When we showed The Carton’s blueprint to a few of our mentors, they gave us the best advice one can give: “Publish it now. Don’t wait to get it to the level you want it to be.” We didn’t like the logo that was presented to us, we weren’t sure about the layout and some of the content we were dabbling with. But we knew that we were jaded with the food content that was out there and were sick and tired of the biases around our region and so we went for it. We had fun with a wide range of styles and ideas, put it out there, and waited to see what resonates with whom. Everyone who helped make it happen did it because they believed in what we were trying to do. Before we knew it, people we respected in the industry were writing about us and The Carton’s first edition was on magazine shelves beyond the region, but more importantly, on our cities’ shelves as well.