Deutsch, left and Foster, right, with the Dalai Lama in ’06 and in March, outside Harpo studios, inset. 

A pilgrimage to Oprah

D.C. area duo makes seven-day treks as part of plan to Live Inspired

PROFILE. It’s not every day you get to meet the Dalai Lama, but for Chris Deutsch and Rob Foster, it’s business as usual. In addition to making journeys to the sources of their inspiration, the pair founded I Live Inspired, an online business that sends daily motivating messages straight to subscribers’ phones.

“Inspired” by small text-messages he would receive from one of his friends post-rehab, Foster started forwarding the notes along to other people he had met while in rehabilitation.

“It was a small action that kept me focused and on my path to recovery,” he says.

After Foster joined forces with Deutsch in 2006, the two enlightened entrepreneurs set out on foot to spread the word about living inspired. 

“The walks fulfill a two-fold mission,” Deutsch says. “We love the idea of walking as taking an inspired action, and we love partnering with people that we think are really inspirational.”

Among their most high profile targets? Al Gore and the Dalai Lama, both of whom agreed to collaborate with Deutsch and Foster for their own collections of inspirational messages. His Holiness himself even blessed the two as “his messengers.”

Earlier this spring, they set their sights on yet another inspirational figure: Oprah Winfrey.

“We obviously want to inspire as many people as we can — which is one of the reasons why we went to the Dalai Lama — and she was the most obvious choice.”

Though the two did not get their intended 7-minute meeting with the mogul, they still deem their 7-day walk from Hope, Illinois to Harpo’s Chicago headquarters a success.

“It was a fantastic trip,” the two agree. “We met incredible people who welcomed us into their homes and offered us food, we hung out with [Oprah’s] audience and employees … the response was so positive.”

The inspired team is still pursuing their collaboration with Oprah via more conventional measures.

“We’re still pretty hopeful that it will happen. We’ve made some contacts within her bubble,” says Deutsch. “It seems like we were there at an intense time.”

Though there were moments in their journeys that tried their patience, like a night in Illinois’ woods that found the duo camping in a rain-sleet-snow mix, the guys behind I Live Inspired show no signs of slowing.

The two have just launched a message scheduler that allows their users to choose daily messages from any of their collections, and are planning their next walk. The target, however, is still under wraps.

“We’re tossing around four or five options,” the two hinted. “When we have it down, we’ll let you know.”

For more info, visit www.iliveinspired.com.