May 1, 2018

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Steffanie Holtrop, owner and publisher of MED and ‘Hood magazines, owner of FamilyFest and the recent winner of the inaugural Rising in Excellence Award from the Sales & Marketing Executives Inc. of Sioux Falls.

Name: Steffanie Holtrop

Age: 35

Hometown: Alcester

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

I moved here to attend school at Southeast Technical Institute.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

I now run several companies that are based here in Sioux Falls, which is a great place to have a business. We are also glad to be close to family, especially as our family grows. Beyond that, Sioux Falls is just a great city to raise a family.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

I love that every day is something new. I love helping local companies come up with new and creative ideas for increasing brand awareness among our audiences for ‘Hood and MED. Customizing marketing plans for different goals and budgets is just really enjoyable for me. I also love that we get to tell so many great stories through these publications. I’d have to say that holding a brand-new issue of one of our magazines for the first time is still one of my favorite things.

How did you get connected to your industry and to MED magazine?

I have an amazing partner, Alex Strauss, that I met 11 years ago when I was doing medical marketing in Sioux Falls. Alex started the first medical magazine here in 2000. After we became partners, we decided to do the magazine entirely locally, so we rebranded and launched as MED magazine in 2010. We have been helping clients reach medical professionals in this area longer than any other regional publication.

What made you decide to start your publication ‘Hood, and what’s been your biggest surprise since doing it?

I saw a need for a family resource in the community. I didn’t have kids yet, but my niece and nephew would come to visit me from Texas in the summer for a couple of weeks, and we would be looking for things for them to do in the community. We found that there was no good place to find out what was going on. The biggest surprise when we started the magazine is how many amazing families we have in our community. They all have a story to share that can help another family.

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

This past year, we have had several family-friendly businesses open up with the goal of keeping people active during the winter months. I think we could still use a few more of these kinds of businesses that allow families to spend time together.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

We are continuing to grow our digital presence for both MED and ‘Hood, and expand our large family event, FamilyFest. In five years, I expect that the online audiences for our magazines will equal or exceed the number of print readers we now have, so I imagine that I will be doing a lot more work in the online space. I expect that FamilyFest will have become a household name by that time, and I am looking forward to seeing more families take advantage of all that has to offer.