I have always been this way.
I pay attention.
I notice things. I ask questions. I want to know how something works, why something is happening, who made the decision, what I might be missing and whether there is another way.
Apparently, I have been doing this my entire life.
When I was in elementary school, I remember thinking that if adults were making decisions that affected students, students should have some say in those decisions.
So I got involved in student government.
I wanted to be in the room.
At the time, I would have never called that agency. I simply believed that when something affects your life, you should have some say in it.
I still believe that.
And the older I get, the more I realize how much of my life has been shaped by that belief.
READ THE ROOM.
That phrase fits me because reading the room is what I do.
I pay attention to what is happening around me. Sometimes something catches my attention and I keep thinking about it.
Why is everybody talking about this?
How does that actually work?
Who benefits?
What does this mean in real life?
Is that really the only option?
Can I do that?
How much does it cost?
How do you get in the room?
Where is the door?
And one of my favorites:
What else is possible?
Sometimes I research the question.
Sometimes I talk to people.
Sometimes I need to see it for myself.
I will apply, sign up, take the trip, attend the event, try the thing, learn the system, walk into the room or go through the door.
Then I come back and tell you what I found.
That is the simplest explanation of MARENDA.biz I have found.
I have been doing this online since 2006.
My original website was called Living Life Abundantly.
Even the name tells me something now.
I was interested in life. How we live it. What we do with it. What we believe. What we know. What we have yet to discover. What happens to people. What we can change. Where we can go. Who we can become.
I wrote about whatever I was paying attention to.
That eventually pulled me deeper into politics, activism, advocacy and public service.
I attended a presidential inauguration and became curious about the people I saw participating in the political process.
I wanted to know: How do you become a delegate?
So I looked into it.
Then I became one.
Twice.
That question took me into campaigns, political organizing, legislative work and rooms I once knew very little about.
Other questions took me other places.
Entrepreneurship.
Aviation.
Leadership.
Insurance.
Publishing.
Artificial intelligence.
Travel.
College as a grown woman.
Some doors I deliberately opened.
Some routes I chose.
And some routes changed because life changed.
Through all of it, one thing remained:
I kept paying attention.
So what is Marenda.biz?
It is where I bring back what I find.
Ideas.
Information.
Experiences.
Opportunities.
Resources.
Perspective.
Places worth seeing.
Questions worth asking.
Things worth knowing.
Possibilities you may have never considered.
Sometimes what I find will help you save money.
Sometimes it may help you make money.
Sometimes it may change how you think about work, travel, technology, culture, health, aging, business, relationships or what comes next.
Sometimes it may simply make you say, “Hmm. I never thought about that.”
That counts too.
Because I believe life is bigger when you know what is possible.
You cannot consider an option you never knew existed.
You cannot make an informed decision without information.
And sometimes seeing what somebody else discovered, tried, questioned or experienced is enough to make you look at your own life differently.
That is what I want this publication to do.
Do not expect me to stay in one lane.
I have tried that.
It does not fit.
One day I may be looking into pensions and why some employers still offer them.
Another day I may be figuring out how Gen X fits into the creator economy.
I may take you to Peru because I want to see Machu Picchu and meet the alpacas.
I may write about something happening in this country because I think we need to understand what it means beyond the headline.
I may tell you what is actually in my flight attendant bag.
I may discover a business model, technology, opportunity, book, product, place or idea and disappear down the rabbit hole.
And sometimes I will write about life itself.
The subjects will change.
The curiosity behind them will not.
Neither will the question I am ultimately trying to answer:
Is there something here worth knowing?
If the answer is yes, I am probably going to look into it.
My perspective comes with me.
I am a Black woman born and raised in Compton.
I have spent my life moving through very different rooms.
I have worked in politics and public service. I have built businesses. I have worked frontline and management in aviation. I became a flight attendant. I became a licensed life insurance agent. I went back to college as a grown woman and earned my degree. I have been an advocate, author, publisher, speaker, entrepreneur, caregiver and breast cancer survivor.
I have experienced extraordinary joy.
I have experienced things that changed the route completely.
I have had to reinvent myself.
I have changed my mind.
I have started over.
I have learned things the easy way and the expensive way.
I have walked into rooms wondering how I got there and walked out knowing something I did not know before.
All of that comes with me when I write.
That is my perspective.
You are free to have your own.
In fact, I want you to.
You get to decide.
I am not here to tell you how to live your life.
I want you to know that there may be another door.
Another route.
Another question worth asking.
Another place worth seeing.
Another way to earn.
Another way to think about something.
Another opportunity you did not know existed.
Another chapter.
Another possibility.
I will do what I have apparently been doing since I was a kid.
I will pay attention.
I will ask questions.
I will look into things.
Sometimes I will go see for myself.
And I will bring back what I find.
What you do with it is up to you.
That is the point.
Welcome to MARENDA.
READ THE ROOM.
