Students munched on Marla Meridith’s homemade lemon ricotta breakfast cookies as she discussed her swing from working at Disney to starting her own food blog.

The cookies were one of the recipes listed on Meridith’s food blog, Family Fresh Cooking, which she started 17 years after she graduated from Syracuse University. 

Meridith shared her experiences on Wednesday about her passion for food, launching the blog and her time working as a graphic designer for top companies such as Warner Bros, Scholastic and The Walt Disney Co. Her lecture in the Hall of Languages was sponsored by SU Career Services and the Office of Alumni Relations. 

Meridith graduated from SU in 1992 with an advertising degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. She decided to stay an extra year on campus after she graduated to take surface pattern design courses in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. 

Those classes gave her the knowledge to start her career in graphic arts. She moved to New York City in 1993 to work for kids’ fashion designers in SoHo. After networking with graphics professionals, Meridith moved to California in 1996 to do freelance design work for Disney. When the economy started to decline, Disney could no longer afford to keep freelancers, so Meridith switched gears and focused more on her family.

‘You have to keep rolling with change,’ Meridith said. ‘Stay true to yourself, and it will all work out in the end.’

During her career lull, Meridith married and had two children, and this family time led her to her next career venture — food blogging. Meridith developed the idea to start her blog, Family Fresh Cooking, after a friend at the gym saw the packed, gourmet lunches Meridith brought her family, she said. The blog launched in 2009.

With recipes for breakfasts, snacks, desserts and entrees, the blog not only allows Meridith to share her passion for food, but also serves as her personal brand and business, she said. 

‘Food is everything for me. It gives me energy to take care of my family and myself,’ Meridith said. ‘I wanted to get healthy food on the radar and show people that they can make healthy food for themselves and their families, too.’

The process of building the blog from scratch wasn’t easy. Meridith knew nothing about Web design or social media before the blog, but with help from her tech-savvy husband, she was able to host her own site and fill it with easy-to-make recipes, information and photos, she said. 

Meridith said students who want to start their own blogs should jump right into the blogosphere, narrow their focus and provide information quickly and regularly. Most importantly, students should be passionate about everything they post, she said. 

But new bloggers should also be patient and diligent in their new spaces, Meridith said. Family Fresh Cooking did not become a hit overnight; it took months for Meridith to work out the kinks that come with new blogs, understand how to network with others on the Web and understand how to direct traffic to her blog, she said.

‘It takes a while to build your brand,’ Meridith said. ‘It was difficult to essentially start over. Going from Disney to blogging was a big transition.’

Now Meridith communicates with other popular food bloggers, attends Web and food conferences, and even collaborates on special projects for the community at large, she said. 

Meridith and a group of about 30 other food bloggers are currently working together to produce a cookbook that will help those suffering from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Meridith contributed a Japanese-inspired recipe for the book — matcha green tea pistachio muffins.

In the end, Meridith said the transition was exactly what she needed to refresh her career and create a way to pay the bills with her hobby.

‘It’s beyond a full-time job, but this helped me get back into the creative field after starting a family,’ Meridith said. ‘I get to spread the word about staying happy and healthy through food, which is something I live by.’

Family Fresh Cooking is proof that career change isn’t something to be feared, she said. With passion, determination and drive, Meridith has been able to use the skills she learned at SU in more ways than she ever imagined, she said. 

Mayra Najera, a freshman magazine journalism major, said she was inspired by Meridith’s story and how her blog acts as her business, in addition to acting as an outlet to share her personality, love of food and knowledge with the world.

‘I loved how she was able to turn her passion into something she could do every day and still take care of her family,’ Najera said. ‘She also incorporates her family into her blog, which I really like — it adds to the accessibility of her blog. All of her recipes seem like things I could cook at home.’

vlpallad@syr.edu

Published on March 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm