A Week In The Life - Sarah Joseph

A Week In The Life
Sunday Times

July 2009

Islam is not only Britain’s fastest growing faith but also the world’s newest and most vibrant commercial market. Globally the Moslem spend is worth trillions.

It is something that excites Sarah Joseph, founder, chief executive and editor of emel - Britain’s only glossy lifestyle magazine for Moslems.

Joseph, 38, who converted to Islam aged 16, has plans for other projects to take advantage of this growing market, but won’t yet reveal them. “It’s a market with enormous potential – enormous. Consider the demographics. Most British Moslems are under 35. ”

Joseph is usually at her desk in Swiss Cottage as most Londoners struggle to work. She works long hours at the monthly magazine, but keeps weekends free for time with her husband, a human-rights lawyer, and three children.

Emel was launched in 2003 with start-up funding of just £20,000. “Someone who interviewed me guessed our seed capital was £3m - £5m and I collapsed laughing. It’s all been done on a shoestring.”

She has an in-house team of just six, but emel looks rich beyond its means, mixing articles on motoring, cookery, fashion and travel alongside features on faith, finance and politics – all infused with an Islamic perspective.

The readership, far bigger than its circulation of 20,000, is primarily from the professional class. It is widely read by opinion formers and decision makers.

Emel is the Arabic word for hope but also represents, phonetically, Moslem Lifestyle. It was Joseph’s first venture into journalism after editing a student magazine at King’s College in London where she studied theology.

Her family DNA has helped her success. Her background encouraged her to believe in achievement.

Her mother ran a top London modelling agency, but the fashion trade held no allure for Joseph. “Good God no – I was already profoundly religious and political at the age of eight. I was all fashioned-out by then. I was the sort of child who’d go into a supermarket and ask why they were selling South African apples.”

Her religious background was eclectic. Her grandparents were in the Salvation Army and her mother a Roman Catholic. “God has always been there in my life. But losing my Catholic faith was a devastating moment. But Islam began to offer me the answers. It is a simple articulation of faith in God.”

After university she became a successful spokesperson for her newfound faith. After the 9/11 attacks in 2001 she and her husband spent a year giving talks to counter negative images of Islam.

The magazine continues that mission by other means. In 2003 she says she saw a need for a publication that went beyond politics and religion. A year later she was awarded an OBE: “for services to interfaith dialogue.”

Despite the recession, emel is thriving. “Downturns are good for new markets,” says Joseph, “and the Moslem market is the next big thing.”