Introduction to One Love

A path to self-discovery has taken me places I didn't know existed. These places weren't on any map. They were inside of myself. And One Love comes from this journey. I discovered that I wanted to pursue my life-long dream of obtaining a degree in Anthropology. In my college days, I had taken the only anthropology class offered at my Alma Mater, ending the semester with an A+. My passion was evident, yet common sense realized it's attack. And, I allowed it. I allowed my 'better judgement" to guide me down the path of business school to earn my Bachelor of Science in Marketing, and the Master's program that allowed me to obtain my M.B.A. My dear friend and I took the courses together - night classes, online classes, summer sessions, winter inter-sessions. The goal was to take any course we could, in order to graduate as fast as possible, which for us turned out to be sixteen months. This safe path lead to great opportunities and many exciting careers as a business professional, interactions with amazing co-workers and colleagues whom I am grateful for knowing, and plenty of lessons learned in the business world. It also provided a first class ticket to a stifling destination of being content and always feeling like there was more. This destination was a realization that I was not living my passion. I loved my day job, that's not the problem.  My life's purpose was not being fulfilled, and I could not determine what was the purpose, but I did know what was missing.

Long forgotten was my love for anthropology, my passion for people, and the beauty I could recognize in human differences. These things were replaced by demographics, consumer behavior, and social media insights. I knew how to drive consumer behavior in business, but I still had an unfulfilled passion for human behavior.

One Love

It is easy to recognize and understand that there are many differences between us and to understand that those differences separate us. But there is something that removes the separateness. In order to eliminate the darkness of hate, prejudice, racism and negative stereotypes, we will replace it with the light and love for a united human race. One Love is a belief system, a journey, and a test of human interaction. This blog is a reflection of our differences and examples of our similarities. It is a guidebook as to how to follow your own path towards acceptance of yourself and others. But, the ultimate goal is that it inspires you to reach out to others who are different than you are, with a warm, loving hand and an open heart.

We will take a step back from a larger perspective to see how humans are different because of cultural practices and how we are the same because of our humanness. These are the keys to unlocking something inside each of us that will change the world forever. These two concepts are the secret to obtaining and sustaining One Love.