People are capable of doing the most extraordinary things without even realising that what they are doing is extraordinary. Lately I've been able to witness this first hand, and it's made me realise that the people who do these amazing things are the people who rarely have their stories told. Instead, society has become obsessed with celebrities, who wore what to where, and what reality stars were up to at the weekend. But it is these people, the ones who inspire others simply by being themselves, that need their story heard. There needs to be a place for them. I wanted to create that place for them.
    And so, Etcetera was born.
    The word etcetera means ‘all the rest’. The idea is that the rest of people who aren’t famous or who aren’t celebrities do incredible, extraordinary things that never get noticed because our attentions are drawn  elsewhere. They become, if you like, the ‘etceteras’ of the world.
    I want to change that, because every ordinary person has an extraordinary story to tell.
    We might all think that we’re unremarkable, that our lives are boring, just because we aren’t doing ground-breaking things or making headlines or winning awards. But the truth is we all do something that is fascinating, that is brave, that is something we should be proud of. Every day people do things that are not celebrated. That is what we should be writing about. The unsung heroes, the people that don’t believe they are heroes at all because they are just doing what they believe they have to do in their lives. These are the stories that matter.
    Everybody has a story to tell. That is what we are all about. Sure, we will cover sports but we cover people behind the sports. We want them for their emotional journeys not just for what they can do. We are all about people, about feeling, about emotions.
    People feel more inspired by local people who do incredible things, because it makes them feel like they can do great things, too. It’s imperative that we have someone to tell those stories, because there’s a magic in that. It’s in the reader, and for each person it will be different, and it can affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound.
    A person’s story could move someone and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of those words. That is our role, our gift. We get to be the magazine that shares these stories, so that one inspiring person can go on to inspire someone else.
    So, we hope these stories move you as much as they did us.