Like most Americans, I spent most of last Tuesday glued to my television. Inaugurating our new president, Barack Obama, in sub-zero temperatures was many things, but cold simply wasn’t one of them. It was warm, inspiring, full of hope, emotional. For me, however, one of the most moving moments was when Elizabeth Alexander read her poem, “Praise Song of the Day.” I think the reason this poem moved me so much was that the question she asked, and the answer, was an unexpected twist. The poem began by inviting us to walk down the street, and moved freely through everyday moments of life. It was just a normal snapshot, and then, it wasn’t. It was that question. One that is totally in tune with the way I live my life and what I have been sharing and writing about for the last twenty years.

What Elizabeth Alexander asked at Barack Obama’s inauguration was this:

“What if the most powerful word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts an ever-widening pool of light.”

I am even moved again, as I write this, because if the most powerful word is love, then we will all know that all things are truly possible. If the most powerful word is love, then that love, turned inward, will truly create the change we are all seeking, one person at a time.

And this idea, this inward love, also answers a call that I’ve been hearing a lot in the last few weeks. “Oprah needs to hire you!” It’s what I keep hearing, through phone calls and emails. From the women who have taken my 12-week course and worked with me. That statement probably sounds silly to those who don’t know me. I mean, who wouldn’t want Oprah to call? Her platform and reputation are so strong that entire careers are made simply on her recommendation or nod of approval.

I’ve mastered what you’re still struggling with: I’m a well-known expert in my field, and my 20-year philosophy and unique tools around weight loss have built a great foundation for my career on their own. So what is it? Why does everyone want to work with Oprah? The truth is that I think it is that great love that Elizabeth Alexander wrote about and shared at the opening. Oprah Winfrey literally throws that powerful and expanding love out of the pool of light and so do I.

We all know people like this: those who are not only undaunted by the difficulties around them, but seem to be uniquely armed to overcome them. However, Oprah Winfrey goes one step further and, like Barack Obama, she inspires others to do so as well. She inspires others to project a powerful and growing pool of light.

Yet like all of us, oprah ironically struggles to turn that love inward. Like all of us, her to-do list is too long, her responsibilities are too many and, like many, her love flows out. Many days, that ever-growing pond leaves her in the shade. And that is why she, and we, did not create a permanent change in our lives. Whether it’s weight, sex, alcohol, or even success and work, we won’t create the balance we need if we don’t learn to create a larger and larger group of light that includes us. We must learn to create and maintain a lifelong self-love and self-care that sustains us every day.

So therein lies our challenge. And I am ready, willing and able to shed my light and empower you with my “power” tools so you can take control of your life, control what you weigh and have a healthy relationship with food!

Yes, as President Barack Obama has embraced, we are ready for change, but that change must come from within each of us. I created that change in my own life and continue to create it every day, because self-love and self-care is an everyday journey. As dieters and Oprah Winfrey find out over and over again, without those ingredients, it’s all too easy to gain back those pounds we let go of.

And yes folks, I want Oprah to hire me, not because I “make” my career, but because my growing pool of light has inspired hundreds and thousands of men and women. Sharing the tools I have learned over twenty years to maintain a 100 pound weight loss has been my mission and an enormous privilege. And my vision is that these tools reach millions. It will happen. The world needs my work.

Oprah’s magic? Well, that is undeniable. But it’s not what you might think, it’s not the making or breaking of races. Oprah has known and affected so much change in the world, and I believe that with my tools to create permanent change, the course of obesity, food addiction, and eating disorders in this country will be changed.

To your permanent change,