Our History

In 2007 the founder of the FLMC, Lesley Hamilton, was feeling rather overwhelmed with the amount of unfounded bad press Manitoba was receiving. She figured that the constant negativity very likely correlated with the number of University and College graduates that were choosing to leave the Province in droves to pursue their careers in other Provinces. Although she did understand that this issue was currently being tackled within the political and business communities, she did not necessarily feel that she could have any persuasive role in encouraging young professionals to come back to Manitoba; she opted for a different approach.

In 2007 Lesley, through her wonderful assistant at the time Jacqueline Foley, was introduced to Andrew Kirk. At that time Lesley shared her idea of simply thanking and recognizing young professionals that are not only pursuing their careers in Manitoba, but making a difference in the community and advocating our Province as a great place to live and work.

From there the FLMC was born. Funny how things come together. The current council is a collection of new and old friends that joined for a variety of motivations and from different disciplines and situations.

Naturally, something as "grassroots" as this organization needed some clout from a larger, reputable organization. In 2008, Andrew Kirk approached Mr. Hartley Richardson with our idea to create an award that recognized outstanding young professionals in the areas of: The Arts, Community Service and Business/Professional. Integral to our proposal was the request that existing business leaders attend the event in order to engage and thank the young professionals in attendance.

Mr. Richardson passed along our proposal to the Business Council of Manitoba. This was the turning point. Andrew and Lesley presented the concept to the Business Council. At the time Charles Loewen was the Chair of the Board and after our presentation he stated: "I think you have hit a homerun here". With the moral support of the Business Council and the financial support of many of their member companies, we were off to the races.

Year after year with the support of our many sponsors, the Manitoba business community and countless volunteers, we continue to recognize young professionals with a commitment to our Province at our Annual Awards Reception. This year will mark our 4th Annual Event and we are looking forward to spreading the word (again) about some of the exceptional young individuals making a difference in our community.