Lisa Polacheck, 48, who lives in Scottsdale, midway between Papago Park and at least seven downtown latte shops, knows all about first editions.

She describes her background and what led her down the editorial path, nonprofit and charitable work, plus her interests in ecological and environment issues.

What I’m excited about and why:

Earlier this year, I started publishing a limited-edition, hand-numbered magazine to explore people’s passion projects before they get funding or get famous. It’s called First Edition: The Magazine of Makers + Doers in Arizona and the Desert Southwest (firsteditionmagazine.com), and it spans southern California to west Texas. In addition to organically researched, agenda-free editorial content, every copy of the premiere run contains a sample of letterpress printing and a collectible vinyl sticker. 

When and why I moved here:

In the mid-1990s, with a fresh journalism degree from Marquette University and even fresher “emancipation” from my college job in the Milwaukee Journal newsroom due to a corporate merger, I seized the moment to relocate to a larger media market without brutal winters.

Some friends in a rock band were impressed with Tempe’s booming music scene at the time, and we made the move together. They got to play the venerable Electric Ballroom, Hollywood Alley and Big Fish Pub in the halcyon days. I became the editor of four in-flight magazines, and then a magazine and book series tailored to Valley visitors, which I played to the hilt for two decades.

Why I left:

In 2016, frustrated by the changing priorities of journalism-for-profit, I fled the profession and the state and decamped to New Mexico to study sustainability and work for an adobe builder. Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center in the Cerrillos/Madrid area and Earthship Biotecture north of Taos were immensely informative and inspirational, but so were the array of homes I rented: artist loft, country guesthouse, forest cabin.

A do-more-with-less ethic was everywhere, and I dug it. Then I was admitted to a grant-funded program in ecological design at Ecosa Institute in Prescott in early 2018, and I felt at home in Arizona again.

Favorite community cause and why:

I’m a member and major fan-girl of Local First Arizona, celebrating all sorts of homegrown talent, trade and good taste. Whenever possible, I attend meetings of Scottsdale’s Environmental Quality Advisory Board, as well as green-building guru Anthony Floyd’s guest lecture series. I occasionally volunteer with Trees Matter, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that empowers residents to foster newly-planted shade trees in their neighborhoods.

My interests and hobbies:

When my subscriptions to Tribeza (Austin) or Sweet Paul (Palm Springs) appear in the mailbox, I pour a tall glass of lemon lavender iced tea and head to the patio to suck down every word. I also really like Territory: The First Moderne Journal of the Southwest (Tucson), having discovered it because First Edition uses the same print house, and cannot wait until its savvy editors and designers mastermind another edition.

To do my part in keeping handwritten correspondence alive, I recently registered for a pen pal through the newsletter of an Arkansas-based illustrator. And I can’t say enough for the water department and fire department citizen academies offered through the City of Scottsdale; they’re VH1’s “Behind the Music” for the rock stars of public works.

My family:

My dad is a retired firefighter and my mom is an artist and art teacher; they live in Milwaukee in the house where my brother and I were raised. My brother is a pharmacist serving several cities in Montana.

People who inspired me (and how):

A year after I left Milwaukee and was agonizing over various regrets and uncertainties, a friend from the Journal sent me a letter that said, in part, “At times, who we are and what we have to offer isn’t enough or needed or right for a particular situation.

At the same time, the alternative, changing our very self, is worse in the long run. Time does reveal the whys, though usually much more slowly than we like.” The message meant so much to me that I knew exactly where to find the original handwritten note in order to quote it here faithfully.

My guiding philosophy:

Quality of life > quantity of stuff.

My advice to today’s youth:

Resist the easy flake-out. Carefully weigh prospective commitments, and when you make one, see it through.