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Entrepreneur makes the paper in Wood Lake
by Annie Baxter, Minnesota Public Radio
August 19, 2003

A July issue of the weekly paper, the Wood Lake Messenger. Jessica Stolen multi-tasked as reporter, photographer, and editor to produce this issue of the paper. (MPR Photo/Annie Baxter)

Minnesota has lost jobs lately, but entrepreneurship is on the rise. In rural Wood Lake, Minnesota, that news is making the paper.

Wood Lake, Minn. — In downtown Wood Lake, population 400, a few tired-looking buildings slump together like figures in a down and out family portrait. But turn the corner, and there's a more hopeful scene.

Inside one of the storefronts, in a tiny office, Jessica Stolen is making plans for the day. She's wearing blue eye-shadow and a blue denim skirt; she looks like the average 22-year-old you might see around town. But that's exactly what she doesn't want to be.

Stolen worked as a waitress and secretary and completed a one-year degree as an administrative assistant. But the job she enjoyed most was at a four-person, local newspaper. That's where she got valuable on-the-job training in every aspect of the business.

But she didn't think she'd be able to continue on in the field without a journalism degree.

	The Messenger's ad hoc staff

"I've always wanted to do something related to the newspaper industry as far back as I could remember," Stolen says. "It just never seemed like a logical expectation to have in this area." Then one night Jessica Stolen consulted her grandparents about how she, a single mother, could pursue her interests.

"My grandparents and I were kind of sitting around their living room, talking about the idea of starting some sort of newsletter, something to that effect," says Stolen. "And my grandpa said, 'Well, why not a newspaper?'"

So she distributed about 800 questionnaires to gauge community support for a paper. And she contacted the Wood Lake Business Group to inquire about loans. Community feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The loans came through. And a local insurance agent offered her the use of workspace in exchange for advertising. Two weeks later Jessica Stolen published the first edition of her newspaper, The Messenger.

That was three months ago.

Stolen is the paper's editor, publisher, reporter, photographer, page designer, and advertising sales rep. The weekly paper is about eight pages long with lots of pictures.

Her grandfather, Stanley Stolen, helps deliver the paper. He even started to carry a camera around with him so that he can take pictures for the paper. He says he's pleased by Jessica's ambition and that he wouldn't want her to be stuck in a job that doesn't suit her.

"I've always told my kids that if they found a job that they didn't like, it's time to get out of it," Stanley Stolen says. "You spend a lot of time working -- you might as well have something you like to do."

She is certainly in the minority, especially a young woman going into a community and beginning a newspaper. That really takes guts in this economy. - Linda Falkman, Minnesota Newspaper Association

Jessica has had the newspaper bug for a long time now. She wrote her first news story in the third grade.

"I have a whole box full of old articles at home -- all the articles I did through elementary and junior high," she recalls with a giggle. "I did a 'Did You Know?' column for the school paper, and would go out and research and do all these stories."

One of her "Did You Know?" columns was about all the things women have invented.

It's no surprise, then, that Jessica's office is adorned with a picture of Super Woman, and a sign that reads, "Everyone is entitled to MY opinion."

Stanley Stolen says his granddaughter has the perfect personality for an editor-in-chief. He describes her affectionately as "kind of bossy." Then he glances at her and adds, laughingly, "[She's] kind of independent more than bossy."

Jessica says her friends tease her about her independent nature. But she's not really such an anomaly in these parts. Rural Minnesota has a growing number of entrepreneurs, and many are women.

The newspaper business is, however, still a mostly male profession. Linda Falkman, executive director of the Minnesota Newspaper Association, says Jessica stands out in this field.

"She is certainly in the minority, especially a young woman going into a community and beginning a newspaper," Falkman says. "That really takes guts in this economy."

That's a lesson someone else in Wood Lake knows well. Kurt Warnke published the Wood Lake News for 26 years before retiring. Now he owns a tackle shop two doors down from Jessica Stolen's office, and he writes a column for her paper.

Sitting in his wheelchair at his tackle shop, he waxes philosophical about the significance of her project.

"It's impressive to me because it's a step back to the time when you had the ability to make a go of it with a startup business, which was the strength of rural America," Warnke says. "So this is kind of a sign of a reversal of what's been transpiring."

That's what people around town seem to hope, too. Ask them if they've heard of Jessica Stolen, and their faces light up with a smile.

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