First Posted: 3/4/2015
LIMA — Sharetta Smith believes that if people don’t like what they’re reading in the media, they should become a voice in the media.
And that’s what she’s done and is allowing other Lima residents to do with a news magazine called Urban Voice.
“Our target audience … is the urban community,” Smith said. “We want to make sure the urban community is educated about issues that are going on, not just locally but nationally.”
Smith, executive editor and Lima native, works on the magazine from where she lives and works as an attorney, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She comes back monthly to her hometown and one of those visits included an event she hosted titled the Black Business Owner Roundtable, which took place in September.
The need for an outlet for business owners to receive and report news became apparent at that meeting, Smith said.
The news magazine launched in January and will now come out monthly, usually during the first week of the month. March’s issue should be out this week, she said.
Jesse Lowe II, 3rd Ward Lima city councilman and owner of Black Lace hair salon, said he thinks the magazine is great.
“I think this magazine is going to give minorities within the city a louder voice to kind of say how they feel,” he said. “I think it gives a different outlook on things that have happened in the city of Lima.”
The publication has many local supporters, including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; Ron Fails; LaMont Monford and more, Smith said, and is written in the tradition of African-American newspapers, but it’s not aimed solely at African-Americans.
“We’re not exclusive, we’re inclusive,” she said. “Our mission is to educate, empower and engage.”
She wants to let people know what’s going on and if there’s something they can do about it, she said.
She’s grown tired of the conversation about Lima being lost in middle America.
“We’re not lost,” she said.
The magazine is free and can be found in a number of locations including: The Cheryl Allen Southside Community Center, the Bradfield Center, Dollhouse Clothing Boutique and the Philippian Missionary Baptist Church.
