FBC's Second BrithdayThis week marks the second anniversary of the launch of Food Bloggers of Canada. And what a year it has been!

We have grown by leaps and bounds and are fast approaching 1200 members.

We hosted our first conference.  In fact, we hosted Canada’s first national food blogging conference! Canadian food bloggers from across the country weathered a freak April ice storm and were a part of Canadian food blogging history. Speakers from all disciplines shared from the heart and broke bread with the attendees. We were able to bring Canadian bloggers and brands together to realize the potential they bring one another.

During the other 362 days of the year, we’ve worked hard to find new ways for many of you to work with Canadian brands and have new opportunities within the Canadian food community.

And most of all, we have had the amazing opportunity to interact with all of you.  You have made this a vibrant and positive community from coast to coast.   Thank you to all of you.

Onward to Year 3!

We won’t be resting on our laurels for year #3.  We’ve got lots on the agenda!

We will be launching a redesigned website in early 2014 with new features and some old ones (yes… for all of you who have asked, the forum will be returning in the second phase!!).

We are already in the discussion phase for FBC2014!  That’s right – stay tuned for more details!

We are working on some very cool opportunities for recipe and restaurant bloggers alike that will be popping up in the next few months. (we can’t say more than that just yet!).

So stay tuned!

With Growth Comes Change

As excited as we are about all that the future holds for FBC and our members, we can’t help but be sad about the announcement we are making today.   It is with truly mixed emotions that we are losing one of our trio.

Mardi Michels has made the very difficult decision to step down as a director and co-owner of FBC.  Mardi has asked to address you all with her own words so we hand it over to her:

The last two years has been a thrilling roller coaster of a ride for the three of us as we launched Food Bloggers of Canada and subsequently watched as FBC grew beyond our expectations. I am so proud of all we have accomplished, and feel the Canadian food blogging community is a much better place for the existence of FBC.

It's been an extremely busy couple of years, to say the least!  Aside from FBC, I'm still teaching full-time, blogging over on eat. live. travel. write. and travelling as much as I can, so it's often felt like a precarious juggling act of my time. Recently, I have taken on some projects which, over the coming years, will require a lot more of my time so today it is with much sadness that I am stepping down as a Director of Food Bloggers of Canada.

Please know that this has not been an easy decision and it’s one I have been struggling with for some time now.  I am not one to half-commit to something and since it will no longer be possible to commit to my FBC responsibilities at the same level as before, I feel it's the right decision both for me and for FBC.

FBC is a cause near and dear to my heart, so you can imagine how difficult this decision has been for me. I've made a lot of friendships across the FBC members and sponsors that I truly value - honestly, meeting so many like-minded souls has been one of the best things about my involvement in FBC.  I wish nothing but success for FBC and am sure the organization will continue to successful under Melissa and Ethan's leadership.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for the Food Bloggers of Canada and I'll most definitely still be around -  I'm excited to support and participate in FBC activities as a regular member.

Thank you all for your support over the past 2 years.

Mardi

As a trio, we know only too well how difficult a decision this has been for Mardi.  We are going to miss her tremendously.   Just like a tripod, we have always said that FBC would never have come to fruition if one of us had been missing from the equation. We can’t thank Mardi enough for everything she has contributed over the past two and a half years.

RELATED:  The Weekly FBC News for May 26, 2014

The consolation for the three of us is knowing that this isn’t goodbye – friends never say goodbye!  We were friends before FBC existed and we will be long into the future.  Mardi will continue to be actively involved in FBC and she will forever be one of our original co-founders.

And so, for the last time, we fondly say:

As always,

Melissa, Mardi and Ethan

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12 Comments

ClockworkLemon
Reply

So many emotions in one weekly news edition!

Happy Birthday FBC, so happy to see you grow and grow and so excited for the 2014 conference.

Sad to see Mardi go, but wishing her the best of luck in all her new projects 🙂

Aimee Wimbush-Bourque
Reply

First, congratulations, FBC team on two amazing years. Thank you for all the hard work that has gone into that time. I’m very excited for what lies ahead in year 3!

Mardi, we certainly understand your reasonings and will miss you very much. Thank you for your devotion to the cause and all the best for what lies ahead.

Shareba
Reply

Happy Birthday FBC!! I’m looking forward to seeing what you have in store for the coming year.

To Mardi, good luck with your projects!

Bridget Oland
Reply

Congratulations for all that the three of you have accomplished with FBC. Sorry to see you moving on Mardi, but I’m excited for you too.

Here’s to the year(s) ahead…

Kim Beaulieu
Reply

Congratulations on 2 amazing years. You all did such an amazing job putting together such a great resource for us Canadians. All your hard work is much appreciated.

We’ll definitely miss Mardi but totally understand her decision.

carole brown
Reply

Happy birthday FBC! You guys have done a great thing together and I can’t imagine how hard it must be to have Mardi leave the inner sanctum. I am sure there are many talented and hard working bloggers would will always be willing to help when needed.
Mardi, best of luck and I look forward to seeing what you are up to!

Britt @ My. Daily. Randomness.
Reply

Happy Birthday FBC! It has been a wonderful journey, and I have really enjoyed watching you grow these past 2 years! Can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Mardi, you are a true inspiration to food bloggers everywhere, and I wish you all the best! Ethan & Melissa, keep up all the great work! 🙂

Bernice
Reply

Happy Birthday FBC! I’m excited and looking forward to what the future brings. It’s already one of my ‘go to’ sites, when the forum appears it will be even better!

Redawna
Reply

Happy Birthday to FBC! Time really has flown by.

Best of luck to you Mardi! I look forward to following your new adventures. I imagine the decision was very difficult.

Looking forward to FBC2014!

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