I always wonder where magazine names come from. A lot of examples that first come to mind are girl’s names – Cleo, Frankie, Madison, Marie Claire. Were these actual people? Or did the marketing team just think it would grab people’s attention? Amazingly enough, I forgot to ask this question when I first started working for Greta (yes, another female name) but, as I found out the other day, Greta has much more meaning than simply being a cool name for a photography magazine. In particular, it has a much deeper meaning for the Colosoul Group’s CEO Tricia Ray.
For those of you who don’t know Tricia, here’s what you’re missing; she’s the one who came up with the whole idea of the Colosoul Group, it’s several magazines and the idea of making magazines by young people, for young people. She’s extremely passionate about what she does, always full of ideas (though sometimes needs help to actually carry them through) and she’s in a band! She also had a sister named Gretta (A ha! It was named after a real person, after all). Gretta Ray was creative just like her sister. She was a children’s book illustrator and a photographer. She also struggled with mental health issues. At a tender 23 years old Gretta passed away, though not without leaving her creativity and artistic smile behind.
Tricia is sure Gretta would not want anyone else to struggle the way she did and that she would have been honoured to have a photography book named after her. We’re pretty honoured to be named after someone like Gretta, too.
Often overlooked, the truth is 20% of Australians will experience mental health issues at some point in their life, with the greatest number of people experiencing mental illness between 18-24 years. This can be anything from anxiety problems, eating disorders or depression to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Here at Greta we want to inspire people to achieve what they want, no matter what their background is, and we couldn’t be more proud to be named after someone who did just that. As our CEO, Tricia, believes, “Even when you may struggle in life you can still be the creative person you want to be and sometimes it’s simply a way of expressing yourself, which can be through photography”.
