Let there be WOW

If you read the Origin of WOW  (also known as the "WOW Tour"), you know where the words Wish Only Well come from. Now, I would like to share with you how the WOW Zone site came about.

It all started on July 1st, 1995, my sister's birthday. Maria had been going through a particularly hard time and I wanted to cheer her up, so I had a special lapel pin custom made for her. I had the same pin myself and I wanted it to be a symbol of our bond; a sort of memory bank where we could draw positive emotions whenever we felt bad and deposit good feelings when we felt good, so that there was always abundance. 

We wear it as a reminder that we are always there for each other. I also personally created her birthday card and to emphasize the dramatic changes that I wished for her, I wrote something that captured my wish. Here it is:

You are now entering
The WOW Zone
The WOW Zone is a place
Where all your wishes come true
a place where the only limit
To anything
Is YOU
All you must do
Is say WOW and smile
At least once a day
And soon you will be
Up and away
Living in WOW

When I gave the card and gift to my sister, I told her that her life would change. She was very touched by it and she started being more optimistic. People noticed and started being curious about the pin and the story behind it.

We called it the WOW pin, and before we knew it, everyone in the family and almost everyone around us had one. Making and selling WOW pins became a pet project for me and three other people, one of them being the artist who had originally made the pins. Unfortunately, the partnership disintegrated over the next few months, and I left with my WOW idea. 

WOW is not a pin or anything in particular, it has a life of its own. WOW is a message of hope and peace, and it could be presented in a million different ways. By March 1996, I believed that the best way to spread WOW was through the internet.

I knew absolutely nothing about the internet but I knew one thing: I wanted to publish the WOW idea. I started out by learning how to get around while my friend Mark D'Sa volunteered hours on end to start WOW Zone.  

wowzone.com was launched on June 13, 1996.

I counted on Mark for all the updates, and that became more difficult as as we grew. However by early August 1996, I had independence! I learned html and became an international publisher!

Since then WOW Zone is still growing every day. I am regularly in touch with people and organizations worldwide that are making a tremendous difference, and we collaborate in varying ways and degrees. These are just a few of the issues that WOW Zone focuses on:

Social harmony, environment, human rights, animal rights, self-empowerment, spirituality, psychology, motivation, promoting talent, correcting injustices, peace, focusing on solutions, and much more.

Everything on the WOW Zone site relates to improving everyday life. From inspirational stories to humorous and thought provoking articles and poetry; from psychological, brain and love tests to ideas that stretch the imagination - you can find just about anything on WOW Zone. Anything positive, that is. No violence, no hate, no porn, no sensationalism. WOW is just the opposite. WOW is Wish Only Well.

WOW Zone is a beacon of hope and a testimony of the good in the world. The thousands of people behind the stories and sites you find on WOW Zone aspire for greatness and prove it through their dedication, creativity and shining examples. The best part of WOW Zone is that you never really know what you'll find here because people and life are unpredictable. There are stories out there that astound us, to say the least.
I want to share those stories, because they make us all feel good. Since I was a child, I always thought that if something made me feel good, chances are it would make someone else feel good too. That's why every time I find something that makes me feel good, I want to share it with everyone around me. That's the original and ongoing sentiment behind WOW: To spread joy and Wish Only Well.

From a simple wish to a vision of world peace and harmony - that's WOW!

Wishing only well,

Carmen Colombo
June 1999