Trudy Callaghan

There are some people who need to try, try and try again until they find what they were meant to do. There are others who never find what they were meant to do. And there are those who know from a very young age what will get them out of their beds in the mornings.

Trudy Callaghan definitely falls into the latter category. When she was young, she was fascinated by magazines.

Decades later, that love affair with magazines — the combination of great art and powerful words — continues. And she continues to reinvent the magazine model in these very turbulent times for the industry.

Callaghan co-founded Avenue Edmonton with her husband and business partner, Orville Chubb in 2006, creating a magazine that, as she puts it “is a love affair with our city.” It was a guide to city life, and profiled the vibrant personalities that make Edmonton such a unique spot on the map.

Callaghan and Chubb successfully ran Avenue Edmonton as a partner to Avenue Calgary for almost 15 years, establishing the city’s prestigious Best Restaurants and Top 40 Under 40 Awards. In 2015 and 2019, Avenue Edmonton was named AMPA’s magazine of the year, and was shortlisted for the prize six straight times. At the height of Avenue Edmonton’s success, Chubb tragically passed away, but Callaghan channeled her grief; she was determined to continue to execute their shared vision, not only keeping the magazine alive but giving it a new sense of urgency and purpose.

In 2020, in the early months of the pandemic, Callaghan became the sole shareholder in Odvod Publishing and the flagship publication rebranded as Edify, creating a magazine that was truly “Edmonton” from cover to cover. Callaghan knew her market, and the risk paid off. Not only has Edify thrived, but, in its very first year, it was named AMPA’s Alberta Magazine of the Year.

Edmonton is a one-of-a-kind place, and Callaghan’s success was built on seeing her city not only for what it is but for where it is going. Her staff at Odvod use words like “inspirational,” “integrity,” and “passion” to describe Callaghan’s approach to publishing. Those values have extended to her roles as an AMPA board member, the chair of the board of directors at Ballet Edmonton, and a patron of the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts.

In 2022, Callaghan launched the online Urban Affairs for irreverent takes on city issues, from urbanism to taxes to why the LRT doesn’t run on time,  and continues to oversee a growing custom publication portfolio. As Edmonton —and Edmontonians — continue to change, Callaghan evolves along with them.