World LOVE Bank
In episode 127 of Gratitude Geek, I sit down with wellness advocate Hibby Bartlett, founder of World LOVE Bank. We talk about emotional wealth, legacy, and the power of recording intentional love messages for the people we cherish most. World LOVE Bank began as a health and wellness app. It used positive audio and video messages to support emotional well-being.
Originally aired: July 12, 2022.
This post has been updated and republished as part of rebuilding the Gratitude Geek podcast archive.
Note. The app in its original form is no longer available. The stories and practices we explore are still beautifully timeless.
Key Takeaways
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Love is emotional wealth we can intentionally “bank” for ourselves and our people.
- Recorded messages of love and story become priceless legacy during grief and beyond.
- Hearing anonymous “I love yous” can normalize receiving love, even for people in unsafe or unsupportive relationships.
- Everyday reframes and tiny kindnesses are practical tools for emotional resilience.
- Multicultural roots and hard histories can deepen our commitment to empathy and connection.
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Love Is Emotional Wealth You Can Bank
Hibby’s story starts in Cape Town, South Africa. Her dad is Arabic and English. Her mom is German, Malaysian, and Bushman. She grew up with a simple mantra. “Everyone’s blood is red.” That belief shaped everything.
Her older brother struggled with addiction. During their last phone call, she said “I love you” fifteen times before he could say it back. Three months later, he died. He left behind a three‑year‑old son who would never hear those words from his father.
That experience changed how Hibby thought about love and loss. “Life is temporary but love is forever,” she told me. “If we can bank that, that’s our emotional wealth that we can carry.” Instead of only focusing on money, she started asking a different question. What if our real inheritance is a bank of intentional “I love yous” our people can access on their hardest days?
Tiny Moments Become Powerful Legacy
This episode also opened some deeply personal stories about grief and legacy. I shared how my mom died from leukemia about twelve years ago. After she passed, I found a few fifteen‑second videos she had recorded in her hospital bed. She played with filters and floating hearts. She did not look like herself at that point. She was very sick. Her personality still shone through the screen.
Those little clips have become priceless legacy content for me and my sisters. When they pop up in my Facebook memories, it feels like a tiny “Hi. I am still here” from Mom.
Hibby and I kept circling the same truth. Most people do not realize how important these short, imperfect snippets will become later. She said, “Be intentional. Think of everything and anything and stories because those are priceless. Those can’t be replaced.”
Anonymous “I Love Yous” Help Us Practice Receiving Love
One of my favorite parts of Hibby’s vision is the idea of anonymous love. In the World LOVE Bank joint account, people record a simple three‑second “I love you.” The message is not attached to a name. You hear only the voice. No age. No race. No religion. No social status. Just love.
Many people struggle to accept love. Some carry guilt or shame. Some simply are not used to hearing the words. Hibby saw that pattern in her brother. She sees it in many others as well.
By listening to anonymous “I love yous,” people can gently normalize hearing those words. With time, they may also feel safer saying them. “They will hear ‘I love you’ from all different cultures,” she said. “But how is that voice coming in. It is coming with love. That’s what we need.”
I connected this to my own mission to send one thousand birthday cards in a year. Hardly anyone gets celebrated anymore. We are both trying to put more intentional kindness into a very detached society.
Everyday Reframes Build Practical Compassion
If you know Gratitude Geek, you know I love a practical mindset shift. This conversation is packed with them.
Hibby shared how she handles everyday annoyances like slow drivers and ambulances. When she is stuck behind a slow driver, she chooses a kinder story. She imagines they just got a big ticket yesterday. Instead of raging, she goes around them. She gives them the benefit of the doubt.
When an ambulance pushes through traffic in Canada, drivers pull to the right. Hibby takes a moment to feel grateful that she is not the person inside. She remembers that one family’s life is changing forever that day.
These tiny reframes do not change the world overnight. They do soften how we move through it. They make patience and compassion feel more natural.
Multicultural Roots and Radical Empathy
We also wandered into one of my favorite topics. How culture and family stories shape our worldview.
Hibby talked about her mom growing up in District Six in Cape Town. It was once a vibrant, mixed community of many cultures. Under apartheid, residents were forced out and the area was destroyed. Her family eventually left South Africa for Canada. Her brother spoke out against the government. It was no longer safe to stay.
I shared my own mash‑up of roots. Korean on my mom’s side. Italian, Irish, Scottish, English, and deep American history on my dad’s side. I also shared a family story about the 1918 flu pandemic and cousin Clara. My grandfather told me that story when I was young. Years later, I found Clara in Ancestry records. I wished I still had his voice telling the tale.
We reflected on how countries like South Africa and Russia have wrestled with power shifts and uprisings. We linked that to our current climate in the United States as well. Different groups hold completely opposite “truths” about the same events.
Across all of this, one theme kept returning. Most spiritual and religious traditions point toward the same core values. Be decent. Practice love. Practice acceptance.
Meet Hibby Bartlett
Hibby Bartlett is a wellness advocate and the founder of World LOVE Bank. She originally launched it as a health and wellness app. She wanted to help people build emotional resilience with intentional audio and video love messages.
Born in Cape Town and raised between South Africa and Canada, she carries a richly multicultural perspective. Her family taught her that “everyone’s blood is red.” That belief still guides her mission.
After losing her brother to addiction, and seeing the impact of unspoken love on his son, Hibby made a decision. She would create a way for anyone, anywhere, to hear “I love you” at any time of day.
“I came to the realization—and it’s a gift—that life is temporary but love is forever, so if we can bank that, that’s our emotional wealth we can carry.” – Hibby Bartlett
Connect with World Love Bank
- Website: World Love Bank
Resources
- SendOutCards – Greeting Card and Gift App
Disclaimer: Some links may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase. No added cost to you.
Final Thoughts
This conversation with Hibby is a gentle invitation to think about love as something we can invest in on purpose. Even though the World LOVE Bank app is no longer available, the practice still stands. Be intentional about the love you put into the world. Do not wait to capture the stories, recipes, and silly fifteen‑second videos your people will cling to later.
Whether you are living with grief, navigating a big life shift, or simply trying to be kinder, you deserve to feel loved. You also hold more power than you realize to make sure your people never doubt that they were loved.
Continue the conversation in Gratitude Geek Lab
If this episode stirred something in you about legacy or emotional wealth, I would love to keep the conversation going. Inside Gratitude Geek Lab, Gen X solopreneurs experiment with weaving this kind of heart‑forward, human‑first thinking into business.youtube
We explore how to make your content, your client care, and your community more loving and sustainable. And more you.youtube
Join us for Lab Live sessions and thoughtful discussion by visiting kandasrodarte.com/lab.
Stay Groovy!
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