Back in 2012, the year had burned wheels on highways and political turmoil, a refugee crisis and The Worst Touristic Summer Since 1946 because of the ban on tourists. We couldn't find hope. So we had to create it. LiveLove was born out of the need for some genuine positivity in the midst of national turmoil. It all started with one bracelet, reading "LIVE LOVE BEIRUT". The idea behind it was that no matter what was going on, the moment the bracelet was put on, the wearer would be inspired to welcome happiness into their hearts.

Within a few days, Eddy printed 1,000 neon green Live Love Beirut bracelets.

Youmna had her video camera on her.

Off they went wandering around Gemmayzeh, asking people to wear their bracelet, and to name what they loved about Lebanon.

"Nothing"--"it's horrible"--"we want to leave" -- no luck.

How could they express hope in this dark world?

Instagram was just coming up at the time, back when it had no ads, chronological feeds, no stories and no dm's.

A director they love suggested they start a hashtag.

And then and there, #livelovebeirut was born.

In 6 months, Live Love Beirut had a million cumulative likes.
Abbas, Sandro and George joined their team. They set up the NGO: Live Love Lebanon.

They celebrated their first 1,000 followers with champagne and
20,000 followers with an article in L'Orient Le Jour.

We'd like to think it made audiences smile even when everything around them was collapsing. The Live Love Beirut's Bracelet was worn by Lebanese people all around the world.

Not long after trying hard to focus on beauty and positivity only, we received this photo of the Chouwen lake.

We were left wondering.
What do we do? Do we ignore it, or could we do something about it?

180 people wrote their emails in the comments section.
300 showed up at the very first live love volunteering event the following day.
And this marked the beginning of the 'Live Love Volunteer' program, one still alive to this day,
having mobilized thousands of volunteers, in partnership with the UN and countless brands.

With 10,000 followers, we could perhaps, maybe, mobilize help.
We posted it and asked: who wants to come clean this lake with us next Saturday.

Every other weekend, for 9 years now, Live Love has mobilized volunteers to clean up seas and seashores, lakes and forests. To plant trees. To plant trees. To assist people in need. To entertain people with disabilities.

Soon after, Live Love accounts started to emerge from countries around the world. So we built the Live Love Ambassador Program. Giving young people in any village or city around the world, the tools and technology they need to build and grow their own Live Love communities and social media channels.

Live Love Tours to create business for eco-tourism in rural places.

Those punctual actions were turned into sustainable social enterprises such as:

Live Love Recycle to establish a long term app based solution to Lebanon's waste management crisis.

Live Love App to create a guide of everything to see and do based on the highly curated Live Love photos.

When the 2020 explosion happened, Live Love set up to Rebuild Beirut. Our team grew from a dozen of people to 52 full timers. We raised over $4m in grants over 3 years for Beirut.
We distributed over 2,000 medication boxes, and 53 tons of food donations. Built over 200 homes for more than 1,000 displaced people.