No city other than Warsaw has more Polish residents than Chicago, and while many are renters, many others are buying and selling homes. Add to this the fact that many Poles are more comfortable operating in Polish, and you’ve got quite a niche market. That was the thought behind Wtasny Kat, a new monthly real estate magazine published in Polish by an energetic entrepreneur named Joanna Marszalek.
We met with Marszalek recently and were impressed by her energy and her publication. Wtasny Kat, which means “your own place” in English, is printed on upgraded newspaper stock and has a nice little layout. The articles sound interesting, though our Polish is limited to zimne piwo, so we couldn’t swear to that. Marszalek studied journalism in Krakow and is currently writing the magazine herself, as well as handling advertising, design, printing, circulation and everything else that goes into making even a small publication.
With four months under her belt, Marszalek is up to a 16-page issue and 10,000 copies, distributed mainly on the Northwest Side, the Southwest Side and in nearby suburbs. Given Marszalek’s energy — in addition to this one-woman show, she also has two young children — Wtasny Kat might soon be a force in Polonia real estate.