By Craig Kaminer

I’ve been thinking about change a lot lately – partially because of the 10th anniversary of Sophisticated Living in St. Louis, the book From Strength to Strength given to me by a close friend, the January 6 hearings, and the barrage of political ads for midterm elections. While some people hate change, I have always run towards it - sometimes with great outcomes, other times not so much.

Sometime between now and the end of the year, you’ll see some new people on our team as our editor, Lou Ann Wilcox, hands off her job to someone who will hopefully bring to the position what she has; a new digital content producer as Grace Mikula starts a new job in her field of nutrition education; and I invest more time growing our brand into a truly multi-media enterprise with new special editions (Sophisticated Giving, Sophisticated Wellness, and up to four more publications in 2023), more digital content, and of course more of what we have done so well over the last 10 years. I am grateful for the contributions of teams past, but I am also energized by what is to come.

We started Sophisticated Living when I spent most of my time running the marketing and public relations firm Twist. The magazine was an outlet for our stories - a way to connect to the St. Louis community and something for me to do after my days of running an agency were behind me. It has not always been easy as the world of print media has changed dramatically, but it has been wonderful working with some of our other publishers, the many people we feature, and the opportunity to express thoughts on our community and the world in which we live. Surprisingly, our business improved during the pandemic, and what I thought might be the end of our run, has become a new and expanded opportunity as some of our media competitors have shrunk or folded.

From Strength to Strength, a highly acclaimed book written this year by Arthur C. Brooks, is a roadmap for thriving in the second half of life. Packed with practical advice, it helps readers stop dwelling on past successes and find fulfillment in the present. Ideally, it is a rallying cry for people like you and me who are at the age when we are thinking about what to do next, transitioning from what we did well to something that doesn’t feel like work, and finding joy in something new, not because of the financial or reputational rewards, but for personal satisfaction and fulfillment. Don’t worry, I am not exploring things outside of Sophisticated Living, but rather exploring more deeply what drove me to start Sophisticated Living in the first place.

As I watched Jack Danforth recently make a plea via a television commercial to return politics to the middle – where the majority of people I know want our country to head regardless if you are right or left of center – I was compelled to call his office, meet with him to discuss why he is doing this now (at the age of 85), and pick his brain to see what we can do to bring honor back to the politics, and most importantly, to the state of Missouri.

Craig Kaminer

Publisher

craig@slmag.net