Heartistry

In this excerpt, Anu speaks about the importance of culture awareness and sensitivity, and how language can be a way to achieve greater understanding of one's own culture, and as a result, more empathy from others towards that culture. Anu Sehgal is the Founder of @theculturetree Anu @anuseghalny grew up in India and is a native Hindi speaker. She is an active parent and believes an awareness of o...

Sahil K is a Singer, Songwriter and Music Director based in Toronto, Canada, and is the disciple of Late Ustad Sardool Sikander Ji. Sahil K @sahil_k_music has been training in Indian Classical Music, Sufi Music and Folk Music for the past 15 years, and now owns a music production company by the name of "Karma Productions" specializing in Music Production, Film Background Scoring, Vocal Dubbing/Voi...

A unique episode adapted from the Heartistry Video Series, Episode 2: Social Change Through #heARTivism featuring 5 dynamic women of color dance artists including Nadhi Thekkek @navadancesf Alicia-Lynn Nascimento Castro @nascimentoalicia Athena Nair @athena.nair Aysha Upchurch @ayshadances Brinda Guha @brindaguha Each artist is in conversation with Farah, sharing how they use their artistic practi...

Chitra Peña is breaking toxic generational cycles by sparking tough conversations, many of which are inspired by her continued personal journey of unlearning and finding self-love, and . through changing the narrative of what it means to be a South Asian family. When Chitra Peña became the mother of two Indian-Puerto Rican daughters, she embarked on a mission to preserve and share culture with the...

Triple threat - Actor/Dancer/Singer - leads with compassion and conviction in all that she does. A #PayYourArtists post that went viral is how they connected. Hear Kayla Pecchioni share what compelled her to vent on social media, the overwhelming response to it, and so much about her brilliance as an Actor, Dancer & Singer! Kayla Pecchioni @kaylapecchioni is a professional stage actor and educ...

Jenny Vyas @JennyVyas is a self-taught Contemporary South Asian Fine Artist and Muralist from the Chicagoland area. She is highly influenced by beauty in complex human emotions and attempts to reveal them through multiple nuances in expressions through her paintings and murals. Her interest in human frailty shows in her paintings where she creates abstracts of human silhouettes and fluctuating for...

Yuki Ellias is an Actor, Theatre Director, and Corporate Coach - her talent is beyond measure, her creativity is beyond amazing, and her drive is beyond infectious. Be ready to be inspired by the multitalented @yuki.by.yuki and hear about her incredible projects, such as her phenomenal one woman show "Elephant in the Room" (spoil alert: she performs a short excerpt). Yuki endeavors to make theatre...

Suhaee Abro is a dancer and actress, born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. Suhaee @suhaeeabrodance was trained by Pakistani artist-activist Sheema Kermani, specializing in Bharatanatyam as well as South Asian folk dances, and later received contemporary dance training in Italy, where she now lives. Her acting career includes TV, TV plays, music videos, documentaries and feature films, often taking...

Setso @setso.s is an independent singer and songwriter from Gauteng, South Africa. Her heartfelt lyrics, coupled with her melodic and entrancing delivery, all wrapped up in the warmth of the musical arrangement - we're in love with it all. Now the best part...While searching for the Heartistry Talk Show on Spotify, Farah came across an album of the same name HEARTISTRY! She had to listen and was i...

Seetal Kaur @seetal_ is an arts manager, dance artist and social activist. As a Relationship Manager for Arts Council England, she provides advice and insight to individuals and organisations to develop dance as an art form and manages a portfolio of dance organisations in the Midlands region. Seetal has also founded her own social initiative to develop South Asian women and creatives called Forwa...

Manasi Arya @artwithmanasi is a Special Education teacher, currently pursuing her Masters in Special Education. Influenced by her mother who is also an artist, Manasi grew up around art and art supplies. Joining a growing community of digital artists, Manasi decided to start her IG account a few years ago to share various paintings and her stories. Within a year, she embraced an opportunity to sta...

Amit Patel @_amitdances is a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A first generation born Indian American, Amit strives to fuse his cultures by bringing together different disciplines of dance, and has developed an unconventional style of dance called "Indian Contemporary" - something he fell in love with as he fused his diverse training in both East...

Sheherazaad @sheherazaadmusic & Chanpreet Singh @virchanpreet share their unique and individual artistic paths as well as their recent collaboration. Sheherazaad (aka Sanjana Shukla) is a performer-composer, whose new-age sound echoes her experiences as a child of diaspora. She pulls from traditional South Asian and Western classical, where her contemporary, modern synthesis can be described a...

Heartistry Talk Show is closing out 2020 with the fabulous Saba Gul! @sabagul is an MIT-educated engineer turned entrepreneur, raised in Lahore, Pakistan. She currently leads strategy for technology products, with a focus on ethics. Previously the founder of Popinjay @popinjay_co an artisan label with a supply chain spanning Pakistan, Vietnam and China, Saba is an advisor to several startups and i...

David Herrera @herr.dave is the Artistic Director/Choreographer for David Herrera Performance Company @davidherreraperformancecompany in San Francisco. Growing up in Hollywood, CA, David was influenced by the film industry and the cultural eclecticism of his neighborhood and his Mexican-American Heritage. After making the decision to pursue his education in dance and theater arts, without prior fo...

Kumu Hula Kawika Keikiali'ihiwahiwa Alfiche @kawikaalfiche has been teaching hula and Hawaiian cultural arts for over 26 years. Kawika is the Kumu Hula (Master teacher) for Hālau o Keikiali'i, and is the Director for the Kaululehua Hawaiian Cultural Center in South San Francisco. With a mission to preserve and perpetuate all things Hawaiian, Kawika spends his life learning, teaching and sharing hi...

Nikita Tewani @nikitatewani is a New York based actress who is equally passionate about TV, Film & Theater. Nikita has played the character of Aziza in the play adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns and Mahwish in The Who And The What, by Ayad Akhtar. Nikita's previous TV Credits include The Affair and Falling Water. She has also been featured in Off-Broadway Theatre, Intern...

By profession, Bilal Hassan @mystapaki is a Doctor based in Karachi, Pakistan. When he's not "working" Bilal is also a writer and photojournalist, through which, he hopes to open up a window for the outside world to get to know Pakistan and Pakistanis on a more personal humane level as opposed to what is often represented in the media. We not only love that Bilal is able to do what he loves in add...

Jim Santi Owen @jimsantiowen is an American percussionist, educator, performer, composer and producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drumming since the age of 8, he has devoted nearly 30 years to the study of the classical percussion traditions of North and South India with tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri and South Indian master percussionists, the late T.H. Subash Chandran and K. Seka...

Raisa Mirza @rdotmirza is the founder of @rellabeauty a cosmetic company with a buy-one-give-one model of beauty where for every unit of lipstick purchased, one is given to a woman in need via the company's various non-profit giving partners. Prior to the start of her entrepreneurial journey, Raisa worked in PR & marketing across agency and in-house roles for global brands for over a decade. S...

Toya Gavin, Esq. is an attorney, legal consultant and founder of Legally Bold @legally.bold an online coaching and consulting agency where she liberates lawyers from unfulfilling work so that they can claim the lives and careers they really want. Previously a city government attorney, a prosecutor, and a solo practitioner before becoming a consultant and coach, Toya acknowledges the harmful effect...

Joshinder Chaggar is an Australian based creative and performing artist - a dancer, choreographer, actor, teacher and writer. Joshinder, born in India, grew up in Africa, then onto Australia, lived in Pakistan for 10 years teaching and performing, and has now found herself back in Melbourne, Australia, teaching dance and working extensively with the senior community. Joshinder's journey is a testa...

Ten-time Emmy award winner Raj Mathai @rajmathai is the weeknight news anchor for NBC Bay Area @nbcbayarea and is among the Bay Area's most well-known journalists. Raj has interviewed many high profile newsmakers including Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Colin Powell, Tyler Florence, Jed York and many more. In 1995, Raj became the first Indian sportscaster in the U.S. before he transitioned to primar...

Raissa Simpson is an African American/Pilipino choreographer and artistic director of the San Francisco-based PUSH Dance Company @pushdance Her multidisciplinary dances are at the intersection of complex racial and cultural identities and centers around discourse on the complex experiences of racialized bodies. ⠀ ⠀ For 7 weeks in Oct-Nov, in a reimagined virtual setting, Raissa's company will pres...

Hollywood Jade @hollywoodjade is one of Toronto's greatest visionary talents who continues to find new and exciting ways to present his timeless creativity to the masses. This dancer/choreographer turned artistic director has showcased his multidimensional artistic creations on both the big and small screen, stages locally and internationally - most recently as resident choreographer for Canada’s...