my story

I got through life by writing stories and poetry. I was that hopeless romantic who passed love notes to classmates and filled diaries with my heartbreak. The page was the only safe place where I could dare to think and say everything that burned hot inside of me. The page didn't reject or punish me; it didn't judge or torment me.

I grew up in Canada in a mixed-race household steeped in South-Asian culture. As a kid, I performed like a good girl for elders meanwhile internalizing my shame for believing I was anything but. I learnt that being small is safe and that it's better to be liked than real. As a teenager, the old world roots I’d outgrown felt like walls, so, at eighteen, I set off into the wide world looking for the freedom to be me.

In Chennai visiting my family on my first independent trip to South India in 2000.

Portrait of me at eighteen years old on my first backpacking trip to Asia. 2001

 

As a young backpacker, I dived headlong into a mission of self-discovery. The status quo didn't feel like a fit, so while my peers went on to college and careers, I journeyed around the planet with a tiny backpack of few possessions, a film camera and my diary. The anonymity of travel in those days made me feel safe to explore my desires, sexuality, and self-expression, but I kept my inner journey private. Instead, I shared the easy stuff—culture, portraits of cool people I met, and travelogues. Though my real passion was in writing memoir, being a pseudo-journalist felt easier.

I wasn't ready to tell the real story of the girl crisscrossing the planet chasing impossible love stories and nursing her broken heart in a desperate attempt to find the self-acceptance she hadn't given herself.

As they say, "Wherever You Go, There You Are." Eventually, I realized I hadn’t outrun the voices that told me to stay quiet and small—I had internalized them. And no matter how far I traveled, those voices still followed me. Until I discovered writing was the cure.

In my tireless pursuit of self-understanding, writing has been my longest companion. I have scribbled in diaries to mine inner wisdom, process heartbreak, find my why, map my brand and make meaning of my life. Storytelling is more than just crafting tales; it's about reclaiming our authentic selves. It’s how we make sense of the world and ourselves.

When we unapologetically own our truth, we can see the stories we were born with as gifts that contain the seeds of who we are truly meant to be.

My passion for storytelling is to guide others to return to the wild language of their soul and find the purpose in their story.

Through photography, writing, ritual, creativity, ancestral healing, poetry, nature and deep listening, I invite you to see your lived experiences, your lineage, and your truth not as baggage, but as medicine. I believe the stories you carry hold the blueprint for who you are truly meant to be.

To face the challenges of our time and birth the new world we wish for, we must re-write the old inner scripts that keep us in our small selves to become the ones we have been waiting for.

We were born for this.

Let’s explore your story.

Self Portrait at Casa Teóco, my home in the mountains of Jalisco, Mexico. 2022