I’ve just returned from Haiti and I can’t think of a better way to bring 2011 to an end. It’s been such a monumental year for Urban Zen and so much of my passion continues to be fueled by the people I have come to know and love in Haiti.

What made this trip so special was the overwhelming rise of support. Through our commitment to Hope, Help & Rebuild Haiti we’ve been able to plant many seeds of development and what we are seeing now are roots that have taken hold and the first promises of real hope blooming.

It was an absolute pleasure for me to take a brand new group of travel companions down to Haiti with me – one of my favorite roles is being an ambassador for the wealth of potential in Haiti, and witnessing other’s experiencing this for the first time is truly amazing. I always say that it is not about the ‘me,’ it’s about the ‘we,’ and this was certainly true on this trip. We collaborated with Ben Stiller and Global Philanthropy Group to show our guests as many different sides of Haiti as possible. We visited the new hospital that Partners in Health is developing and participated in artisan craft fairs. We visited the Institution Scolaire Muspan, which is a primary school collaboration between the Stiller Foundation and Digicel Foundation and we traveled to the J/P HRO camps to see the incredible progress of Sean Penn and his team.

Our empowering children initiative really came to life with our Children for Children Haiti Project. We were able to deliver holiday cards and hand-made gifts created by the kids at the Rudolf Steiner School in NYC for orphan children in Haiti (this was a wonderful experience and I invite you to read about it in more detail HERE). We also witnessed the developments of our Urban Zen Integrative Therapists and the work they are doing at St. Damien’s Children’s Hospital.

In the midst of all of our work on the ground, we spent as much time as we could celebrating progress, friendships and new and powerful ways to raise awareness about Haiti. We took in beautiful art at Gallery Monine and danced under the stars at my dear friend Caroline Sada’s birthday party. We spent quality time with some of our greatest allies in Haiti like Philippe Dodard, Ronald Mevs, Maria Bello, Sean Penn, the Clinton Global Initiative Haiti Task Force and our friends from the Cine Institute. I also had the privilege of spending a day with Oprah Winfrey, sharing with her the Haiti that has captured my heart.

For me, this trip was very much about laying the groundwork for exciting developments that we will bring to fruition in 2012. I continue to feel extraordinarily blessed to have such a tremendous community of support. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I am filled with anticipation, excitement and boundless hope for what we will be able to do together next year.

I invite you to stay with me on this journey. I promise you, there is so much more to come…