Laborare est Orare (Work is Prayer) – that’s my guiding principle –
I’m the oddball in my family. When I was born, my parents were “turned on, tuned in and dropped out”. They had a baby, named it Shanthi (Sanskrit for “peace”), moved to the middle of nowhere and planted a vegetable garden and an acre of pot. I, on the other hand, would do things like get up at 5 am to ride my bicycle around the only paved road on our little island to see if I could break my personal time record on the four mile stretch.
One morning I excitedly woke my parents to tell them I had gotten my best time and the response was, “Honey, you’re very intense. You should take things a little less seriously.” So, obviously, I did the opposite – I pursued the most intense experiences I could find, with all the intensity I could muster.
From playing Division I basketball on a full scholarship to helping some of the most significant brands in the world continue to evolve, my work has always provided me a place where my intensity is an asset and I feel appreciated for it. Every day, agency life requires an open mind, creative thought, dedicated focus and intense commitment because trust is fragile, revenue is precious, winning is hard, and losing has consequences. The stakes are high, and I love that.