Can This Woman Save Savoy?

In mid-May, Hermene D. Hartman glimpsed a window of opportunity. Savoy, recently billed as the hottest national magazine for black professionals in decades, had just been bought in a bankruptcy auction for $375,000. Hartman missed the auction but saw Savoy as a perfect complement to her free Chicago newspaper, N'Digo, which also targets upscale blacks.

So she phoned the buyer, New York's four-year-old Jungle Media Group. Hartman figured her black publishing background was better suited to remake Savoy with the right "feel and flava." So she offered $600,000 -- from personal savings and loans -- enough to give Jungle a comfortable profit but less than the monthly was worth to her. Deal done.