Every year I am asked by my great friend, former Editor-in-Chief and now Copy Editor, Adam Mazerall (yes, he’s back – read on to find out why) to write a re-cap of my favourite View the Vibe moments from the year’s past. This year, I found it to be on the difficult side as 2013 has definitely proven to be one of “those” years…. But, this reflection exercise has made me appreciate that we DID have some fantastic moments (even if they went MIA for a second). After the realization of where we are only one year after I wrote the last re-cap, I can only say there were a lot of moments overall. The great ones were awesome and the not-so-great ones have taught us lessons and made us stronger.
2013 started off hard – we were aggressive and wanted to grow – fast. Our first big move was launching in Vancouver. After reading about all the great restaurants, speaking to foodies from the West Coast and seeing all the talent coming out of there, I thought that Vancouver was an ideal market for the View the Vibe video concept. Fortunately, Vancouverites agreed. A couple of trips later, we officially launched and have since been able to acquire some of the best restaurants as clients. Who could ask for a better way to hit up a new market? One of the great View the Vibe moments of 2013? Definitely.
In February, I was still in that hungry faze (am I really ever not??) and had terrible problems sleeping. I’m sure any other entrepreneur reading this will agree that sleep deprivation just comes with the job. However, it can also deliver some marvelous ideas. One night after many brainstorming sessions with my team on how to grow the numbers, evolve the blog and gain more users, I had an epiphany: View the Vibe needs to become an online lifestyle magazine. So I quite literally emailed everyone on my team at 5am to tell them we had an “emergency” meeting scheduled for 8:30am. Yes, this is the craziness that is called “being an entrepreneur”. I proceeded to tell them that I wanted to revamp the blog into an actual online magazine and publish articles in various realms. What View the Vibe is today is a result of our team sitting in many meetings thereafter and getting into countless debates on how to do it. Today the result has been achieved as people like the new site and our numbers were attained. Another great View the Vibe moment of 2013? Absolutely.
Once the cold winter vanished and summer sunshine appeared, the View the Vibe office was aching for a party – no surprise as we all enjoy a good time. So we decided to throw a bash and instead of inviting only media, we wanted to focus on inviting all the people that actually provide media with great content as well as friends of View the Vibe. So we hosted a 6-9pm bash at Lo Zingaro (fab Italian pizza place in case you haven’t tried it) on July 16th and invited the cool PR peeps, bloggers, friends, and View the Vibe supporters. What. A. Night. I truly was proud and felt very humbled by the turn out and support. A party that was to end at 9pm went until 11:30pm and we literally had to kick people out. Props to my mom – she certainly taught me how to throw a good party! I personally LOVED this 2013 View the Vibe moment.
TIFF is always an awesome time in Toronto. As media, we get perks that the average peeps don’t get. Not trying to gloat (this is pretty new to us), but seriously, this year was pretty awesome in the sense that the View the Vibe ladies were outfitted by Rent Frock Repeat, media accredited for red carpet coverage and we got into some of the best parties in the city. We managed to get interviews with Ewan McGregor, Russell Peters, Dermot Mulroney and got super close to Julia Roberts and Taylor Swift. Our coverage was amazing and I was especially proud of our videographer Terrence Hand, who held it together even though we were burning the candle at both ends. Another superstar was Adam (no surprise here), who was holding down the fort and ensuring all was being publicized in a timely manner. After seven days of red carpets, more red carpets and more parties, we were all pooched, but the results were great and I was very proud of the coverage. Yet another great 2013 moment for View the Vibe.
As with all great teams, friends and family, people change. People grow and want different things. Just after TIFF, Adam, my right arm, editor, confident and pretty much partner, declared that he needed to try something new. Editor at View the Vibe wasn’t fulfilling his dreams and I could understand that. As hard as it was to take, it was something I could relate to, so who was I to be mad? In great “Adamness” he gave me two months notice so that I had plenty of time to look for someone new. He was also aware that the Delicious Food Show was around corner and that if he left before, we would be f*^$ed. So he didn’t. However this is definitely when shit hit the fan and View the Vibe got struck by “inauspicious lightening”.
This leads me to the most unfortunate View the Vibe event of 2013: the Delicious Food Show hosted by the Food Network. What a disappointing event, turnout and organization. I will spare you the frustrating details. Let’s just leave it at – we will never sponsor this event again. However the time and stress leading up to the show obviously interfered with my judge of character in replacing Adam. I am not out to insult people therefore I will only highlight the positive that came from this interesting experience. Hiring two people back to back who both quit after two weeks made me realize that good people are hard to come by – so hold onto them. People may talk the talk – but can they walk the walk? Only few can is what I have now discovered.
However, everything happens for a reason. What came of two bad hires and a difficult few months is that Adam is back on board part time as our Copy Editor while also pursuing his creative passions. I have also assumed the position of Editor-in-Chief, which in many ways I never wanted, but in many ways, I now love. Isn’t it funny how life works?
So that’s our 2013 in a nutshell. Lots of good; lots of “not-so-good”; lots of lessons. Many have said this was a transitional year. Yes, yes it was – but I say it was more of an educational year and I will never forget it.
Here’s to 2014 – I guarantee I have learned some important lessons that will only make this new year THAT much greater.
Wishing you all great moments, life lessons, and things that “happen for a reason”.
Happy 2014!
Love, Nicki xo