Andraéa
and
Jamie
Please join us as we celebrate our one-year anniversary on
51 days until the fun begins!
Our Story
AS TOLD BY ANDRAÉA
Our story begins like many other romances…oblivious to the idea that we could ever be more than friends.
Jamie, a Howard Alum, stayed in the DC-area after college to begin her career as a CPA. I was a DC transplant who moved to the area to begin my career in national non-profit work/advocacy.
After a few years, I began attending a local church (in a movie theater) where Jamie was already a member and we found ourselves in the same women’s small group. At first, we were little more than casual friends who hung out from time-to-time (and Jamie was my budget advisor). Thus, when Jamie shared with me that she’d be moving to Phoenix, AZ to support a local church plant, I wished her the best and we said our farewells. From there, we lost touch...
By 2018, I’d grown weary of the DC climate (both weather and otherwise) and began seeking a soft place to land. Because I knew a few people in Arizona and deeply appreciated the warmth, I decided to move.
While we didn’t initially hang out a lot, Jamie and I did spend enough time together for me to ask her to accompany me on a trip to California for an interview to receive a service dog (a Goji preview). During that trip, we both had a chance to catch up and discovered that we had a lot more in common than we realized, from love of travel to foodie adventures to deep and meaningful conversations. We started hanging out more – especially because of the pandemic – and as intimacy developed in our friendship, a budding attraction was developing as well (unbeknownst to us).
In 2021, the strategy and communications consulting firm I’d started when I moved to AZ gained rapid growth. Most nights after work, I gleaned wisdom from Jamie about everything from strategy to business operations (like long-term financial planning). Eventually, it seemed the only best next step was for her to join our incredible team full-time as our VP/COO. Within five months of us working together, we were inseparable and moved into a 2-BR apartment in my complex. All along the way, we recognized feelings that were different than anything else we’d ever felt, but because of the faith traditions we’d been taught, up until then we still didn’t connect these feelings to anything more than platonic love.
Shortly after moving in together, we realized we could no longer ignore our deep feelings and had the “more than friends” chat. While the initial discussion ended positively, the first few months of our relationship were a rollercoaster, as we had to individually and collectively decide whether we’d live in secret as just friends to the outside world (although we later learned that quite a few others saw our love and admiration for one another long before we did); part ways as friends; or be together proudly and publicly.
Eventually, with support from a few very close friends and through self-exploration and lots of coaching/therapy, we decided it was more important to choose ourselves and our relationship, and we began the long journey of “coming out” to family and friends.
On June 30, 2023, on both my birthday and the last day of Pride Month, we not only came out to the world, but announced our elopement that occurred a few days prior (June 27) in the romance capital of the world: Venice, Italy.
Today, we are living beyond our wildest dreams: traveling the world, continuing to build a very successful globally sought-after business, creating a home where all feel welcome, sharing a love that remains indescribable, and raising the world’s sassiest, cutest golden lab who is hugely responsible for bringing us together: Goji.
Yet, the final chapter of this first part of our story is not complete…
Before we continue our ride off into the sunset, we want to bring our dearest friends and family together to celebrate our love and love on one another.
WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU IN JUNE!
Our story begins like many other romances…oblivious to the idea that we could ever be more than friends.
Jamie, a Howard Alum, stayed in the DC-area after college to begin her career as a CPA. I was a DC transplant who moved to the area to begin my career in national non-profit work/advocacy.
After a few years, I began attending a local church (in a movie theater) where Jamie was already a member and we found ourselves in the same women’s small group. At first, we were little more than casual friends who hung out from time-to-time (and Jamie was my budget advisor). Thus, when Jamie shared with me that she’d be moving to Phoenix, AZ to support a local church plant, I wished her the best and we said our farewells. From there, we lost touch...
By 2018, I’d grown weary of the DC climate (both weather and otherwise) and began seeking a soft place to land. Because I knew a few people in Arizona and deeply appreciated the warmth, I decided to move.
While we didn’t initially hang out a lot, Jamie and I did spend enough time together for me to ask her to accompany me on a trip to California for an interview to receive a service dog (a Goji preview). During that trip, we both had a chance to catch up and discovered that we had a lot more in common than we realized, from love of travel to foodie adventures to deep and meaningful conversations. We started hanging out more – especially because of the pandemic – and as intimacy developed in our friendship, a budding attraction was developing as well (unbeknownst to us).
In 2021, the strategy and communications consulting firm I’d started when I moved to AZ gained rapid growth. Most nights after work, I gleaned wisdom from Jamie about everything from strategy to business operations (like long-term financial planning). Eventually, it seemed the only best next step was for her to join our incredible team full-time as our VP/COO. Within five months of us working together, we were inseparable and moved into a 2-BR apartment in my complex. All along the way, we recognized feelings that were different than anything else we’d ever felt, but because of the faith traditions we’d been taught, up until then we still didn’t connect these feelings to anything more than platonic love.
Shortly after moving in together, we realized we could no longer ignore our deep feelings and had the “more than friends” chat. While the initial discussion ended positively, the first few months of our relationship were a rollercoaster, as we had to individually and collectively decide whether we’d live in secret as just friends to the outside world (although we later learned that quite a few others saw our love and admiration for one another long before we did); part ways as friends; or be together proudly and publicly.
Eventually, with support from a few very close friends and through self-exploration and lots of coaching/therapy, we decided it was more important to choose ourselves and our relationship, and we began the long journey of “coming out” to family and friends.
On June 30, 2023, on both my birthday and the last day of Pride Month, we not only came out to the world, but announced our elopement that occurred a few days prior (June 27) in the romance capital of the world: Venice, Italy.
Today, we are living beyond our wildest dreams: traveling the world, continuing to build a very successful globally sought-after business, creating a home where all feel welcome, sharing a love that remains indescribable, and raising the world’s sassiest, cutest golden lab who is hugely responsible for bringing us together: Goji.
Yet, the final chapter of this first part of our story is not complete…
Before we continue our ride off into the sunset, we want to bring our dearest friends and family together to celebrate our love and love on one another.
WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU IN JUNE!