When Kaylen Ralph and Joanna Demkiewicz were students at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the announcement of the National Magazine Awards for 2012 shocked them.

“Not one woman was nominated in any of the major writing categories of the awards, so that was very frustrating,” Ralph said. “And, I think we were even more aware of it because we were sitting in a journalism class at the time that was predominately women. We pretty much texted each other in class that day and we were like, ‘OK, let’s start a magazine.'”