I’m feeling a bit nostalgic, realizing that it’s been two years since I launched Owning Pink. It’s like looking at your baby and realizing she’s not a baby anymore, and even though she’s become this incredible person, you have these tender feelings for her early years.

When I first started Owning Pink on April 27, 2009, I held to this Field of Dreams belief that, “If you build it, they will come” -- but part of me was terrified. What if I built it -- and then nobody showed up? It would be like throwing yourself a birthday party, only to wind up alone, stuffing yourself full of birthday cake to try to sedate that desire within you that just wants to be loved.

But I took out a loan and leapt into my big dreams by hiring Joy Mazzola, Owning Pink’s first employee, and together, we set our intentions for Owning Pink by writing in magic marker on the wall of my home office, “We want Owning Pink to invite people to go to that place of pain, knowing they will be loved, safe, and nurtured.” In other words, we wanted to help people heal, only we didn’t quite realize that’s what we were doing back then.

We Built It, And You Came