Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mary Rampellini. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mary, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The Metroport Messenger covers a handful of rapidly growing communities in North Texas. It’s an area in which I spent a good deal of my childhood and at 19 I launched a newspaper in the market. I sold the publication that was later returned to me, but I never reopened the paper. Fast forward more than 20 years, and after being told there was no community newspaper in the same area, I thought it might be worthwhile to launch another publication. The Metroport Messenger was born about three years ago,

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My desire to start a newspaper in my community comes from a lifetime spent writing, starting out with poetry as a teenager to an eventual career path of journalism.

It’s my intent for the Metroport Messenger to be an uplifting and inspiring read through articles celebrating the accomplishments of community members and businesses to spotlighting folks who serve others in need. We also look at economic growth in the market, as our community is rapidly expanding.

For our customers, or advertisers, our goal is to produce content that keeps readers on the page. We also offer reasonably-priced advertising rates, so businesses of all sizes can comfortably and frequently communicate with the community in print, through the Metroport Messenger.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Deadlines are a constant in the newspaper industry – whether getting an article or advertisement submitted on time, or having the paper ready to send to the printer. But it can be tough to be ruled by deadlines when you are starting up a new business and the market is just getting to know how you operate.

I’ve had to step away from the constant pulse of a ticking clock in my head and learn flexibility. For me, that’s meant setting deadlines much farther out than I thought necessary for an issue of a newspaper. This gives me the wiggle room to cover an additional event, or accept another advertisement. And since advertising funds the paper, flexibility has been central to doing business.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As a writer, a challenge for me as the publisher of a newspaper is selling advertising space. It’s not my area of expertise and I have had – and continue to have – a difficult time finding folks to sell advertising. Often, it’s friends who step up to help out and their assistance keeps the wheels turning.

In my constant search for ad reps, I’ve had the pleasure of working with friends and friends of friends who have inspired me by their willingness to knock on doors and make calls with no guarantee of success. It’s their resilience that inspires me to keep stepping out of my comfort zone to try and sell advertising space.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @metroportmessenger
• Facebook: Metroport Messenger
• Twitter: @MessengerUpdate
• Other: Phone: (682)429-2456 Email: metroportmessenger@aol.com