, I really jumped at the chance.”

The program to which Olivia refers is called, strangely enough, Summer Company. Sponsored by the province, the program gives young people advice and financial assistance toward starting their own companies. Thus, Paper Street was born.

For Olivia, the first step in getting the magazine going was to recruit writers. Things seemed to be going swimmingly at first, but it wasn’t long before she learned all the hard work was going to fall to her as editor-in-chief.

“I ended up doing it pretty much by myself,” Olivia said. “I had some friends who agreed to do something for it, but sometimes you can only rely on yourself.”

Despite being essentially a one woman operation, Olivia was lucky because she found no end of ideas for stories. Just about everything provided an inspiration.

“I have always loved writing and one of the things I liked (about the magazine) was that all of the stories just came naturally,” Olivia said. “I’d be watching TV, taking a walk; everything I saw gave me ideas.”

Olivia said she was amazed how receptive her sources were to being interviewed.

“A lot of people really reacted positively,” she said. “I went to Wakestock and actually got a press pass and got to go backstage; I was really shocked.”

While at the summer wakeboarding festival and rock concert, Olivia was able to score an interview with up-and-coming Canadian indie-artist Lights, saying it was a big thrill to interview the musician, who also ended up on the cover.

“She was very nice,” Olivia said. “I felt so honoured they gave me the chance and there was never any pressure. It went really, really well.”

In addition to writing the stories, Olivia also pounded the pavement in search of advertisers.

That turned out to be much harder than securing the interviews.

“I learned the hard way that a lot of people say no,” she said. “A lot of them did agree to let me put my magazine in their store, though.”

It was important to get those advertisements, she said, because she wanted Paper Street to be ad supported so it could be a free publication. She didn’t feel right selling it, especially in the cut-throat, competitive magazine market.

The ads did eventually come and Olivia was able to lay out the magazine and get it printed with an initial run of 500 copies. Many of these were given away to those who attended the Paper Street launch party held a week-and-a-half ago.

So far, the magazine has been a big hit and Olivia is already booking an order with her printer for another 500 copies.

For Olivia, it has been profitable in more ways than one.

She said she couldn’t be happier with how Paper Street turned out and that it has broad appeal so readers of many stripes should find it a good read.

“I would describe it as really having something for everyone, because I wanted to make sure it was a magazine everyone would find interesting. I wouldn’t necessarily put a label on it,” Olivia said.

“For example, I did a story on tattoos and piercings and it wasn’t just saying ‘They’re cool and you should get one,’ but it talks about the things you should think about before getting one.”one-trick-pony.

Olivia said she already has designs on keeping the magazine going,most likely as a quarterly publication.

Doing it more frequently would simply be a little too demanding, she said.

After all, Olivia still has high school to think about, having just entered Grade 11 at L’ecole Renaissance, the new French Catholic high school in Aurora. Her school schedule will keep her busy over the coming months, she said, but added she’d find the time to make a second issue of Paper Street a reality.

Of course, there’s more to Olivia’s life than school and magazines. When she’s not engaged in either of those pursuits, Olivia can be found socializing with friends, watching TV, playing on the computer or simply reading a book.

“I like to read a lot,” she said. “I’m a big bookworm. Right now, I’m reading Pride and Prejudice.”

As for her future, Olivia said she’s pretty sure it lies in journalism. She has already investigated the program offered at Ryerson University and said she likes what she sees. The school is definitely her front-runner, for now.  

“I see myself writing for a magazine in the future,” Olivia said. “Right now, I’d say my favourites are Cosmo Girl or Teen Vogue, but in the future I’d like to write for something a little bit more adult.”

Until then, Olivia said, she’s just going to keep at Paper Street and working toward her journalism career.

She definitely has the will to get there.  

“This was totally worth it,” Olivia said. “At the beginning, I said I don’t know where this will lead, but, if you really want something, you have to put aside your own doubts and just go for it, because that’s all that really matters.”