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courtesy of the vanilla guerilla

One of the exciting things about being a writer is the fact that you never know where your next story will come from. We’ve discussed repeated about how much I love magazines. Well I was reading Success magazine tonight and came across a story about TheKnot.com.

Being single, I generally skip over wedding related articles, but since I recently wrote 19 pages of wedding content for a bridal shop in Colorado, I am a little less adverse to reading on the topic. (At the moment anyway!)

This article wasn’t about getting married. The company The Knot and it’s website was being featured in the January’s Success monthly column called “From the Corner Office”.

I’ve been to TheKnot.com before, when a former co-worker was showing me a dress she was considering for her wedding. What I didn’t know about this website before reading this article was the fact that it was started as a result of a multicultural need. The owners, Carley Roney and David Liu were having trouble finding information geared toward their needs. They are an interracial couple and the bridal resources on the market were not geared toward this demographic.

What was even more interesting was the fact that the bridal resources available played to the stereotype that only women were interesting in wedding resources. Liu, being an active groom, was a shining example of another member of a demographic not being served in the wedding industry.

The Knot.com is now more than an online wedding resource. According to Success, it garners 100 million page views a month and earned nearly $104 million dollars in 2008.

Liu and Roney have continued to serve the under-served cultural niche. This niche includes resources for same-sex couples, newlyweds, expecting parents, blended families, and other wedding situations that include real people living real lives. Pregnant brides, divorced parents and second marriages are all topics that require attention that many traditional wedding resources pretend don’t exist.

TheKnot.com has found a way to be success by fulfilling a need and providing resources to our ever-changing relationship culture.

I’m always filled with a little sadness and nostalgia when something or someone from the culture of my childhood slips away. I felt that way about Michael Jackson and I felt that way when I found out  that Asbury Park, New Jersey closed down their amusement park.

The most recent event that brought on these feelings is the death of Theodore “Teddy” Pendergrass. I was a little girl and I can remember my father and my grandfather playing some of his best songs. Songs such as “Turn Off the Lights“, “Love TKO“, and “Close the Door“.

However, a few years ago, I discovered what would become my most favorite Teddy Pendergrass song of all time, when Nelly remade “Come, Go With Me”. Nelly’s version was called “My Place“. When I found out it was a remake of Teddy’s song, I had to hear the original.  I ended up liking Teddy’s original best and the song reconnected me to the singer’s talent. Something I hadn’t thought about since I was a child.

In tribute to the passing of a great sensual balladeer, here’s “Come, Go With Me.”

Thank you Teddy Pendergrass for your tremendous contribute to R&B Soul! May you rest in peace!