Coup de trois

The brains behind Coup De Main, from left, Shahlin Graves, Vicki Lin and Sacha Young. Photo / Richard Robinson

Coup de Main loves — or as Shahlin, Sacha and Vicki might say, hearts — Disney, Gossip Girl and DIY fashion. The trio are behind a new online magazine, aimed at 20-somethings, that inhales pop culture and exhales exuberance. The artsy typography might drive you to distraction but it's put together with the subversive professionalism that somehow makes Hannah Montana look cool.

On the site you'll find odes to mainstream pop stars alongside dreamy, endearing blogs that read like song lyrics. Interviews with local musicians come care of photographs in which the artists hold up cardboard speech bubbles. A guy called Vaughan writes about everything from a lack of clean teaspoons to the meaning of life. In between the Twilight giveaways and the step-by-step guide to sexing up a blazer, is evidence of entrepreneurial spirit at its freshest — the youngest of the three, Sacha Young is just that indeed, at just 19.

The website went up in February and, like all things Generation Y, became popular quicker than you can say "broadband". It now averages more than 30,000 hits per week.

"The thing that's really cool is that everyone's just been spreading [news] about the magazine by word of mouth," says 20-year-old editor-in-chief Shahlin Graves. "We haven't had to go, 'hey! Look at us! Read it!' Our friends have told their friends who've told their friends and I think it works because the site has content that we, ourselves, want to read about."

We're at Coup De Main's headquarters in Ponsonby, where the girls are busy discussing a recent photo shoot, the pros and cons of leggings, and a boy one of them likes. Actually, we're at Cafe Cezanne, which doubles as their office and provider of nachos. Serious they may be, but for now the team have day jobs. Graves is a communication studies student by day, Coup De Main-iac by night.

Her web career started when she worked at a record company, looking after its online commercial content. She also worked at Yahoo, where she interviewed the occasional pop star and wrote entertainment news. At first she loved the job — but then a new editor came onboard and started dishing out orders. So she dreamed up her own workplace, one where she called the shots, a place where the Jonas Brothers are always welcome.

Spotting a gap in the market came purely from wishing there was something out there for herself and her friends — a visually askew read somewhere between the glossy design and fashion magazines but with clothes she and her student friends could afford, a magazine that wasn't so precious it wouldn't bother with the likes of Harry Potter, a site that capitalised on the talents of the people she already knew. That's when she enlisted the help of Sasha Young, who works in the creative department of Pumpkin Patch, and Vicki Lin, who hosts the Studio 2 show on TV2.

With their distinctive online identities, they're the Spice Girls of the internet. Graves is the visionary with the kooky writing style: "Vicki constantly tells everyone that I am clever," reads her profile. "She also hopes that my brain will rub off on her, someday, real soon. I'm not quite sure that I agree with V though, because she also told me that I am a 6-year-old internally."

Lin is the group's natural cheerleader and fashionista who always travels with excess baggage, such is her penchant for shoes, and Young is the bubbly graphics whiz with a sense of self that belies her years. She also sings in her sleep.

They all learned how to build websites at school and university but their reach is multi-pronged, of course — you'll also find them on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

"Back in the day, you just watched television, whereas these days you're sitting in front of the television, you're on the net at the same time and you're texting your friends," says Lin. "We just naturally evolved to that."

It's heartening to know the recession hasn't even factored into their consciousness and while it's tempting to label this naivety, in some respects it may have worked in their favour. Although they have yet to start selling advertising on the site, Coup De Main provides cash-strapped businesses with another promotional outlet — if the girls like their product, that is. The new Transformers movie got the thumbs-up but rather than rejigging the press release, they made paper masks and photographed them for the site. Someone else baked toy-shaped cakes.

At 20, does Graves, who is also the music editor for Coup De Main, find it difficult convincing record companies to grant her interviews, film companies to supply her with give-aways?

"When you're not standing in front of them they don't know how old you are. It's hard for people to take you seriously, but when you get an email ..." She gives a sly grin.

Perhaps Coup De Main's most significant achievement, one that would do us all good to aspire to, is the fact they started the site in their own time, with zero cash. And while money is definitely part of their five-year plan, a lack of it at the beginning has been no obstacle.

"You do what you do to get it done," says Lin. "Because we all love it and are passionate about it and want to see it grow it's not like, 'ooh , we're working'. There's none of that."

"As much as it is business you still have time to be yourself and it's so much fun," says Young. "Me and Shah absolutely love Disney and we're not ashamed of it, so we'll like, watch Disney then have a break and do Coup De Main and then watch Hannah Montana."

Says Graves: "Everyone always gives us so much grief about it but it's like, we're 19 and 20."

Passion was what convinced their mates to give their time for free. Using a network of talented friends and fans — models, artists, photographers, writers — they were able to get the website off the ground.

No one yet gets paid for their efforts but that hasn't put off their creative friends from helping them wherever possible, whether it's bloggers waxing lyrical about their favourite new films or jumping up and down in a printed tee. The site's professional veneer is partly down to its graphics but also the result of photographers, stylists and makeup artists giving their time.

"We're such a small team," says Lin. "This is the core. And because it's our business, we really want to get in there and do everything. Everyone does everything. We all take ownership and responsibility because this is our baby. At the same time, we are constantly amazed at the people that collaborate with us because they are amazing and they're young."

Their next big goal — and there are many, diligently drawn up as part of a five-year plan — is to go into print by the end of the year. Given their relative inexperience in the world of media, how will they fare in this already print-saturated market? By finding a financial backer willing to give them a go.

"We just want it to get bigger and better, to grow it as much as we can," says Lin. "We always keep the love. You've got to, otherwise why would you do it?"