A Celebration of Culinary Legends

It was 2008, and VIE was in its first year, beginning to make its mark on the world; and so the journey began. Meeting wonderful people along the way and hearing their stories and dreams have been one of the most meaningful parts of publishing for us. For example, we met Sister Schubert Barnes of Sister Schubert Homemade Rolls fame back then. She loved the magazine so much that she asked us if we could publish a coffee-table book for her to raise money for her Ukrainian orphanage called Sasha’s Home. VIE also sponsored a fundraiser we called Change the World at Caliza Pool in Alys Beach, Florida, shortly after the stock market crash, to benefit Sasha’s Home. We raised $130,000, which was miraculous given the mood and economic climate.

We were thrilled to publish Sister’s book, which we titled Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters: Recipes for Success, Cooking, and Living. This launched the book publishing arm of our marketing company, Cornerstone Marketing & Advertising, Inc. – The Idea Boutique. The name Sister Schubert is synonymous with mouthwatering homemade frozen dinner and cinnamon rolls that you can pop in your oven and look like a hero around the dinner table; they are often devoured well before the meal is done. This Kappa Delta Southern belle hailing from Andalusia, Alabama, is the real deal. She is a generous and charismatic force of nature who started making rolls in her kitchen for church bake sales and turned that enterprise into a company worthy of frozen-food giant Marzetti, who purchased it for over $40 million, retaining Sister Schubert as the face of the brand.

We then embarked on a book tour we crafted for Sister Schubert, where she gave humorous and inspiring speeches to women’s groups from Fairhope, Alabama, to Georgia. We even attended the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami, where we met legendary culinary greats, including Emeril Lagasse, Guy Fieri, Paula Deen, and Bobby Flay, to name a few. Sister sold all the books in a year, and the proceeds benefited Sasha’s Home.

This was a wild experience for our team, and as we fast forward fifteen years, we have published seven books. Our next luxury coffee-table book—get a sneak peek in this issue’s article “COOK by VIE”—debuts this spring. COOK will celebrate our culture and lifestyle on the Gulf Coast by recognizing and extolling the amazing food scene here. Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse and his son, EJ, anchor the book as they live here and operate Emeril’s Coastal in Grand Boulevard Town Center. To learn more about this dynamic duo, read Colleen Sachs’s article, “A Twenty-Year Legacy: Celebrating with Emeril Lagasse Foundation,” in this issue.

We are also publishing The Seaside Style® coffee-table book, the untold story of cofounder and visionary of the town of Seaside, Daryl Rose Davis. She is an integral part of the widely successful story of a town forty years in the making and a retail legacy that birthed its own lifestyle. Lastly, this spring we are publishing a romantic thriller called Janie Blue, a debut novel by Suzy Accola. Don’t miss the excitement and intrigue of this scintillating tale that takes place between Seattle and Las Vegas.

The experience of people entrusting their stories and hearts to us is not taken lightly, as we have a love and passion for all that they do, and we honor all who we serve when storytelling for them. The magazine publishing industry moves at a fast pace; when I pause and spend a few moments recounting our journey from the beginning, I stand in awe of what we have accomplished by the grace of God. It is not an easy business to be in—and amid all that, we recently learned that VIE was voted one of the Top 50 Luxury Media in the World by the Luxury Lifestyle Awards. To say we are honored would be an understatement!

It’s a great time to be alive and to celebrate good food with family and friends, as we have so much to be thankful for.

To Life and Cheers!

—Lisa Marie

CEO/Editor-in-Chief