I’m born a mixed-race kid, in western Canada. My mother has Scottish, English, and Welsh roots, and is a few generations Canadian. My father is ethnically South Indian, but grew up in apartheid South Africa, and came to Canada in the early 70’s. My mother has just been diagnosed with a rare disease, creating the double edged sword of living-for-the-moment and waiting-for-the-rug-to-be-pulled-out from beneath us.

After my parents’ messy divorce when I was 3, I split my time between their homes, and split my identity in two. I’d come to school with freshly pressed clothes, smelling like Bounce dryer sheets and toting Chef Boyardee; the next week I’d have gauze-wrapped camphor pinned to my shirt, smelling just like my thermos full of curry. Too brown for the white kids, and too white for the brown kids – I never knew where I belonged.

At age 10, I’m terrible at sports and love writing haikus. After 7 years of ballet, I start dancing flamenco (it’s life-changing and life-giving). I walk to my maternal grandmother’s house after school each day, and eat crustless shrimp & mayo sandwiches. I spend time in my paternal grandmother’s tiny closet, singing Hindu prayers, then devouring roti. I’m elected 5th grade Class President, and coordinate a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Hugo. I’m learning what I love.

I’ve grown-up with stories of living under, then escaping, apartheid. My mother – a high-ranking career civil servant – travels to Malawi with the UN, to report on their first democratic election. Pumped with confidence after delivering my 7th grade valedictorian speech, and hellbent on freedom (I need money for a CD player), I start a babysitting business. I create handmade business cards and a one-page testimonial sheet, and make a ton of money playing Ouija with 5-year olds (!!)

I embark on my first spiritual quest, becoming a Level 1 Reiki practitioner at age 14. I have an Affirmation Journal and Angel Cars, and only read self-help books. I spend all my babysitting money at the metaphysical bookstore, and on lipstick and CD’s (for the record: RHCP’s “Blood Sugar Sex Magic”, Pearl Jam’s “Ten”, Janet Jackson’s “Janet”, and the Best of The Eurythmics. Just sayin’.)

After 2 years of college, I drop out. I work part-time as a go-go dancer, and dive into my career in cosmetics full-time. I’m really good at sales, and I love talking to women all day. I win a 10-day trip to Morocco in a national sales competition, and start partying really, really hard. I’m pushing the edges of what my family and society think I “should” be doing.

The partying catches up with me, and I move to Vancouver to live with my boyfriend. We last 6 months, and to do damage control on my raging emotional eating, I discover yoga. “Wow, I can feel my heartbeat!” It saves me, and marks the beginning of my return to my roots.

Yoga is my gateway into holistic health and environmentalism. After nearly 10 years in cosmetics, I begin living a double-life, wearing 18 items of makeup to work during the day, and going braless at poetry slams at night. I’m reading Paul Hawken and Krishnamurti, and making art from found-objects. I quit my job on a whim, filling the financial gap by writing and hosting a show called Global Impact Report, where I interview C-suite executives of green businesses.

I fall in love and in 2006 I moved from Vancouver to NYC with no working papers. My husband is a musician, and we can barely make ends meet. I work at a cookie factory (for real) and a tea shop, and make jewelry to support myself. One day, while wiring an earring, I have an epiphany that health is the ultimate grassroots movement, and sign up for nutrition school.

I’m determined as hell. I finish school, and steadily build my nutrition coaching business, supporting women around emotional eating (something I’d finally overcome). A few years into my business, I win a full ride scholarship to a year-long (and totally life-changing) executive coach training program. I realize that I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and now I have rock solid skills as a coach.

I continue to grow my business and deepen my skills over time, studying Family Constellations, breathwork, archetypal work, and energy work. I work with plant medicines and incredible mentors, who turn me inside-out and love me through the fire.

After 5 years of marriage, we divorce. It’s painful and loving, and we vow to be best friends. I start traveling the world, and in a few short years, I travel to Paris, London, India, Colombia, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, and Panama. I’m in a 5 year on/off relationship with a celebrity, which grows me in ways I can barely describe.

In 2015, I create the first ever Global Sisterhood Day (a free annual global event). Thousands of women from over 75 countries join circles all over the world, and I spend a whole day crying. It’s my biggest labor of love to date.

At age 37, in 2016, I give birth to my beautiful-amazing son, Raven Deva. I met his father just a month before we got pregnant, so his arrival is a profound journey for me, and for us. I also birth Soul of Leadership into the world – a culmination of years of deepening study and personal evolution. We move to Mill Valley, California.