The creative force behind the now-defunct print and digital magazine District Fray is starting her own venture, Wild Side Media, that will focus on speaking directly to underrepresented communities through social media, print and digital magazines, and in-person events.

Wild Side Media officially launched Feb. 20 and in these early days will consist mostly of TikTok and Instagram posts, though there are plans for a digital edition of the Wild Side magazine and eventually a print edition as well.

Wild Side Media founder and CEO Monica Alford describes her new company as a “living, breathing love letter to the District,” which is another way of saying there will be an emphasis on happy stories aimed at millennial and Gen Z audiences.

Alford comes to this work steeped in local publication experience. She was editor of District Fray and its predecessor, On Tap Magazine. Alford led On Tap from February 2016 until March 2020 when it folded (it began publishing back in 1998). After On Tap was acquired by the social sports and events company DC Fray in 2019, the publication rebranded as District Fray in March of 2020, and Alford became its editor-in-chief. She held the position until December 2023, when the print magazine, District Fray, folded.

The District Fray website is still active and is posting some fresh content, including events lists. It appears the website is also republishing old articles but isn’t always indicating the original publication date, according to City Paper’s a review of the site.

Alford’s new company is completely separate from DC Fray, and she intends for Wild Side to serve as the primary home in the District and nearby suburbs for what she terms as “celebratory journalism.” While most news reporters would run the other way from such a notion, Alford says it’s always been her approach.

“Celebratory means we want to support the community as much as possible and focus our attention on reporting on the people whose voices still need amplification and the spaces and businesses that have not yet been highlighted,” Alford says. “We do not have a food critic or an art critic on staff—we do not claim to be the definitive authority on one topic.”

A feature about a restaurant, for example, might focus on the chef’s inspiration for their signature dish, rather than reporting whether it’s good or bad.

She distinguishes Wild Side from District Fray in a few ways: Their content and events will lean more toward feature stories about music, performance art, hospitality, and fine and visual arts, with less of an emphasis on lists of events, though she will run that content, too. 

“We’ll have a lot of the same buckets you saw before, but reimagined to include things I thought were missing from local media,” she says, adding that she also wants to partner with business improvement districts and arts organizations to publish one-off zines or glossy guides pegged to specific events.

And unlike District Fray, where the effort was membership-based, Alford says Wild Side Media’s print and digital content will be free; and although her launch comes at a precarious time for local media, she is betting on sponsorships and other partnerships to support the programming and content.

Alford is excited about plans for “inclusive experiences and authentic collaborations,” and says the company will rely heavily on social media channels such as Instagram Reels to drive regular engagement. All of that social media content will be supplemented with “tangible experiences” that are in-person and will serve as connection points for Wild Side Media consumers.

Inspiration to call the magazine Wild Side came from Lou Reed, whose song “Walk on the Wild Side” speaks to disaffected outsiders. The Wild Side team of contributors—Alford won’t say yet what the masthead will look like—plan to launch a digital edition in June—just in time for D.C. Pride weekend, where Alford’s team is planning another big party. She’s planning a regular print edition, too, but hasn’t yet settled on a date for the first issue.

Last year, while still running District Fray, Alford helped stage a sold-out arts and culture party for the Capital Pride Alliance where femme and nonbinary artists took center stage among the LGBTQIA+ community. “We’re excited to build on this authentic experience with some of our frequent collaborators to dream up a bigger and bolder event for Pride 2024 that gives locals a safe, inclusive space to celebrate,” Alford says.

The first event for Wild Side Media takes place March 14 at La Cosecha in Union Market, where Alford and her team will host a conversation geared for up-and-coming women entrepreneurs and creators. The Wild Side Media launch party, slated for this spring, and is being touted as a tribute to the epic New York parties Andy Warhol threw at the Factory—except for the New York part. Then, in June, comes the big Pride party with capacity for 1,000 people at a yet-unnamed location.

Wild Side Media will draw from more than 100 contributors, some of whom are veterans of On Tap or District Fray. Their emphasis will be on spotlighting overlooked communities, according to Alford. She’s already lined up projects with the NoMa BID, Union Market District, and The LINE DC hotel—three edgy-ish properties in the city where Alford will stage creative events in person.

“There’s so much more you can do when you interview someone,” she says of her vision. “You can place make, you can program with them, help them with events … We do rely on events and community building, and there does seem to be the need for, and hopefully the actual budget for supporting local media that from the BIDs and developers and cultural institutions.”