When I was approached to be a part of this wonderful cause, I was truly surprised. What is it I have to offer the world that is so special I could blog about it for 12 months? I asked Toni [Childs] a few questions, including “why me” and her response was enough to convince me that perhaps I do have an interesting story to tell, and something worthwhile to share with others.

I do this… I share myself with the world in seemingly impersonal ways. But in truth, what I undertake comes from the deepest depth of my soul and something I am passionate enough about, to draw others into my circle and ask them to do the same. So how do I begin to tell you the why and how of my project' s fruition. In order to do this, I have to take you back a bit, to my youth, and down the road to finding inspiration.

I learned how to read and write at age 3 ½ , after this, there was no stopping me. These two simple things fueled a passion that grew into a calling. By the time I was a teen, my curiosity for life and the outside world was insatiable. At age 16, I met the woman who would literally save my life through the gift of words. Betty McKenney was my high school Journalism and AP English teacher; she was also the first teacher to truly challenge me. She opened up a love of writing and words that ran amok and became the driving force in my survival, during a very difficult time in my life. I grew so much under her watchful eye and I loved her so much for allowing me to express myself fully. (Betty was taken from the world, too young, after a battle with breast cancer. Much of what I do today is in honor of my mentor and friend.)

Fast forward, 15 years, and a lifetime of experience. I never stopped writing. I, literally, wrote everywhere (in journals, on napkins, my hand). But, I was always afraid to really go for it. I had to work to survive—being the “starving artist” was never an option. In 2006, I was a casualty of the real estate bubble bursting, in Naples, Florida, where I had lived for ten [10] years. I lost my job and decided to relocate to the San Francisco Bay area. I landed a contract position in corporate America upon arriving and was brimming with joy at my new life.

Living in CA was, a dream come true; but became marred with one bad omen after another from the second week I arrived (car broken into, falling and breaking my wrist and having surgery with no insurance, roommate issues, relationship woes, etc.). But I was determined to stay…

In late 2007, my life changed in a strange way. I was in love with life, but life wasn' t loving me back. In mid October I was let go from my job without much explanation. I was living in a city where I had no family and few friends. I had no savings—for the first six months living in California, I had also been helping support my mom in Florida. I searched for another full time job to no avail. I ended up going on unemployment, which took over a month to kick in. I started doing some freelance writing for local artists and occasional personal assistant jobs, to supplement my income. I was also taking workshops, joining meet-up groups and groups for entrepreneurs just to get out, meet people and hear their stories.

At the same time I felt an internal transformation happening. It was as though years of suppressing myself to fit into the traditional work environment, finally wore me down. I was frustrated, tired of feeling and being disposable, tired of my hard work and loyalty going unappreciated and pondered where I wanted to go at that point. I guess I finally had time and enough separation from the ‘ real world' to actually figure out what was important to me and who I wanted to be.

I awoke one morning and remembered a goal I once had: Back in my journalism days I had story boarded all over my bedroom closet door… and had it written that ‘ someday, I would own my own magazine' . I asked myself, ‘ what better day than today to do it' ? Something stirred inside of me; all those old stifled passions and all the excitement that electrified my core, when I was a feature writer and editor at age 17, came back to life.

On that fated day in December of 2007, barely making it, the artist and creator in me started working on this project that I appropriately named, attribute magazine. I chose attribute because it felt fitting… I wanted to focus on the positive in the world; I felt the world was fatigued by the constant bombardment of negativity from the circus, we now call, the media. This was not the world of journalism I was taught… it was time to get old school.

I never lost the tools and knowledge… I just needed to find my platform and do some research. I chose the Internet for three reasons: 1) Low overhead, 2) No paper product needed (I am a long-time ‘ greenie”) and 3) The world would be our oyster for we could reach everyone with a connection.

This was the beginning of a long road that I faced: Good thing I work well alone and under pressure! No one in my life “got it”… so how would I convince complete strangers to come on board?

Over the next year I will be taking you on a journey: a journey both personal and entrepreneurial in spirit. One that will give an honest and clear depiction of the ups, downs and in-betweens of the start-up stage of attribute magazine and the lemons life has thrown me along the way. I do so in hopes you can learn from, be inspired by, and moved to action, for yourselves.