This Is My Easter Story and It Doesn't Really Involve Eggs

I’m gonna be honest with you friend. 

March was HARD. 

Between personal life, the current state of the world, and my small business coming to a schreeeeeeching halt, this past month has felt pretty intense. 

And while I’ve been in this business for the last five years, days like today I’m reminded of my really strong why, which really began about one year ago. 

On April 21st 2019, my motherland experienced some really traumatic events. What should have been a peaceful Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, turned into one of the biggest terrorist attacks the country had seen since the end of the civil war in 2009. While the news was reporting that a coordinated bomb attack killed 270 people and injured over 500, I remember instead the frantic calls to my family still living there, and the overwhelm of seeing the images right next to the places I had visited myself barely 6 weeks prior. 

It was HARD news to bear. 

Hard because the country known internationally as a Paradise Island had a history of 30 years of genocide and trauma that only ended in 2009. 

Hard because this trauma and history displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their motherland, my family included. 

Hard because it felt like the violence in my motherland would never end. 

And harder because as a third culture kid, I felt like I didn’t have the words, language, or resources to vocalize how to help the community that I cared so much about. After all — how in the world does running a photography and videography company in Toronto help fix an issue that’s been around for decades in a country I don’t live in????? 

And that is when it really all began.

Last April, I really learned what it meant to take power in your own story. 

I learned what it meant to share and to create from a place of passion and purpose. 

See — I didn’t have the resources at the time to help my motherland and the people navigating the trauma of the Easter Sunday Attacks. 

But I did have the words and storytelling abilities, to share the third culture* experience of being a child of immigrants who had fled war. I did have the experience of having a hyphenated identity, constantly code-switching* between culture and society. And I would make a difference by sharing these parts of me, and creating from a place of love, advocacy, and resilience. 

Here’s the thing about storytelling: 

There used to be gatekeepers* who stopped the sharing of marginalized stories for SO long. Historically, news, media, advertising, and entertainment platforms in Western Society continued to perform the erasure of marginalized communities. If you didn’t have the money, power, or resources, the people who controlled history and the documentation of news and events often left you out. 

So if you have the privilege of an internet connection and a smart device, you now have access to platforms that historically you may not have had before — from Youtube, to Instagram, or even TikTok, there are far fewer gatekeepers between you and your voice. 

So in case you needed the reminder: 

You already have a story. 

And this weird time in the world — COVID-19 and all — is going to be a part of your story. 

And it’s okay if you’re not ready to share it yet. It’s okay if this part of your story looks messy, or unpredictable right now. 

But your story is powerful, and when you’re ready to share it, by whatever creative means necessary, I’ll be here to cheer you on: every step of the way.

To help in the process of education and advocacy, I’ve decided to start including a Glossary of Terms, to better make these terms and ideas accessible and easier to understand. 

Code-Switching: the use of one dialect, register, accent, or language variety over another, depending on social or cultural context, to project a specific identity; the modifying of one's behavior, appearance, etc., to adapt to different sociocultural norms.

Gatekeepers: someone who has the power to decide who gets particular resources and opportunities, and who does not. 

Marginalized: the act of relegating someone to an unimportant or powerless position—making them feel, if you will, like they’re the notes squeezed into the margins of society. Scrawled. Practically unreadable. Small. 

Third Culture: refers to the mixed identity that a child assumes, influenced both by their parents' culture and the culture in which they are raised. Also expanded to include the children of refugee families and those displaced for political reasons, as well as anyone whose work or lifestyle causes a need to settle in another part of the world.