You could come up with any number of measurements to illustrate one billion, but none of them will make it easier to grasp. For example, I've lived a little more than one billion seconds, and the number still means nothing. So, never mind a lifetime, just try recounting a day's seconds, that vast but fleeting space and time that fill every present moment of your life. It doesn't take all that long to realize you're better off focusing on the seconds coming at you instead of accounting for the ones that have passed. 

Where VDAY is concerned, one billion is 14 percent of the world's population, more specifically, one third of its women. That's the number of women on the planet who will be victims of violence, in particular sexual violence. And it's the number of people VDAY is calling upon to end that violence on February 14, 2013 – an unprecedented uprising, answering violence with dance, using the power of expression to counter the tyranny of brutality.

If anything, the inability to grasp a number that size emphasizes just how ambitious a goal this is.

We've been lucky to work with VDAY for the past eight years. They teach us over and over that nothing is too audacious. They inspire us by using art to turn pain into strength. They give us a chance to splash a little color all over the world.

This 2012 annual report, The Path to One Billion, follows VDAY's path and shows what a couple of people willing to challenge themselves can do. It can be viewed online and in print if you ask them nicely. (And by nicely, I mean I think you should support their work. You can do that here.)

View The Path To One Billion »