This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

A century ago, poet Robert Frost wrote.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I...

I took the one less traveled by.

And that has made all the difference.

We all know someone special who chart their own course, whose unconventional in many ways.

Tampa Bay Magazine co-founder and publisher Aaron Fodiman was just such a person, for nearly 40 years he and his wife, Margaret Word Burnside successfully published a rich, vibrant magazine celebrating the Tampa Bay area at a time when other print publications struggled to stay in business.

Their magazine and their story is one of a kind.

In April 2025, Aaron Fodiman passed away at age 87.

The Suncoast Business Forum profiled Aaron in 2014, and in his memory, we'd like to revisit that profile of Aaron Fodiman in his own words.

Suncoast Business Forum brought to you by the financial services firm of Raymond James.

Offering personalized wealth management advice and banking and capital markets expertise, all with a commitment to putting client's financial well-being first.

More information is available at raymondjames.com [music] Have you ever had a dream job?

Something you did very well and just love to do?

If you can find it, then you're blessed.

Tampa Bay Magazine's editor, publisher and founder Aaron Fodiman created his dream job nearly 30 years ago.

Not only is he blessed, but so is his wife and business partner Margaret Ward Burnside, who co-publishes the bimonthly magazine with Aaron, and she's done it since day one.

Aaron, welcome to the Suncoast Business Forum.

Thank you Jeff, great to be here.

You know, magazine publishing and I don't need to tell you this because, you know, that has been through some rough years.

Some of the most prominent magazines in America have folded, but your magazine has succeeded for 30 years.

What's the secret sauce?

Margaret and I are our own typical reader, so we know very well what our readers want because they are us.

It's very difficult to be all things to all people.

Sports illustrated established their niche.

Esquire established its niche.

Playboy established its niche.

So the first thing is finding your niche.

The next thing is running it like a business.

You must have a business plan, and there are too many people that think they can just run a magazine and it will somehow magically take care of itself.

It won't.

It's a business.

It must be run like a business.

Now, many magazines today and newspapers.

But many magazines post their content on the internet.

You do not.

Why not?

I'm a money grubber.

I want to be able to monetize whatever I do.

It came very apparent to me very quickly that if I put out my publication, that I literally spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to get information to put together and give that away for free.

My plan is not going to work.

I don't know where the concept came that if you gave away enough free that you'd make money.

It goes back to that old policy.

We'll lose money on every sale, but make it up in volume.

How important is it to the success of Tampa Bay Magazine that you're hyper local?

I think that's very important because that's our niche.

That's why everybody wants to read it.

That's why whenever you go someplace, you'll hear people talking about what we featured in the magazine.

They don't want to know about a house that was built in Colorado for $14 million, but they sure want to know about the property here in Tampa Bay.

That's worth $14 million.

Publishing Tampa Bay Magazine truly is a collaborative effort.

You and your wife, Margaret, have been doing this from the beginning.

How has that evolved?

How does it work in the first place?

The secret to our success is that we both think exactly the same, but we come at the conclusion from different angles.

She has a very genteel side.

I have a very aggressive side.

When we meet in the middle, we flow into a river that is peaceful, calm and accomplishes what we need done.

Is it ever a challenge to separate work from personal time?

Why would you ever separate work from personal time?

As far as we're concerned, both are the same.

We don't have any distinction.

We try to make everything a combination of personal and work.

When we're working, we're enjoying it.

Just like it was personal.

And when it's personal, we're always looking for a way to make it work.

Let's change focus one moment and talk about your early days.

Let's talk about your upbringing and your family.

We were like a TV family.

There were four of us.

I was the oldest child.

Not only that, I was the oldest grandchild.

Everybody doted upon me.

We were surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles, and we grew up in a time that was so different than the way things are today.

Tell us about your parents, what they did, where you grew up.

Were you a good student?

Stamford, Connecticut.

My father was a dentist.

My mother was a homemaker.

That's the way it worked back then.

I always had problems in school because I was always precocious.

They eventually skipped me two grades just to get me out of school.

They sent me to military school.

They sent me to private schools, And everybody agreed that yes, he is a problem because he's just so much further advanced than the rest of the students.

He's bored.

And that was my upbringing.

And that's how I happened to go off to college when I was 15 years old.

So you graduated high school.

You were actually accepted and ready to go to Dartmouth, which is an Ivy League college up in New Hampshire.

Exactly.

I was really all excited because at 15 year old, you know nothing about life.

And again, I had the most wonderful parents in the world.

My father had gone to school in New Orleans at Loyola, met my mother there, married her, brought her back to where he was born and raised in Stamford.

And he understood things much better than I did.

You know, we've always heard that when we go away to school, our parents are fairly unintelligent.

And four years later they've gained such knowledge.

Well, I suffered the same thing.

And my father took me aside and said, you know, I know that Dartmouth sounds wonderful, but you've got all your mother's family in New Orleans, you know, the town.

We go there every year.

You're comfortable there.

And Dartmouth is very cold.

And there's not a woman within a hundred miles.

And I sat there and I thought, and I said, well, what do you suggest I do?

He says, I suggest you go to Tulane.

And I said, well, you know, this is fairly late.

He says, don't worry, you're valedictorian of your class.

You'll have no trouble getting into Tulane.

We'll get in the car, we'll drive down there and we'll enroll you.

And again, times being different.

This was 1954.

We got in the car, drove to New Orleans, went over to the school.

They admitted me even though they couldn't get the transcripts from my high school, because the high school wasn't going to be open for another week and just gave me a provisional admission.

And there I was, Tulane student doing what my father told me to do, which was not to let school interfere with my education.

So now you're at Tulane.

What were you studying?

What did you think your career track would be?

Well, I was going to be a pre-med.

It was very easy.

My father's friends were mostly doctors, and in seventh grade they had career day.

And I said I'd like to be a doctor and went home.

My mother asked me what happened in school today.

I said career day.

And she sat there in dread.

Couldn't imagine what I had said to a teacher that I wanted to be.

And when I told her, I said, doctor, she was so happy.

I think she gave me a double serving of dessert.

So by the time the next year came around, we had career day again.

Was doctor and it just carried on that way.

By the time I was in high school, I didn't even have to meet with the guidance counselor because everybody said, oh, he's going to be a doctor, no problem.

Move them through.

So I went to school, got to New Orleans, found out that everybody that had a brain was in pre-med, and anybody that was partially brain damaged was in business school, so I knew I had made the right choice.

You graduated Tulane with a degree in chemistry, am I right?

Chemistry.

Correct.

And then?

And then I found out I don't want to be a doctor, I faint, I can't stand the sight of blood.

And now I'm in trouble.

I don't want to be a chemist.

I don't know what to do with my life.

So I decide it's time to do something different.

And all of a sudden, business looks like a nice alternative.

So I start applying to graduate business school, and they tell me you don't have any prerequisites.

You don't have accounting, you don't have economics.

You've got nothing that would interest us.

You can't come to graduate business school again.

Somehow or other, I asked enough people talk to enough people.

I found out if I went to law school, that graduate business school would accept a law degree as a prerequisite.

So I signed up for New York Law School and went to New York Law School, and there only after the dean assured me that he'd let me take enough credits that I could go through law school in two years, because at that point in my life, I was 19.

I thought I was already over the hill.

So you got through law school in two years.

Got through law school in two years.

And then.

Once again, life interfered.

And President Kennedy got elected, and he had a program he called his best and brightest, and he went to various schools around the country and recruited their top students.

Well, I'd been the top of my class, so they offered me a job in Washington.

And as I like to say, I was offered money, prestige and power.

And I would have gone for any one of the three.

So I went to Washington with the Kennedy administration and worked there until he was assassinated.

And President Johnson came in and lo and behold, President Johnson discontinued the program, which, instead of us losing our jobs, meant that nobody replaced us.

So I continued on there for 18 years in Washington, working within the government, and just had a wonderful, wonderful experience with everything that I did while I was there.

While you were working in the government in Washington, you also had a private law practice?

Yes.

And you had some entrepreneurial endeavors going on as well.

Tell us about that.

Well, I was just one of those people that always had to do a lot.

So I started finding other things to do with my time.

And I loved business.

And the more I did, the more I loved it, and we always tried to find things that would be fun to do.

And one of the things that we found, we went on vacation to Jamaica, and while we were down there, we wanted to go out to get something to eat and we couldn't find any place to eat.

So a group of us got together and got the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise for the island of Jamaica, just so we could go down on vacation and write it off.

And there we were.

We were in business, probably for all the wrong reasons, but it worked.

In 1978, you left government and you joined Popeyes Fried Chicken, which was a young public company.

You joined the company as the CEO.

What drew them to you and what drew you to them?

Popeyes was based in New Orleans.

That's where I'd gone to school.

Lo and behold, I had been a schoolmate of their vice president, who happened to be the brother of their president.

They knew I knew the chicken business.

They were looking for somebody with my type of credentials.

They knew that I was smart, aggressive, thought I'd do a good job for the company.

What they needed and the match was made.

So as I went along, we continued to add different things to the menu.

We continued to make adjustments and realize that just like a shark, you've always got to be moving.

You can't just sit still and let things be the way they are.

So are you with Popeye from 78 to early 1980s.

1983 you had an opportunity to buy a restaurant chain in Florida, Tampa Bay area.

The Kapok Tree restaurant chain and it was brought to me.

I brought it to Popeyes.

Popeyes said, no, we're in the fried chicken business.

This is out of our realm.

We're not looking to expand in that direction.

I knew it from their Peter Pan restaurant up outside of Washington that I'd gone to for years.

I'd also worked on the public underwriting that had taken the Kapok Tree public.

And so I was very familiar with their business.

And I said, would you mind if I bought it?

And they said, do what you want.

They said, but you're president.

How are you going to own a chain in Florida and still work for Popeyes?

I said, I got a great plan.

I will hire myself from you.

And they said, what?

I said, look, I figure I only have to be there four days out of the month.

How about if I pay you for my time and I'll pay you twice what?

You're paying me appropriately per day.

And I said, well, that certainly seems reasonable.

And I started coming down here four days out of the month.

Well, after six months, I totally fell in love with the Tampa Bay area.

Went back, resigned from Popeyes and said, people, I love you dearly, but I'm going to Florida.

So in 1983, 1984, you went from fast food to more upscale dining with Kapok Tree.

Correct.

Did you see it as a long term investment?

What was your vision?

No.

My vision was to make a lot of money fast.

I looked at it as a company that was very property rich and in the early form of mergers and acquisitions that if you could buy a company that had assets that could be sold off for much more than what you paid for it, that was a good deal.

So I thought I had found a good deal.

Now, while you were operating the kapok tree, you met your wife to be, Margaret Ward Burnside.

Correct.

Tell us about Margaret's background and about your unique relationship.

Well.

Margaret.

Is also the oldest of four children from a family very similar to mine.

But was born and raised in Clearwater and then went off to school in Missouri.

Stephens College returned home, worked for one of her father's competitors doing catalog work.

Always had wanted to have a advertising agency was very involved in that, but also because she was extremely gracious and beautiful, was a model and became one of the area's top models.

And we had many mutual friends and no mutual friend ever said, let's get Margaret and Erin together because they look like they'd be a good match.

But one day we both ended up on a bus going to Tallahassee with Leadership Pinellas.

I looked at Margaret.

I fell in love.

Margaret looked at me and said, boy, this could be trouble.

I pursued Margaret for quite a while.

Eventually my charms overwhelm whatever reluctance she had.

And we've been a couple ever since, and it's just been wonderful.

While you're running the kapok tree, you decided to start Tampa Bay Magazine.

Yes.

What was your vision?

What were you thinking?

While I was in New York and while I was in Washington, I read both Washingtonian magazine and New York Magazine.

And for whatever reason, it hit me that maybe a publication that would join the two sides, because the Tampa Tribune and The St. Pete Times were definitely not going to ever join, and that if we start a fresh publication that was a publication that promoted the entire area, that we could get some traction and things could develop.

Fortunately, as time has gone on, it has worked.

I don't know how much we're responsible for.

But I am very proud that it is now the Tampa Bay Rays.

It is the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it's even the Tampa Bay Times.

You were busy running the restaurant.

You needed someone to run the magazine shortly after you started.

You hired your own wife to take the job, right?

I'm not sure I hired her.

I think I just told her I desperately needed her to come over and run the magazine, and she was thrilled because that was something she always had an interest in.

And so she immediately said sure.

And thought, well, and I'll do that along with everything else.

So she was running the magazine, she was doing her modeling, and after a little while she realized, wait a minute, this thing is a full time job.

And she started cutting down on her modeling and spending more time running the magazine.

In 1991, you sold The Cape, the last of the Kapok Tree properties.

Last of the restaurants.

And so you were successfully completed that business then what?

Well, I was 54 years old.

I'm not planning to retire when I'm 104.

So I started looking at other ventures, and Margaret said, what are you doing?

I said, well, Margaret, I'm looking for what?

You know, my next, next venture is going to be.

I was always looking for my next venture.

And she said, well, why don't you come here to the magazine?

I said, you're doing a great job with the magazine.

What do I know about magazines?

She said, well, it'd be nice to work together, and I'll teach you whatever you need to know.

Well, I love my wife and anybody that loves their wife knows when your wife says to do something, do it.

Tampa Bay Magazine focuses on the arts, culture, lifestyle, civic events, cultural events, philanthropy, people in the community who are making a difference.

How does this all come together in your vision?

It's all so intertwined it doesn't come together.

It's like a net.

I mean, it's when you talk about the leaders in the community, they're virtually always the people that are involved in the charities.

When you talk about the charities, they're almost always the people that have an interest in culture, in the arts, in the orchestra.

So what we see this is this is a constant overlapping.

So you get this constant weaving of all the things that you talked about into one mesh.

And that's what makes Tampa Bay the wonderful, unique place that it is.

Tampa Bay Magazine is very rich in advertising, which is a real challenge these days.

Who advertises in the publication and what kind of relationship do you have with your advertisers?

Well.

Most of our advertisers, we have a very personal relationship with because we understand that we only succeed if they succeed.

So we're very involved in their businesses, and anytime we get a chance to refer business to them, assist them in business, do something.

We understand our job is more than just to run an ad for them, because the people that are getting our magazine, first of all, are people that have the disposable income that can afford what you're advertising.

Second of all, they're the type of people that are interested in those higher end products.

And then the real kicker is that they all pay for our magazine.

Well, there is a difference when you get a magazine that you pay for.

Almost everybody that gets Tampa Bay magazine says there's good information in here.

They keep it on their coffee tables.

They refer back to it.

They read the articles.

They're fascinating about the people that we talk about, about the businesses, the performances, whatever it may happen to be.

So there's a very clear kinship of our readership with the type of people that our advertisers want to get to.

And that's the key.

Does Tampa Bay Magazine play a role in economic development and corporate relocation.

We like to think we do.

We know that almost any large company that moves here generally contacts us.

We supply them with magazines for their executives are moving down here.

But even more so than that, we know when they're trying to get companies to move here.

One of the first things that we'll do, they'll send them out to Tampa Bay Magazine.

We show the area in its purest, most beautiful form.

If you want to show off the Tampa Bay area, you can send them Tampa Bay Magazine, or you can send them the magazines that are put out by the various economic groups.

We are independent.

We have credibility.

They look at our magazine, they go, wait a minute, this is really what the area is like.

Not.

Well, yeah.

What did you expect these people to say?

of course that's what they send you.

And I think that's the big difference that we make, that we show lifestyle at Tampa Bay as it actually exists.

Aaron, I'd like to thank you so much for being our guest today.

Well, I love being here with you, Jeff.

Thanks.

If you'd like to see this program or any of our other CEO profiles, the Suncoast Business Forum Archive, you can find them on the web at www.wedu.org/sbf.

Thanks for joining us for the Suncoast Business Forum.