For Richer and Poorer; in Sickness and in Health

When Blair married her husband four years ago, he encouraged her to quit her job in Los Angeles and start her business. She did, raked in millions of dollars in revenue, but later lost it. 

Along the way, Blair survived two major health crises — natural gas poisoning and vitamin B6 poisoning. Through it all, her husband never left her side.

He would stay awake when she couldn’t sleep, supported her recovery, and encouraged a move to South Africa, where she says her healing accelerated. Together, they’ve rebuilt not only their business but also their lives.

TL;DR

• How Blair’s husband helped her build a successful PR business.
• The golf advice from her husband that changed Blair’s business.
• How the couple handle disagreements
• How her husband supported her through two major health crises
• Blair’s advice for choosing the right life partner

How did you meet your husband?

Blair: We were neighbors. We had no idea that the other existed because we were both working in different offices in Los Angeles. When the pandemic happened, it forced us home, and we finally ran into each other.

Four years down the line, what are your favorite things about him?

Blair: He makes me laugh all the time. As I said, we’ve done “for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health.” He had a heart attack, and I suffered from severe vitamin poisoning, which I’m still recovering from. So, we have done it all. 

Also, he stretched me to become an entrepreneur by convincing me to leave my full-time job to start my business. The fact that he believed in me and makes me laugh all the time are what I love about him. 

Related story: Marriage isn’t always smooth and forgiveness makes it work

So, who made the first move?

Blair: Before the pandemic, I worked as the Head of Marketing out of an office in Woodland Hills. Then, when the lockdown hit and we had to stay at home, I started working from my kitchen table — I didn’t own a desk in my apartment. I assumed the pandemic would only last two weeks, so getting a desk felt unnecessary. But when those “two weeks” stretched into late May, I decided to get a desk. 

So, I sent a message to our apartment’s Facebook group, asking if anyone would be willing to help me build a desk. My husband, who was a stranger at the time, said yes. So, he came on Father’s Day of 2020 when I was conversing with my dad. 

When I opened the door, there was this golden light flash around him, and he said, “Greetings,” because he’s from South Africa. I stood there staring at him in awe, thinking, Where have you been my whole life? I later found out he felt the same way, too. 

So, when he entered, I left him alone to build the desk – I thought he didn’t want other people around him; maybe he wanted his privacy. But as I left him, I told my dad, I don’t know how I know this, but I’m going to marry that guy. I just had this knowing then. 

After he finished, I asked how I could thank him for building the desk. He told me not to worry about it, but I insisted. I asked whether I could buy him a pizza or a drink, and he chose the drink. I admitted I didn’t drink alcohol. 

So, he asked what I did have. I said tea, and he agreed to have that with me. We sat outside on the patio and had tea together, and in that moment, he turned out to be the most interesting person I had met in my life. That’s also when I found out he was already married.

I remember telling him that if his marriage didn’t work out, I was there. From that moment, we wound up. He would come over to make dinner, and we became inseparable. But I respected his marriage, knowing that his wife was back in Africa. So, nothing happened for over a month.

Then one day, as he walked me to my apartment, I told him I couldn’t be his friend anymore because I had fallen madly in love with him. I gave this whole long speech about respecting his marriage. When I was finished, he asked if I was done. I said, Yes.

Then, he confessed he had fallen in love too, and he had left his wife that same day. And that was it. This happened in August of 2020. We got engaged in December of that year and married each other in July 2022. 

So, he divorced his wife and proceeded to marry you, correct? 

Blair: Yes. 

That took an unexpected turn. What made you realize you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him? 

Blair: It just felt like I’d known him forever — he felt like home. The minute I met him was like I’d known him for a thousand years. Everything was so effortless and easy, and we had so much in common. That made me feel like he was my person. 

As a couple who have been living together for four years, how do you handle disagreements with each other?

Blair: I was very adamant for two reasons: we were going into business together, and we were going to get married. So, I asked, not as an offense or anything, to do pre-marriage counseling so we could learn to communicate and how to have constructive arguments. 

We sought a therapist and did six months of pre-marital counseling together, out of deep love and respect for each other. We weren’t in counseling because we were having issues, but because we wanted to learn how to effectively communicate and love each other the best. We handle disagreements with what we have learned in therapy. 

Do you have kids?

Blair: No, neither of us has kids and doesn’t want them. I did enter the relationship with a dog, and my dog fell in love with him until she passed away in 2023. 

Was it a mutual agreement to not want kids? Has he been the type to not want kids, or did he compromise because of you?

Blair: No, neither of us ever wanted children. We both aligned on that. 

Related story: We were unable to conceive in the first 13 years of our marriage

Looking at the business area, you mentioned your husband encouraged you to start your business. How has he supported you along the way?

Blair: He told me I needed to learn how to play golf. So, he taught me himself and explained that lots of business deals happen on the golf course. He said, you might struggle to get fifteen minutes on a CEO’s calendar, but if you play golf, you will get five uninterrupted hours with them. So, I took his advice. I learned how to play golf, joined a golf club, and built my business.

Beyond that, he encouraged me and showed me what to do. I had never run a business before, but he had. He’s naturally entrepreneurial and guided me through the process.

Before he got his green card in the US, he wasn’t able to work with me. But once he received it, everything changed. We now co-own a business, started working on projects together, and it’s been a great partnership ever since.

Has the golf course led to a meaningful opportunity or business deal?

Blair: Yes, it led me to work on marketing campaigns for several major brands. 

What kind of projects do you and your husband work on together? 

Blair: We’ve worked on a few campaigns with an Indy 500 team and Uber, a major software company, and a climate change nonprofit during the 2024 election season. 

In every marriage, each person performs a specific role in terms of finance and chores. How do you and your husband share those responsibilities? 

Blair: We manage our finances together and share all our financial decisions as a team. As for household chores, he does the cooking because I can’t cook at all. I do the cleaning so it balances out. We do grocery shopping and other household errands together. 

How do you balance personality differences? 

Blair: He’s very outgoing and can strike up a conversation with anyone. He also enjoys spending time with his buddies and playing golf. But I’m not like that. I like to be at home and read. He’s the extrovert in our marriage while I’m the introvert. 

How do you strengthen your bond together despite the personality difference? 

Blair: We spend quality time together and talk about just anything and everything. But honestly, what has strengthened our bond is the adversity we’ve had to overcome. Every challenge we’ve gone through, in business or with our health, has brought us closer together. 

There was a time the business skyrocketed, and we were doing millions of dollars in revenue. Then overnight, we lost everything and were eating ramen and water for every meal. And it turns out that when you’re eating ramen and water with the love of your life, that’s everything. So, having problems brought us together instead of dividing us. 

Related story: I held my family together while my wife studied for three years

Would you love to share more light on the challenges? In terms of business and health? 

Blair: I own a PR agency. When we were getting married, we hired someone to oversee the business while we focused on the wedding and our honeymoon. Just three days after we got married, I had a serious health emergency. 

It turned out we had natural gas poisoning in our home, and we didn’t know it. My brain essentially shut down, and I was hospitalized. Thankfully, I’ve made a full recovery. 

While I was in the hospital, the person we had entrusted to manage the business transferred all of our client contracts into his own LLC. I walked out of the hospital with nothing and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills to pay. 

Through it all, Nick stood by me. We walked through our options together, and I decided to pay everyone using credit cards before eventually filing for bankruptcy. He supported me every step of the way, and together we rebuilt the business. 

Then, I experienced another health setback  – vitamin poisoning — and once again lost everything again. We had to rebuild the business for a second time. 

I’m sorry you went through that. Have you recovered? 

Blair: I fully recovered from the first incident. As for the vitamin poisoning, I’m doing much better, but I still have symptoms. 

The specific type of poisoning I experienced was vitamin B6 poisoning. Vitamin B6 is an essential vitamin that powers many functions in the body. And when I was poisoned, it felt like everything stopped working. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I was in severe nerve pain, which took a toll on my body. 

I’m still recovering from that experience. I’ve got a bit of chronic PTSD and a lot of fear that I’m still working through. But my recovery has been exponential since coming to South Africa. When we left the United States, I wasn’t just recovering there. But coming to Africa has made a great difference in my healing journey.

How did he help with your recovery phase? 

Blair: He was very helpful by simply being there with me. I was never alone. Even though there was nothing he could do about the vitamin toxicity or the damage that impacted my nervous system and my body, he stuck by me. I have nerve damage all over my body that has to recover on its own; nerves do take a long time to heal. 

But he made sure I was never alone. He never once made me feel bad or gave up on me. He would always assure me things would get better. There were nights I couldn’t sleep — or didn’t sleep at all — for many months. Even when he was tired, he would drink coffee and stay awake with me, so I wasn’t alone.  

Related story: From WhatsApp Chats to Wedding Vows

Did he convince you to move to Africa?

Blair: It wasn’t a move to start with. His dad’s 75th birthday was coming up, and he wanted to be there for it. At first, I didn’t know if I could make it through a 20-hour flight. 

But he was determined to go and gave me a choice: I could stay where the trauma happened or get on the flight and come to South Africa. So, I got on the flight, and I’ve been enjoying Africa with him ever since.

How have you been enjoying Africa with him? 

Blair: We are living in Johannesburg. Due to the conditions of my visa, we live with his parents. The people here have been such a joy – everybody sings and dances, and when I go for a walk in the morning, the people say hi to each other. People are really friendly here. 

There’s a distinct sense of community which I love, along with the culture and creativity here. I love how clean everything is compared to the U.S. I also love that the food here actually tastes like food. So, it’s been really wonderful. 

I’m glad you got to see a different side of Africa

Blair: Yes, I wasn’t sure of what to expect, to be honest, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. 

How has marriage changed you as a person?

Blair: It has made me a better person, and I’ve grown a lot. I’ve learned how to be with someone every day. The goal is to be with someone who inspires you to be a better version of yourself. Being married to my husband has done that for me. 

What piece of advice would you have for a single person looking forward to marrying?

Blair: Choose someone that you can go through the absolute worst date of your life with. If you can’t picture yourself going through the worst with them, losing everything, don’t choose that person. Pick someone you want standing by your side through that. 

I remember when I was still dating, I wasn’t afraid to end a date early if I knew it wasn’t a fit. Sometimes, you just know. Maybe you’re not attracted to this person, or something doesn’t feel right. Don’t feel guilty about it. Leave the date early. Your time is really valuable, and so is theirs. Just get up and leave the restaurant. That’s what I did. 

Wait for the right person. The one you could do “for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.” Choose the person you’d want sitting beside you in a hospital bed and somehow make it fun. Pick someone you would eat ramen and water with, knowing the experience would bring you closer together instead of driving you apart. That’s how you find your person. 

What advice would you have for married people?

Blair: Even if you’re fighting, appreciate each other. There’s a saying that goes, “This too shall pass.” So, when things are bad, don’t worry because this too shall pass. So, appreciate every minute you have together because this too shall pass. 

Key takeaway

• The right spouse doesn’t just celebrate your success — they help you build it.
• Hardship reveals the strength of a marriage more than comfort does. 
• Presence can be one of the greatest forms of support during illnesses. 
• Shared adversity can deepen a relationship instead of dividing it. 
• Choose a partner you can face life’s worst moment with, not just its best. 

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