[laughs]

[laughs] Second of all, I, um, to answer your question, I specialized, when I was getting my, uh, PhD in clinical sexology, in proactive approaches to the field by specializing in premarital, and I created an online course, uh, which is what this book is based off of, in addition to the work I did with several couples around the world.

Uh, this book really came from watching those couples pour a lot of energy into planning beautiful weddings, um, and then showing up to the marriage almost completely unprepared for what it actually requires.

Um, and so the central idea is that a marriage needs the same level of intentionality and planning that we actually give to the, the big event.

Um, a- and so a career, a business, a family, like- We need to start investing in what love looks like before it happens.

Uh, and I think by doing so, we're setting ourselves up for success because couples are 31% less likely to get divorced if they engage in some form of premarital education according to studies, which is a compelling statistic, yet there's very little out there.

All that exists is religious, and that's not always for everyone.

I mean, tell us a little bit more about if, if someone were to reach out to you, one of our listeners or others, what might they expect?

[laughs]

"Uh, I'm gonna go start an event planning company." This was back in my 20s.

And that was really fun.

I did some events out east and in the city, and I loved celebrating people and making people feel included in spaces.

Um, but then the pandemic hit and I started seeing all these therapists on social media who were really extroverted and inspiring to me, and I thought to myself, "Wait a minute, I can be myself and also host people in intimate environments, um, and go back to school for what I started." And so I did that in the pandemic, went on to Columbia University, got my master's, did, uh, an internship in private practice working with couples.

And I got this one couple that was religious, and they were premarital, and they never lived together.

Um, and I just thought, "Why isn't there something that exists for couples that's secular, that's not religious-based in this world where people are having intimacy before tying the knot?" Um, and people are spending so much time planning for a wedding, but, like, no time planning for a marriage.

Mm-hmm