Western Washington University's first pop culture magazine, devoted to uplifting Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) voices on campus, had its official launch on Oct. 25th, 2025.
While Western has another fashion and pop culture magazine on campus - The Rage Magazine - Soleil Magazine creates an artistic outlet for BIPOC students and highlights their contributions to pop culture and beauty trends.
Many members of Soleil, from the board to models, feel that it has given them many opportunities that they would not have had if it weren’t for Soleil and provided a strong community.
“I felt like there wasn’t a lot of space for Black and Indigenous people of color on campus, media-wise,” said Aryam Tamene, one of the founders of Soleil Magazine. “I felt like there was nowhere for people of color to see themselves.”
Soleil Magazine is a part of Western’s Ethnic Student Center and hopes to give voice to students in places they have not been adequately represented.
“I wanted to reach more students of color because the population of students of color is pretty low on campus,” said Sirie Chhen, a photographer for the magazine.
Last year, 29.9% of new students identified as students of color, similar to the year prior, which was 29.8%, according to Western.
“Even before I moved here, I was like, ‘I need to find a club that’s going to make me feel like I belong,’” Chhen said.
Sophia To, who studied mental health and BIPOC representation in media at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, emphasized the importance of media representation.
“During this time, as we're seeing research, data and stories being erased, and dissidents being threatened with punishments such as deportation, telling our stories and representing ourselves through art and media are more important than ever,” To wrote in an email. “So, we keep our history alive and maintain awareness of our communities' needs, wants, suffering, successes, aspirations and roles in fighting injustice.”
Josephine Boone, who is in charge of events for Soleil Magazine and was one of the first people to sign on to Soleil, says they wanted to start something that hadn’t been done on campus before.
“We want to stay in our communities and just be there for everyone,” Boone said.
Naomi Ishisaka, the assistant managing editor for diversity and inclusion and the social justice columnist for The Seattle Times, said that magazines such as Soleil help create a stronger sense of belonging and bring awareness to issues that students of color face.
“I think it’s really important that magazines focused on people of color explore not just challenges but also joys and the many ways in which our communities demonstrate self-determination,” Ishisaka wrote in an email.
Tamene said that during the launch party, she saw the impact of her work both on campus and with the people who worked on the magazine, which brought her joy.
“I talked with one of the models from our gratitude article, and she (said she) was in a tough place at the time, and doing this photoshoot was really amazing,” Tamene said.
Soleil has followed through on this idea of self-determination through its work on the pages and behind the scenes. Matrit Coe, who modeled for Soleil, said she felt empowered by the magazine's team and was honored to represent the idea of inclusivity.
“It not only shows representation for people who look like me and for people who want to be out like I am, but it’s also really important to see some big, tall trans women in a magazine,” Coe said.
Soleil Magazine has been working on tabling events to sell its magazines so they’re available to everyone, as well as making a website in hopes to expand its work for the magazine.
“My PR director, (she said) ‘you could take this beyond college… and try to make a business out of this,” Tamene said. “I really want us to… dive deeper instead of just photoshoots for the print magazine.”
Isobel Diprima (she/her) is a second-year visual journalism student minoring in professional writing and rhetoric as well as honors. You can reach her at diprimi@wwu.edu.
