A YOUNG Glasgow journalist is taking the publishing world by storm with her own magazine.

Despite her youth, Alice Muir, an 18-year-old from Pollokshields, has set up an alternative arts magazine, TLG, a publication specialising in the latest news from the world of electronic music and alternative art.

Starting life as an online blog while Alice was still at Craigholme School, the young entrepreneur decided she needed to do something to stand out from the crowd.

She said: "I went to an all-girls school and already had a blog covering specialist music, but I didn't want to become just another blogger, so I decided to pursue the idea of launching a music magazine for women."

Alice made the leap from blogger to publisher last year and since then she has developed a network of writers from as far afield as New York who help put together the magazine's cutting edge content.

TLG is now selling well in major cities like Manchester, Leeds, London and at home and has a significant online presence.

Alice's dream was made possible thanks to funding from the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust, a body specialising in giving a helping hand to young business people.

Support from the Trust has been integral to her success and has allowed Alice to focus all of her energy on making TLG a success.

She said: "When I started the magazine I was too young to receive funding, I was only 16, and by the time we printed the first issue I'd just turned 17.

"I had to fund it all myself or through advertising – which is hard to do with a new magazine.

"By the time I turned 18 I wanted to formalise the business and do it full time, so I approached PSYBT and put a pitch together.

"They gave me a straight 'yes', and I managed to secure the money."

The teenager has also been offered a space at the istart@Stow Incubator Hub project – a partnership between Stow College, Digital Enterprise Glasgow and Glasgow City Council, which gives start-up creative enterprises free rent and support .

And she's also met another Scottish female entrepreneur, Michelle Mone.

Alice added: "I met Michelle at the PSYBT Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, she is one of my biggest influences, she's somebody I look up to."

With TLG's profile rising, Alice hopes her success will encourage other young women to pursue their business goals.

She said: "I'd really like to be in a place in a few years where TLG is encouraging women to get out and do things, like street art and electronic music."

chris.taylor@ heraldandtimes.co.uk