1. To someone who may not be aware, what is Good Day Cork? What service do you provide?

Good Day Cork is a digital magazine that amplifies un-represented voices. It was launched as a print magazine in 2018 through a crowd-funding campaign. Four issues have been published since Sept 2018. In 2020, we moved to the digital space with the goal to publish an annual print magazine in 2023. Good Day Cork leads with the values of grace, gratitude, integrity, grit, boldness and collaboration. Our aim is to spread positive vibes while showcasing extraordinary lives of ordinary people. 

Good Day Cork has published a vast collection of essays, three digital magazines, different podcasts and audio documentaries, and hosted numerous interviews. Good Day Cork has also created a multi-lingual event called ‘Many Tongues of Cork’ which continued online during the lockdowns. Our other events include ‘Sit & Be’, ‘Wild Ones Salon’ and ‘Let’s Origami’ – each of these events are designed to fulfil our vision of a kind world by changing the narrative.

Joanna Dukkipati is the founder, editor-in-chief, and manager of operations, events, sales, subscriptions and marketing. Joanna is also responsible for recruiting a team of talent from diverse & marginalised communities. It takes a village to accomplish this body of work. Joanna Dukkipati is that village with exceptional support from freelancers who worked ( and will work ) on specific projects.

2. How did the website come about and how has it grown into what it is now?

The website began because we needed to archive our print magazines to make it freely available to everybody when we went into lockdown in 2020. And since then, it has grown to become a subscription-based website. It has been a huge learning curve with stringent budgets and a committed team of freelancers of website developers, designers and an SEO analyst too. The website is currently under review to ensure a seamless user experience.

3. From your experience, do you have any tips on how to start a website like yours?  

To create a website like Good Day Cork, content is queen and the vision is your queendom. In other words, decide if you wish to change the narrative or continue to contribute to the existing narrative. If you choose to change the narrative like Good Day Cork, then do spend time on developing collaborations or collaborate with us. Also, hire an excellent subscriptions marketing manager. In fact, this is someone Good Day Cork is looking for too. 

4. Is there anything you would change about how you started?

We would have set a higher crowd-funding campaign at the very beginning to keep the magazine afloat and hire the aforementioned subscriptions marketing manager.

5. How does the site make money? Do you have any plans to expand your services in the future?

The site is subscription-based. And it’s extremely difficult to generate revenue from subscriptions alone, at the moment. We rely heavily on advertising and fundraisers. Our advertisers align with our values and they are rare. Our ambassador Shiva R. Joyce recently hosted a fundraiser for Good Day Cork and raised over €1000. It places the magazine in a healthy position for the next few months to deliver narrative changing media content to the people of Ireland. Our media ‘products’ will increase, we plan to expand the genres of essays that will be published. Watch this space. 

6. You’ve developed a number of partnerships, how did you begin your relationships with these companies and how many do you have now?

Our partnerships are with our advertisers. And also with the business and organisations we collaborate with to create unique events. Joanna is hugely involved in community activism and we can’t measure the collaborations that arise from that work because it is invaluable to change the narrative and to include marginalised voices in the media. We have over ten strong partnerships in the community. 

7. From starting out small, you now have a multimedia approach. Can you describe the different formats that you have and what content works best on what platform?

7] We’re in print, radio and video formats simply because it’s our responsibility to change the narrative in mass media. And they each do well for our target segments. Narrative changing takes place very slowly and so we can’t leave out any format. 

8. How did the Covid-19 impact the company? Are there any positives you can take from this period?

COVID-19 pushed us to go digital because our original plan was to stay in the print medium. And we’re making the most of the digital-sphere to drive the voice of marginalised communities. This is the greatest silver lining for the communities we represent. And of course, nothing is more effective than in-person discussions and so our events help us drive the messages from unrepresented people farther. 

9. Your mission is to spread more positivity throughout Cork through positive media coverage, what would be your top tips for finding more positive news stories about anyone’s local area?

Positive news stories are all around us but note Good Day Cork publishes stories that evoke positive emotions –  these are not fluff pieces. It is crucial to honour the barriers and challenges of a person and/or a community in the article, interview, video to reach their positive outcome. At the same time, the subject i.e person or group is not only their problem, there is much more to them because they are human beings and human beings are layered and complex. 

So if the local newspaper is keen to adhere to a journalism that evokes positive emotions and changes the narrative then they ought to hand over the pen so that people can write about themselves – in other words give them the space, be accessible. Good Day Cork available to chat about this with local newspapers anytime.

10. Are there any other organisations or websites like yours you are a fan of in Ireland?

Good Day Cork is a fan of Gorm Media and noteworthy.ie There are magazines in Ireland publishing stories from the traveller community too and we’re only now beginning to research them with the hope to be mentored by them.