New women’s magazine launches in O.C.

Damsel. The definition is as broad as the editorial team behind the new women’s lifestyle magazine would like their demographic to be.

“A damsel pretty much defines every young woman,” said Nicole Wurzell, the managing editor of the Costa Mesa-based publication that launched its premier issue Sept. 5.

“We don’t want to reach just surfers or just skaters or just fashionistas. We want to be every girl.”

The free magazine got off the ground at the end of July, when Publisher and Editor in Chief Luann Petix left her post at a similar publication and hand-selected Wurzell, Art Director Mariela Castillo and Director of Photography Jason Wallis to help her as she pursued her dream.

“I’m a huge magazine junkie, I’m a fashion junkie, I’m a beauty product junkie and I breathe off fashion magazines so it just made sense for me to follow my dream and start my own magazine,” Petix said.

Though the process of locating a home base, finding advertisers and building a 45,000-circulation magazine in a month’s time was strenuous, it all paid off when a truck pulled up at the Pomona Avenue office to deliver the first issue.

“We have invested so much time and so much of ourselves into it, starting with the technical details of what to call it and what it will look like down to the details of what font to use and how many pages it will be,” said Wurzell, a 20-something Huntington Beach native.

“It seems like a dream, but here it is and it looks gorgeous!”

Damsel, which aims to inform readers on “how to live, what to love and where to land,” will be distributed throughout Orange County at boutiques, hair salons, restaurants and through their major advertisers, which include Billabong, Roxy and Element. It also has limited circulation in select metropolitan cities across the country.

This month’s issue features Haley Bennett of “Music and Lyrics” on the cover and includes hair and fashion tips for fall, a piece on shopping at Los Feliz Village and a feature on British rockers The Holloways.

Sitting in their near-empty office, which boasts pink walls, crystal doorknobs, and a shabby chic chandelier, table and chair, Petix and Wurzell admit there is still much work to be done, though they couldn’t be more excited to do it.

“We want more of everything — more advertisers, more pages, more eyeballs on it,” Petix said. “There’s only room to move up from here.”

To learn more, go to www.damsel-mag.com.