Making Headlines The money to pay the staff was a maybe. Her partner left her alone in the eats-entrepreneurs-alive magazine industry. Could Pat Means survive, much less succeed? You better believe it.

There is a turning point in each of our lives, a moment wheneverything changes either for better or worse. For Pat Means, herswas for the better, and it happened to be Turning Point.It's a magazine, a point of view--and for the 49-year-old,it's a career, a dream fulfilled and a way of life.

Means spent most of her adulthood in product marketing andconsumer promotions. She started her own marketing and promotionalservices company in Dallas in 1983 and then continued that line ofwork as a consultant when she moved to Los Angeles in 1990.

The initial idea for Turning Point came during the riotsin Los Angeles in 1992, when, for a couple weeks, the world thoughtfor sure the city would slip into the sea without help from anearthquake. Means was affected by the crisis and talked with KarenHixson, a college friend who also had moved to Los Angeles, aboutwhat they were seeing on TV. Means says much of what they saw inthe news was negative. "We wanted to look at what was rightwith L.A.," she says, "the positive things going on, andthe proactive people."