Amy Bailey, MyScoop Media
written by: Staff Writer | photos by: Andrew Hester
She is a graduate of the Birmingham Venture Club's respected Entrepreneur Accelerator Program, was featured in MSN Money and her business now spans three states, with plans to expand even farther. If you doubt the business acumen of Birmingham’s own “fashionista”, Amy Bailey, founder and publisher of MyScoop Media, Inc., or the viability of a fashion and communications based business in Birmingham, it’s time to reconsider.
Just three years ago, Bailey was an advertising account manager for national luxury publisher Robb Report Group with an idea to launch an online style magazine in Birmingham. "I had been in magazine publishing since I graduated college. I always wanted to publish my own magazine and felt there was a huge void in the South for media that targeted women. With the way the world was going it just made sense to do this online." To test her theory, Bailey began a style blog that soon gathered a large and loyal following. Armed with a readership of almost 5,000, an inspirational novel given to her by a friend; Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, and a newfound moniker as Birmingham’s fashionista, Bailey says she realized the next logical step was clear. In the summer of 2007 MyScoop Media became a business.
Keeping start-up costs low and with a baby on the way, Bailey initially ran MyScoop from her home. MyScoop is now housed in Innovation Depot, a nationally recognized business incubator closely associated with the Birmingham Venture Club, of which Bailey is a member. Bailey’s involvement with the Birmingham Venture Club has been a great asset to MyScoop, especially as the company grows. Bailey states: "Out of all the business organizations I have the opportunity to be a part of this one is the most vital and most energizing for me."
According to Ed Fields, the Birmingham Venture Club’s Executive Secretary, the club has also benefited from Bailey’s active involvement. "Amy's ideas, energy and willingness to share her network has been invaluable." A key example of Bailey's contributions is her procurement of Lydia Mondavi as the speaker for the BVC's June meeting. Moreover, Fields states the new video profiles of members that are included in the BVC's newsletters all came from a comment Bailey made in a marketing committee meeting - a committee Bailey was pulled into when the BVC took note of her aforementioned qualities.
Profitable in its first year, expanded to three states by its second and now receiving over 638,000 views and over 30,000 unique visitors each month; MyScoop's growth is successful by any standard. Bailey has keenly identified and filled a gap; an online style magazine targeted to the Southern woman. Bailey attributes MyScoop’s success to being different than other traditional media and capturing a spirit that women identify with. "We believe that the future of media is online so we have embraced this fact while focusing on local and regional businesses. At the same time we target the female consumer, who we believe is the most important consumer." In support of her belief in the female consumer, Bailey cites a study recently conducted by Boston Consulting Group showing women control 72% of consumer spending and over the next few years will have $5 trillion in incremental earnings to spend. Such figures bode well for MyScoop's future, a company that plans to continue to "connect with women who are making the buying decisions, who are the trendsetters, while at the same time connecting advertisers with this audience."
Although Bailey and her husband are both Huntsville natives, they reside in Birmingham and MyScoop’s corporate headquarters are here. Bailey is enthusiastic about Birmingham's appeal: "Birmingham is a great city filled with talented people and businesses. It is also culturally fulfilling with great restaurants, stylish boutiques and a cool arts and music scene."
When asked about her plans for MyScoop’s future, Bailey says, "We have created a brand that is recognizable in the Southeast and has captured an engaged, loyal following making women feel excited about the South they live in. We would love to see this expanded throughout the Southeast in markets comparable to Birmingham."
You can learn more about MyScoop by visiting the site, looking for Bailey's regular TV segments on CBS, NBC and Fox or her monthly column in B-Metro magazine.
