The story behind the mission
Live Sapphire was not built from ambition. It was built from survival - and from the certainty that no one should have to find their way out of isolation alone.
My Story
My parents left. And I spent years trying to convince people -- and myself -- that I was worth staying for. But even then, there were two lights.
My Grandad Elmo loved me like I was his own. He was the first person who made me feel like I was enough -- not the extra, but exactly right. He lived almost a full century, modeling in every one of those years the things I now build my life and work around: acceptance, love, service, and kindness. He transitioned two days before his 100th birthday. I carry him in everything I do and hear his voice in so much of what I say.
And there is Stacy -- my best friend since kindergarten. Through everything. Through 3,000 miles of distance. Through every chapter that should have broken us. That bond has never wavered once. She is living proof that what I am building for others is real. Because I already know what it feels like to be truly, faithfully, unconditionally known by another person.
Elmo showed me what love looks like. Stacy showed me what it lasts like. And I built Lumi's Place so that everyone -- especially those who have never had either -- could finally find out for themselves.
What followed is the kind of story that doesn't get told at dinner parties.
Physical abuse. Sexual abuse. Emotional abuse. Years of self-destruction as I tried to fill a void that no one should have had to carry alone. I made choices I'm not prod or. I told myself stories that weren't true. I hid. I shrunk. I survived -- but barely.
Then came marriage. Then came divorce. Then came the terrifying, liberating, world-tilting truth of coming out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community later in life. My kids struggled with it. Some relationships didn't survive it. And I had never felt more alone -- or more achingly, undeniably myself.
" I had never felt more alone -- or more achingly, undeniably myself." ~ Sandie Day
And then came the diagnosis.
Stage 3C ovarian cancer ~
Granulosa Cell Tumor
Nineteen years ago.
I am still here.
Let that land for a moment. Nineteen years. Nineteen years of treatments, of fear, of fighting, of choosing -- again and again -- to still be here. Nineteen years of waking up and deciding that the answer to this life is not no. I was just 39 years old. I had two small children, seven and ten years old.
Somewhere in those years, something shifted. I stopped running from my story and started learning from it. I found therapy. I found perseverance. I found, beneath all the rubble, an almost unreasonable desire to live -- not just survive, but actually, fully, brilliantly live.
I emerged on the other side without shame. Without regret. Without the anger that had followed me for decades. I came back to myself -- in my body, in my truth, in my purpose. I found love. Real, deep, passionate love. And I found something I can only describe as a mission.
I looked around at the world, and I saw them everywhere -- the extras.
The woman who just signed her divorce papers. The person who just got the diagnosis. The young person who came out and lost their family in the process. The one who moved to a new city and doesn't know a soul. The elder who retired and suddenly doesn't know who they are without the title.
I saw myself in all of them.
And I thought: what if there was a place? Not a support group. Not a therapy office. Not a space that requires you to check your truth at the door. What if there was just a place? A great room. A warm light in the window. Somewhere you could show up exactly as you are and be told -- without condition -- you belong here.
So I built it.
Lumi's Place is a Victorian home in Santa Clara, California -- the city I claimed, even though I grew up a mile away. I still live there today. When I walked through the door for the first time, I felt something I had spent my entire life searching for.
I felt like I was coming home.
I built LIve Sapphire and lumi, a connection center, and the Brilliant Life Method because I needed them and they didn't exist. I built Lumi's Place because every person deserves a room where they are not the extra.
I built all of it so that you -- wherever you are in your story -- would know one thing:
It is never too late to live.
I am proof. Come home.
Sandie Day
Live Sapphire LLC, Founder
lumi, Founder
My Life's Path, Spiritual Guide
Bay Area Pride, Founder
Sandra Day Brilliant Life Foundation, Founder
MISSION IN NUMBERS
Why this work matters.
58% of Americans report feeling lonely - 2023 U.S. Surgeon General Advisory
40% more likely -- women experience chronic loneliness at higher rates than men - Harvard Study
19 years — Sandie has lived with stage 3C ovarian cancer. And is still building.
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic. Live Sapphire was built to answer that call.
The Brilliant Life Method. Built from the map Sandie had to make herself.
The Brilliant Life Method is the framework at the heart of everything Live Sapphire does. It didn't come from a textbook. It came from nineteen years of surviving, emerging, and learning -- one hard-won insight at a time.
The Method moves through Six A's -- six disciplines that, practiced together, take you from where you are to the life you were designed to live so that you thrive without shame, regret, anger, and embarrassment.
A Attention
It seems to me that a view of the heavenly bodies through a fine telescope, as well as a tour round the world.
A Actual Intention
Though the gravity still dragged at him, his muscles were making great efforts to adjust. After the daily classes.
A Action
Truly it was a great journey, and in it I met with many, whom to know was to love; but whom never could I see again.
A Analysis
Though the gravity still dragged at him, his muscles were making great efforts to adjust. After the daily classes.
A Alignment
Truly it was a great journey, and in it I met with many, whom to know was to love; but whom never could I see again.
A Attendance
Though the gravity still dragged at him, his muscles were making great efforts to adjust. After the daily classes.
~ THE ECOSYSTEM
Brilliant Life Network
The national advocacy movement to declare loneliness a public health emergency.
Live Sapphire LLC
The root of the ecosystem, masterclasses, retreats, podcasts, transformational coaching. Powered by the Brilliant Life Method.
lumi ~ Lumi's Place
The community brand. Connection Circles, meetups, activities about town, retreats, bucket-list travel, and the place where belonging happens.
My Life's Path
An independent earth-based spiritual community. Outdoor gatherings, ceremonies, radical inclusion, and your pooch is always welcome. Sharing calendars and resources in the nonprofit world.
Bay Area Pride
The signature celebration bringing together all corners of the San Francisco Bay Area in pride and unity.
Sandra Day Brilliant Life Foundation
Charity granting bucket list trips to women afflicted with end-stage Granulosa Cell Tumor (GCT) ovarian cancer. Advocay, Education. Community.
~ Ready to find out what
your brilliant life looks like?
Start with a free 45-minute discovery call -- Your Brilliant Life Breakthrough. No pitch. No pressure.
Just an honest conversation about where you are and what's possible
