About Elizabeth

Three words that are important to me – kindness, culture and community.

I believe in the power of a conversation to create change.

I do not apologize for being an optimist.

Read my Q&A with Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra on the topic of change by clicking on link below.

Transitions

As an immigrant settler and innovative entrepreneur of my interior art business (2015 – 2021), I have faced the challenges of change and overcome adversities. Being able to shift my perspective to notice the positive in the negative guided me through successful transitions. Settling in a new country, adjusting to a different culture, changing careers, and later starting an online business while raising my children, have all served to enhance my resiliency and self-leadership qualities.

Successes

My brand of self-efficacy supported my entrepreneurial spirit in becoming a business owner, providing business to business services (Art for Business service from 2015 – 2021) in an often competitive field. A belief that it is never too late for a new profession inspired me to pursue my mid-life visual arts career and become a successful recipient of the Ontario Arts Council grants. My engagement in community arts led me to serve as a Board Director at the Kingston Arts Council and contribute to the organization’s Strategic Plan. A desire to learn and excel motivated my advocacy for professional development for creative entrepreneurs and artists through my volunteering activity. To be open to learning is to be open to possibilities which leads us to live more meaningful lives.

Balance

Amidst the successes, I have experienced burnout and overwhelm and learned to pace myself over the years. I learnt to pause, reflect and embrace my vulnerability to discover who I am and more importantly who I can be. In choosing to support myself with only a mindfulness practice, I had to embrace my circumstances, slow down, become resourceful and invest in self-care. I had to let go of my perfectionism and instead practice kindness to myself first and then others. Being mindful has taught me that what slows you down can also heal, nurture, and inform you on how to create a work-life balance. It is a choice we can make to holistically support ourselves to do even better.

Culture

I have enriched my cultural intelligence from my extensive travels, living experiences in three different countries (India, The Netherlands and Canada), and fluency in four languages.  My global outlook welcomes engagement with people of all races, color, ethnicity, religion, orientation, and identity. I grew up in India, an ancient land where unity in diversity was a daily experience. I live in Canada, a new nation of immigrants and indigenous peoples, where cultural integration gives rise to possibilities for growth. I have celebrated diversity, inclusion, and cross-cultural connections in my collaborative art project, Visual Rhythms Architecture Dance Music (2013-2018) and in the book Finding Rhythm in the City (launching in fall 2023). Culture is a learned set of values. In that awareness there is hope that we can continue to improve our cross-cultural consciousness and notice our similarities more than the differences. As a result we will create cultures of belonging. It’s a small world and we are the world.