If you’re curious about social identity and cultural awareness, you’re in the right place!
Born in the Indian Himalayas, raised in a meditation centre in rural France and having travelled to 40+ countries, I’ve met people from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures.
My open-mindedness to non-normativity led me to the queer, non-monogamous, sex positive scene in London where I lived during most of my 20s. Being multiethnic and queer, I have always been very aware of difference, feeling caught between categories and defined by my otherness: not black, not white; not gay, not straight; not a woman, not a man.
In 2017, after getting glandular fever, I was bed bound for the third time in my life, this time for fifteen months, needing a wheelchair to leave the house. I’ve now been diagnosed with a total of eighteen chronic illnesses which have added to my sense of inbetweeness, not visibly disabled but disabled nonetheless.
But I’ve come to realise that this enables me to bridge social groups and relate to all types of people which led to Beyond Boxes, a podcast and youtube channel exploring labels and identity and going beyond socially ascribed boxes.
In 2018, after 8 years working in events, TV and film production, I began training in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and during a weeklong course which included a half day on power and privilege, I felt frustrated by the lack of understanding of key dynamics, and hurt by the subject being debated intellectually as if discrimination, oppression and otherness were hypothetical rather than a constant reality for many.
Invited to offer my own workshop, I focused on the felt dynamics of power, privilege and prejudice – towards others and oneself – using meditation, NVC and relational inquiry tools. It had a deep impact on those that attended and developed into the public, private and professional workshops I now lead. As I continue to explore my own relationship to social identity and cultural awareness, I have become involved in a number of projects related to these themes, including hosting online events and offering consultancy services.