User blog:Angela/Leaving Wikia

Dear Wikians,

After more than 7 years I have made the difficult decision to leave Wikia.

Thank you to everyone that has made these years so special.

I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be part of Wikia's early years and to have worked with Jimmy and Gil. I'd especially like to thank Michael Davis who has been here since the beginning and Sannse who just celebrated 6 years at Wikia. Thanks also to Bill for helping to hold things together all these years in an ever-changing company and to Tim Bartel for ensuring our community was global for the past 4 years.

Wikia is growing so fast and changing for the better all the time. I want to reassure you that it's not these changes that have made me decide to move on. Quite the contrary; it's difficult to leave when things are so exciting. But Wikia is now very well established and led by a passionate and experienced team who I totally trust to look after my 1st baby. :)

Webnumbr tells me we have 331,520 wikis, 3,688,990 registered editors, and 63.8 million monthly visitors. Wikia has already surpassed my expectations and I know it will continue doing so.

My own focus and motivations have changed since my daughter was born 16 months ago. Now it's time for me to focus on something different. I still love Wikia but I want to work on something locally that better reflects my interests as a new mother so later this year I will be launching a startup that aims to deliver educational materials to preschoolers (ChalkDrop.com).

Keep in touch! My email address is beesley at gmail.com. I'm occasionally on Twitter (@wikiangela) and I've recently started pinning at Pinterest. And I'll still be answering questions on Wikia's first wiki at answers.wikia.com.

I look forward to watching the growth of Wikia into something truly significant over the next few years.

Best wishes,

Angela

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Angela Beesley Starling

Wikia.com, co-founder