Did Animal Fair blow a cool million $$ in just six months?!
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:
Animal Fair, a glitzy magazine and web site created by celebrity cookbook co-author Wendy Diamond, “has raised about $1 million in capital since its launch last fall,” reports Keith J. Kelly of the New York Post, but is already in trouble due to “an exodus of staffers, board members and top executives,” after a split between Diamond and former boyfriend Chris Innis.
Innis formerly chaired the Animal Fair board, following the September 1999 resignation of Reciprocal Records president Larry Miller, but “has a day job as worldwide corporate planning director for magazine giant Emap Petersen, owners of Hot Rod, Teen and Motor Trend,” said Kelly, adding that Emap Petersen was not involved in funding Animal Fair.
Diamond, who claims to have raised $500,000 for charity through cookbook collaborations with rock stars Michael Jackson and Madonna, touts Animal Fair as “the first lifestyle web site and magazine for pet owners and animal lovers, bringing pets to the forefront of education, fashion, and entertainment, while creating awareness for protecting their welfare.”
Paige Powell, former editor of Interview magazine and companion to the late artist Andy Warhol, had similar ambitions for , an electronic magazine she launched from Portland, Oregon in 1996. It continues on a lower key, with a Pacific Northwest focus.
