May 2023 marks eight very diverse years in Australia, with over two years in Sydney and close to six years in Melbourne (with two of those years in lockdown). In Sydney, I enjoyed the coastal beauty, agency life, the parties, the chaos, everything was new and I was stimulated with the need to prove myself in a new place.
I felt I had to prove that I had what it takes to move continents and succeed, push myself in every job role, hustle to get sponsored by work and always ‘be on’ in order to achieve, gain experiences and make new friends.
Then, I got a work opportunity to be relocated to Melbourne. It was a tough opportunity to swallow because I loved Sydney. It sounds silly saying that now, as I’ve been in Melbourne for almost six years, but at the time my mind was in conflict with my heart. The start of those six years in Melbourne had me questioning myself if I made the right decision on the daily, but I look back now and can hand-on-heart say it's been a "slow-burn kind of love", as my friend Meg would say. Not loving every day but consistently showing up and trying to understand more about the Victorian state, her people, the trams, the foodie culture, but mostly the weather. Slowly the love grew and steadily I became more comfortable calling the colder part of Australia home. Four of those six years I’ve been lucky enough to be granted permanent residency through work, and this week I passed my Australian citizenship test (yay!). I can definitely say I am one of the lucky ones.
Three of those six years in Melbourne, I’ve lived in the same bachelorette apartment which has been the longest amount of time I’ve ever lived in one place in Australia. It is also where I finally launched my own marketing brand Pique Intent, during the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic gave me time to start something I’ve always wanted to do – my own business and reflect on my career leading up to that point as well as crumble from Covid hardships, then turn inwards to work on myself and work out ‘where to next’. At first it was hard being alone in a pandemic with my own thoughts, not being able to casually visit local friends or have access to fly home to family and friends in Africa or have the constant hum of work pressure - as I had struggled to find new work like so many people globally during the pandemic. I was forced to slow down, reset my nervous system and try let go of; the 'always-on' productivity mentality, the adrenaline I was accustomed to, the fear of accomplishing an idolised ambition and the constant resistance to alter my 'work is life' conditioning.
It's been a journey but I can finally say that I’m in a place that I’ve worked really hard to balance out my work and personal life, connect with who I want be, pursue my passions and on most occasions feel a deep sense of inner peace. I no longer work to prove myself and feel the need to absorb myself in other people's lives by fixing and saving them. I am now on my own journey rather than living a supporting role in other people’s narrative, goals and issues, it’s been liberating using that time to turn inwards and work out my needs, wants and desires.
This year, I’ve found and created a home in my dream location by the beach in Elwood, during a time the Victorian media deemed “a rental crisis”. I also took the time to focus on one of my passion’s yoga, and pursue this alternative route by enrolling in yoga teacher training (YTT), where I’m uncovering the depths of this ancient practice, beyond a physical practice. It’s funny, I don’t think I’ve ever really known what a passion is until I actively invested more of my time, energy and financial resource into something I just enjoy doing in order to delve deeper and learn more. This further depth of discovery into something I enjoy has subsequently lit a fire in me that keeps yearning for more. This time, my passion has been a slower, more considered practice that has been internally motivated, as opposed to my passionate early years when I used to competitively swim. I can tell that those early swimming days, I was passionate about the sport but I was externally motivated by competing against others and being pushed by coaches, peers, personal best times, and my parents which in-turn made me push myself. Being externally motivated has got me pretty far, I wouldn't be where I am today without it but I think there comes a time when you question if that's the only way you can get motivated, have drive and pursue something with passionate dedication. With yoga, I can tell this time I've been internally motivated, as this practice has helped me learn how to focus, be present, be consistent, release stress and anxiety, breathe, move with purpose and most recently empower myself to act on deeper discovery of this ancient practise. I can now tell the difference between external and internal motivation.
Similar to my drawn-out appreciation for Melbourne, yoga has been my 'slow-burn', after practicing for over a decade I still never felt the calling to be a teacher, but my curiosity did, as it slowly kept nudging me towards it. All I knew was that I enjoyed various practices of yoga until the end of last year when I quickly decided to do my YTT, to give myself something that was just mine to tend to and gradually absorb over five months.
Somewhere deep down inside of me, I think I knew I needed more than a repetitive physical practice with the goal of de-stressing and flexibility. Passion for me feels very different this time round, even though I still enjoy swimming, I think using my 'slow burn' yoga passion approach of slow and steady consistency and inquisitive exploration as opposed to pushing towards the end goal and to continuously compete, swimming could once again become a much loved practice. I can also see how this 'slow-burn' principle could play out in my life and career by allowing the slow and steady consistency of practice become my internal pace as opposed to always feeling the need to fast-track and pushing myself to compete with external goals. It sounds simple now that I’m on the other side, but it’s been a process to get me to slow down and really be conscious about how I’m being motivated and where I want to spend my time and energy for my greatest good.
Taking inspiration from the 'slow-burn' principle, I’ve decided to evolve what my brand Pique Intent means to me. After more than three years in practice, I started Pique Intent with the intention to ‘walk my talk’ by creating my own personal brand, a marketing consultancy that showcased what I’ve been able to do for so many global brands, in a career that spans Advertising and Marketing, for over thirteen years. Sometimes it takes a period of time to understand why you start some thing and in my case, I created Pique Intent to prove to myself and others that I could craft my own brand and create a place to house my experience and offerings. Over the last three years, Pique Intent has been my safe space to share my experience, my offerings, and creatively test and learn. It's now evolved into a space to share more than one side of myself, a space that can hold my experience, offerings, learnings and understanding of self, human truths, our connected relationship and my passions.
Being an avid fan of brand refreshes, I’ve decided to reimagine what my personal brand stands for and how it can hold more than just my professional identity -
Pique Intent is a space to excite oneself, someone, or something into actioning their intention.
It is the initial start, the launch pad, the spark at ground-zero.
Where all ideas, movement and changes can come to be.
It is a space where anything and everything exists.
It is the void, the gift of space that allows one to reconnect to oneself, one’s joy, one’s intention, one's purpose.
Pique intent is a space to plan brand, marketing and advertising requirements. Move passion into practice while sharing an evolving journey of discovery.
Have a look at the evolved brand and website here.
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