March 7, 2015
‘Loving in the Grown Zone’: Authors Talk Healthy Relationships, Career Success and More
When Alfred Edmond Jr. and Zara Green created the Grown Zone Twitter account in 2012, they had no idea that just three short years later the brand would have developed into a multimedia initiative that includes a Website, radio show, workshops, a book and so much more.
“We like to say we started the engine, and the people made it the movement,” says Green, who is a well-known speaker, author and trainer specializing in personal growth.
Both Edmond and Green’s online conversations to address the patterns they saw in their families and communities grew into an extended platform, the Grown Zone, and become a nationwide educational and motivational resource.
“We just had this common thing that we saw in our friends, our families, the people around us and the people on TV, where they were all doing things they had the absolute adult right to do, but it produced horrible results. And in some cases that type of decision-making is celebrated,” says Edmond, who serves as an entrepreneur, speaker and Senior Vice President/Chief Content Officer at Black Enterprise.
Admittedly taking a dislike to the phrase “grown and sexy,” Green started her own conversation on social media about healthy decision-making, while Edmond had his own conversation taking place that discussed the choices of men specifically. It was these online discussions that led Green and Edmond to meet and eventually become both business and life partners.
Now, after addressing the demands of their loyal followers, Green and Edmond have turned their online movement into a book titled, Loving in the Grown Zone: A No Non-sense Guide to Making Healthy Decisions in the Quest for Loving, Romantic Relationships of Honor, Esteem, and Respect.
With the goal to help adults make healthier relationship decisions, both personal and professional, Green and Edmond say they hope their book provides prevention rather than intervention to their readers.
“It’s about deciding what’s best for you,” Green says. “That may mean rejecting what your mother or pastor taught you, or people from your ‘hood. It means you have to love and know yourself and commit to that as your primary relationship.”
Be sure to order your copy of Green and Edmond’s book on Amazon today and follow them on Twitter @GrownZone, @AlfredEdmondJr and @ZaraGreen.