Words have always been my passion. As a teenager I started to write poetry, pouring my heart out on paper about the injustices of the world, love and nature. When I was in 9th grade, my life shifted. From the moment I heard Shakespeare’s words on stage, my heart started to beat in rhythm with the iambic pentameters, reactivating a memory deep inside my soul. Once I experienced that even music could join in, I was hooked. I started to write poetry around the same time, exchanging my words with my best friend. Poetry is a silent voice, a whisper of the soul, and soon I learned that in order to be seen and heard, I needed to raise my volume. Thus I stepped on stage, and while I loved trying out different identities through slipping into various roles, the voice of my soul slowly disappeared - exchanged for a coat that helped me to shapeshift into whatever was needed to make others happy. For quite a while I attempted to become an actress, and although theater never turned out to be my main job, it was always woven into the tapestry of my work.

Life guided me towards a teaching job where I mostly taught students with learning difficulties and challenging social backgrounds. Knowing that this wasn’t my true calling, I still loved being witness to the transformation in students, especially when they were deciding to take on the challenge and show themselves on stage. I enjoyed honest, truthful and vulnerable conversations with students and found myself rather to be coaching than teaching. I was learning as much from them as they were learning from me. 

The solitude of Covid lockdown created a silence in me. Within this space, I suddenly heard my soul’s voice calling me loudly. A poem shared on Instagram by a familiar soul reminded me that I am already Love and I rediscovered my love for poetry. Slowly I learned who I really am and I realized that with every crossroad and U-turn on my life’s journey I had imperceptibly collected everything I needed to know how to fulfil my soul’s purpose.