Deserving of Empathy

After working in New York for 6 years at the beginning of my career, I had a strong sense not to stop learning, and to go beyond the United States. London was calling! Working in communications, I had an interest in learning about how storytelling takes many shapes in different parts of the world. I ventured to London, where I began to learn how a story unfolds in the UK, and about how so many cultures co-exist throughout Europe. This wasn’t my first time outside the US, as my parents immigrated from India, and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to India annually since childhood.

Traveling and exposure to cultural diversity started in my home as a child of immigrant parents. The hunger to understand others and help others embrace cultural differences is embedded in my DNA.

After 6 years in London, I got the opportunity to move further east to Asia living in the bustling metropolitan Asian hub, Hong Kong for 2 years. It was there that I immersed in the Asian philosophy of life and work over the lunar calendar year. And took in the sights, flavors, sounds, and ways of business exchange alongside other foreign expats who had come to seek the same expeditions.

My work in communications intersected with the rich cultural experiences I was having abroad, brought depth and change to my storytelling. Weaving my words together in new colorful, inspired ways.

My adventures abroad eventually led to the blessing of becoming a mother. And with motherhood, I’ve begun to live and tell my story yet through another lens, my child’s eyes. I’ve sought to teach him about the world and the endless possibilities that lie ahead of him. To teach him that all walks and cultures of life, are deserving of empathy and compassion regardless of their background.

The single message threaded, through every country’s soil I set afoot, is human kindness and “being kind to every kind”, to me was the ultimate story told like a “rainbow heart”.

Aparna, Team LLL