Dear readers,
It is with happiness and reflection that I say this – makchic is now 10 years old. It has been ten years of informing, supporting and connecting with parents of Malaysia and elsewhere, and what an honour and journey it has been for me and our humble team. Allow me to tell you a little bit about makchic‘s birth and development, as all of this did not begin with me. It was the brainchild and hard work of other strong, compassionate and dynamic women, and we also salute them today as part of our thankful recollections about our brand’s genesis.
makchic was first thought up by entrepreneur Jia-Wei Loo and helmed by its first Editor-in-Chief (EiC), Myra Mahyuddin. Jia-Wei was publishing Tongue in Chic back then – a visionary local fashion portal started by popular blogger Joyce Wong and Freeform founder Adrian Yap. “Our readers and staff were starting families and we realised that maybe there was space to expand into a local site for young parents – if the Tongue in Chic audience were to start a family, what resources would they need? That was the seed that started it all,” Jia-Wei said.
She got in touch with writer and arts practitioner Myra in 2013, who at the time was a first-time mother and looking for some help navigating motherhood. Just like so many mothers, she was also in need of a job with flexible hours, and so she said yes to the role of makchic’s EiC. The site was thus set up in 2013 under the Popfolio Network.
Myra said she was excited about creating a platform at a time when local parenting information was not as easy to access, with a lot more content from the Western perspective. “I remember the first post that blew up was a listing of kid-friendly eateries in the Klang Valley. The other was a contributor’s column on prioritising her spouse over their children. This made us realise that we were on to something,” she said.
But the media landscape is a hard one to be in, as all media practitioners would know. Myra said the challenges at the start were finding a voice and identity for makchic, and finding an audience, engaging with them, and sustaining the engagement. “Additionally, we wanted to cover so much more, both editorially and events, but the reality was that resources were limited.” Jia-Wei said there were some partnership issues and challenges that led to a few lost opportunities in access to funding. “We also launched at the time where the only revenue stream for media companies was ad revenue. Instagram and Facebook were growing platforms, bloggers were still the main influencers – it was such a different landscape then, sometimes it felt like we were just really trying everything and hoping for the best.”
Some of the challenges back then are still present today. People want free information, and it is hard to compete with other brands and platforms for advertising space. makchic has suffered rough patches and had to stop operations for a while. It was with the recognition of Myra and Jia-Wei’s amazing work and the portal’s potential that I decided to work with Popfolio Network’s Hardesh Singh to revive it in 2017. And after so many ups and downs, and different teams and iterations, makchic in its current form is now, since 2021, fully owned by mothers for mothers. We currently have the most incredible team of talented, passionate and brilliant women – women I am grateful to know – producing content that we hope resonates with a community that we love.
I felt I had to include this backgrounder for various reasons. One is that, like motherhood and womanhood, makchic did not get here in an easy or linear fashion. There were no magical fairy godmothers, or financial deep-pocketed godfathers. Things were never quite that straightforward, and the real story contains a lot of details that matter. It was complicated and challenging, there were really tough times and tears and many times, I just wanted to give up. There have been mistakes, oversights and blunders. It took a lot of help, good will, different personalities and hard work to get to where we are now, and I’ll be honest – after all that, it is still challenging for us. It is however, a challenge that is a meaningful and worthwhile one, if you think about the times we had to start from scratch, all over again.
Just like motherhood and womanhood, the most important thing I have learned through this journey with makchic is that building trust, goodwill and loyalty with people takes a lot of time, effort and patience. The most important thing I felt I had to do at the start was to set up an ethos and value system for us to build new foundations with. We have parted with or turned down jobs, opportunities and people who perhaps did not align with our value system or suit our team, and sometimes, this did cost us.
We would like to think that our loyal readers know that when we do anything, we do it with a sense of learning, trying our best, and following our ethos and manifesto as faithfully as we can. Personally, I also always wanted to create a place where mothers can have their dream job – earning an income with a flexible and understanding work environment, supporting and advocating for other women and families, and with a team and company that will encourage you in all your other dreams and endeavours. For what are we all, but multifaceted women with layers to us, who dream big for our children and ourselves?
When I think of the people and partners who have trusted us and stood by us through this years, I am heartened by the undeniable beauty of building strong, good relationships. Not a few times have I been reminded of the importance of trust and the notion of bersangka baik (assuming the best of others) in makchic’s 10 years of existence. We still work everyday on this and try to get into the shoes of the mothers, fathers, families and organisations we serve and work with, with empathy and without judgment.
If I had to pick my three favourite memories with makchic? One would be the time we successfully raised over RM85,000 to help single and vulnerable mothers during the pandemic, putting cash directly into their hands. Our #Mums4Mums campaign initially had the goal of RM30,000, or RM300 for 100 mums, but we were awed by our generous readership and partners.
Another favourite memory was the aftermath of our very first ‘Mama Secrets’ on Instagram in 2019, when our team was thankful and floored by the intense and overwhelming response from our readers who had poured out their hearts in the session. It is now a beloved and regular segment on makchic, where mothers and women express their innermost thoughts in a safe space.
My last, but by no means least, favourite memory would be holding a copy of ‘What If?’ in my hands. Our first children’s picture book on personal safety, consent and body boundaries was published in September 2021, and I remember thinking “Wow, we actually have a book for children” while flipping through the pages of the beautiful book.
I am ever so grateful to our current team, and to the many people who have contributed to our development, no matter how small or brief, during the past 10 years. To our loyal readers, allies and friends, to our amazing partners and clients, and to everyone who has been part of our journey, thank you.
By Laych Koh
