Meet Aditi Bhuvanesh, and Ayla Hale, and Nila Joseph

We were lucky to catch up with Aditi Bhuvanesh, and Ayla Hale, and Nila Joseph recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Aditi Bhuvanesh, and Ayla Hale, and Nila Joseph, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

Prior to the creation of The Raven’s Muse Magazine, our creative journeys were all equally important to ourselves while dynamic and varying in their expressions and end-results. As we came together on the basis of our shared love of art–whether written or visual–, this shared passion for creativity drove our magazine’s founding. With the understanding of how core art can be in one’s life, we strove to create a forum that would provide a springboard for artists looking to find an audience for their works. We understand, first-hand, how vulnerable it is to put one’s art out in the world. So we aim to treat every art piece that is put in front of us with the same care we would treat our own work while also curating the best possible experience for our readers.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

The three of us were already good friends before we started our magazine in the summer before our junior year of high school. The Raven’s Muse started as an idea for a literature club in our school, however we felt that a public magazine would be better at capturing a wider range of voices and ideas. In the first meeting, the vague idea in our minds began to materialize as we came up with a name and concept for the first issue. As more and more weekly meetings passed, our vision slowly took shape. Nila drew the logo and covers, Aditi registered us with Chillsubs and built the website, and Ayla promoted us on social media. Getting submissions proved to be a struggle for the first issue. We ended up putting posters all over our local libraries, coffee shops, and our school to encourage submitters and reach out to individual artists over social media.
Slowly but surely, submissions stacked up, and after an intense period of revision and ranking, we were finally ready to put together our first issue. We put a lot of focus on creating a visually appealing magazine, with a well designed interior and exterior to compliment the creative works within. The nerve racking release of the first issue was met with overwhelmingly positive feedback which we celebrated with a deep sigh of relief. Just like that, The Raven’s Muse Magazine had come to life. We marveled as submissions doubled and then tripled in the following issues.
As we approach the one year anniversary of our founding, we find that the magazine has had an immensely positive impact on our lives. The three of us have grown significantly closer as a group from the hours we’ve spent together working on the publication. We also feel that The Raven’s Muse has helped us develop creatively as individuals. In fact, Nila recently released her first picture book “Oh Dear Dandelions!” which she wrote and illustrated herself. To showcase the creative journeys of our budding artists and many talented submitters, we plan to soon include individual interviews on our website.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Our magazine found success thanks to each of our individual creative expertise, the value we placed on creation, and a willingness to sink time into the “unglamorous” parts of building a magazine from scratch. Individually, we each had our own creative pursuits (Nila and Ayla were skilled visual artists while Aditi focused on prose). Our diverse array of creative expertise helped us build a magazine that would serve all kinds of artists equitably.
Each being intimately familiar with the vulnerability inherent to the creative process, we had a shared appreciation for our submitters and the often-overlooked bravery that comes with sharing one’s art. Without this understanding, an editorial team runs the risk of treating their submitters’ art flippantly. By keeping the inherent vulnerability of creation in the forefronts of our minds, we foster a trust with our artists, so that they rest assured that their creations will be treated with care as they share them with the world.
Lastly (and maybe more pragmatically), the willingness to dedicate the same passion into advancing the magazine in ways that don’t beget immediate gratification is crucial to the success of our publication. Working behind-the-scenes to ensure that the margins of our magazine remain consistent, spending hours applying to grants, or giving each submission its own deep dive isn’t instantly rewarding. Yet it’s a requirement to ensure that our magazine retains its quality, ultimately reinforcing to our audience and artists that The Raven’s Muse isn’t just passable, but exemplary.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

With each new issue receiving double the submissions of our previous editions, the influx of applicants creates a unique problem for our small team especially as we approach our senior year.
As a literary magazine, we strive to deliver our audience meaningful art and highlight emerging talent. However, it also requires a critical eye to ensure these aspects are being represented. As submissions continue to grow we found that it has been a struggle to balance our various extracurriculars with the time the magazine requires.
We plan to bring in more members to The Raven’s Muse team to help lighten our load as full-time students and guarantee that each applicant’s work is equitably considered, regardless of a potentially high volume of submissions.
We are excited to see how our magazine continues to flourish over the next few years as we transition to college and beyond.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ravensmusemagazine.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ravensmusemagazine/
• Twitter: https://x.com/ravensmusemag

Image Credits

NILA