Robin’s Story

Where Is Our Love?

When I was a little girl, I stood on a stage and sang a song called “Where Is Our Love?”

I was part of a group called Children of the World For the World, and I had been chosen as a soloist on our record. We were children singing about love and acceptance, asking the adults of the world to do better; to love one another.

For almost two years, we practised, recorded, and performed across Calgary and Edmonton. We wore white slacks and matching blue sweatshirts and sang our hearts out. The profits from the record were donated to children in Africa.

I dreamed of being a singer for the rest of my life.

But the demanding schedule took a toll on my little voice. I developed nodules on my vocal cords, and a specialist told me I had to stop singing. I remember crying so hard in the elevator as we left his office and all the way home. I was heartbroken.

I couldn’t have known then that, even though my dream of singing would end, the question at the heart of that song would stay with me for the rest of my life.

Where is our love?

How do we find it? How do we nurture it? How do we give it to ourselves and to the people we hold most dear? And how can we bring more of it into the world?

Looking back now, I can see that I have been a student of love and connection my whole life.

Following the thread

My career has taken many twists and turns. I earned a business degree, worked for my dad’s company, travelled the world, and spent seven years selling medical supplies. After I became a mother, I wanted to be closer to home. My twin brother, Reece, suggested I become a Realtor. I hadn’t considered it before, but the more I learned, the more it felt right. So I studied for my licence and began again.

A few years later, Reece noticed how much joy I was getting from another pursuit. I had been playing matchmaker for my best friend, Kirsten, asking everyone I knew to recommend wonderful single men I could introduce her to. By the time she moved to Victoria, I had ten men lined up to meet her!

Reece saw how excited I was and asked me: What if you became a professional matchmaker?

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I trained, opened an office in Victoria, and founded Locate Your Soulmate. I hosted speed-dating events and interviewed hundreds of people who were looking for partnership. Later, I focused on love coaching and created an online course called Love School.

I was learning about what people long for, what gets in the way of connection, and how much courage it takes to open your heart and hope for love.

Then life changed in ways I could never have imagined.

In 2012, Reece died suddenly. Two years later, my dad passed away. While grieving these immense losses, I also served as executor of their estates.

My dad had left me his share of a composites manufacturing company. I bought out the other partners and took over the business, believing this was something he wanted me to have and be part of. I gave it my full effort for almost three years.

But I knew in my heart that it wasn’t my passion. The work was draining me rather than feeding me. I wanted to get back into the love business.

I wanted to feel that life force again.

A calling becomes Real Love Ready

In 2019, I spent a day with my friend and mentor Danielle LaPorte, exploring what my next chapter could look like. By the end of that day, Real Love Ready was born.

My vision was to bring together the most inspiring relationship teachers of our time to create a place where we could explore the questions we all have about love, learn from their wisdom, and discover how to love better.

I didn’t start this company because I had the answers, but because I knew how much there was still to learn. I wanted to shed light on our shared struggles and make the wisdom, tools, and insights of trusted relationship experts accessible to everyone.

Esther Perel was one of the greatest inspirations behind that vision. Her work opened up conversations about love, desire, and relationships in ways that helped me see how much there was for all of us to learn. She was the first teacher we hired to help us raise our relational literacy.

I believed then, as I do now, that we aren’t simply born knowing how to navigate every challenge that comes with loving another human being. We can learn. We can become more curious about ourselves and each other. We can listen more deeply, communicate more honestly, repair when we hurt one another, and make more conscious choices about how we show up.

From 2021 through 2023, during the pandemic, we hosted three virtual summits. Then, in April 2023, we gathered in Vancouver for our first in-person In Bloom: A Love & Relationships Summit.

There is something so special about being in a room full of people who have come together because they care about love. People who want to understand themselves. People who want to strengthen their relationships. People who are willing to learn, to be vulnerable, and to keep growing.

Over the years that followed, I had the privilege of interviewing and learning from hundreds of teachers, coaches, doctors, psychologists, and therapists through our events and podcasts, Let's Talk Love and Real Love Ready: The Series. I read their books, listened to their wisdom, asked questions, and brought what I was learning into my own life.

This work has asked so much of me, and I have given it my whole heart. I have dedicated years of my life and invested millions of dollars of my own money into building Real Love Ready and advancing relational literacy.

I have done so because I believe in this mission with every part of me. To me, it is a calling.

What I know to be true

The more I have learned, the more I understand that becoming more loving is a lifelong practice.

It happens in the big moments, when we find the courage to tell the truth or make a change. And it happens in the small moments, too: when we pause before reacting, listen with an open heart, take responsibility for our actions, or offer ourselves the same compassion we so readily give to someone else.

It happens when we choose to stay curious about the people we love. When we apologize and try again. When we recognize that our relationships deserve our time, care, and attention.

We won’t always get it right. I certainly haven’t. But every day gives us another opportunity to learn and to choose how we want to love.

That belief inspired me to write Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy, published in April 2026. In it, I share lessons from my own life alongside what I have learned from years of conversations with some of the world’s leading relationship teachers.

I wrote it for anyone who wants to understand themselves more deeply and create more loving, fulfilling relationships in every area of their life. If that speaks to you, I would love for you to read it and join me in this ongoing practice of learning how to love better.

A full-circle moment

This April 2027, we will gather again in Vancouver for the In Bloom: A Love & Relationships Summit, and we are inviting Esther Perel back.

For me, it feels like a beautiful full-circle moment. Esther was one of the reasons I was inspired to start Real Love Ready, and she was the very first teacher we hired. To invite her back after all these years of learning and growing together means so much to me.

And yet, I don’t think of us as returning to exactly where we began. I think of us as being higher on the spiral of life.

Over these past five years, we have been learning, practising, growing, and expanding together. We have taken what we’ve learned into our homes, our friendships, our partnerships, our families, and our communities. We have found new ways to love ourselves and each other.

And I know that because of this, we have each contributed to making the world a more loving place.

This I know to be true: Every time we choose to meet ourselves or another person with more understanding, more compassion, and more love, it matters. Those choices reach further than we may ever know.

I would love for you to join us at In Bloom in Vancouver this April. Come as you are. Come with your questions, your hopes, and your willingness to grow. Whether you have been part of our community from the beginning or are just discovering Real Love Ready, there is a place for you here.

We are all still learning. And we get to keep doing it together.

Love, Robin xo