Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Olivia Kim. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Olivia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I have had the privilege of serving eldest daughters and daughters of immigrants.

Both are strong, resilient, highly capable, and deeply caring, but often deeply misunderstood. These women have spent a lifetime being problem solvers, care takers, the first to carve a path for those around them. They are expected to do and be so much and deviating from this unwritten rulebook can lead to alienation and judgement from family and peers.

What I’ve seen in my clients and from my own experience is that for women in these roles, asking for help or support in nurturing parts of themselves that are in pain or want something different is extremely vulnerable. It can feel like they’re doing something wrong and goes against who they’ve been taught to be.

But when they begin to open the door to their inner light, when they begin to truly believe that they are worthy of pursuing their own dreams, when they begin to give themselves the care they so freely gave to others, magic happens.

It has been a joy to witness my clients reclaim their self-worth and create things in the world that are a reflection of their own truths.

Recently, I have been expanding the work that I do to include activist and change makers. Resistance is hard work and it can be emotionally charging. My hope is that this work can be a place to land, to ground in hope and creativity as a way to inspire meaningful change in this world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m an eldest daughter of Korean immigrants and I grew up in a small town in rural Arctic Alaska. I was and still am a restaurant kid. Growing up I was curious, creative, an explorer, a deep thinker and feeler, a rebel.

These different aspects of my identity have shaped me. They have been the source of great challenge and pain, but also such beauty, depth, and magic. The desire to understand and navigate the tension, the complex dance between these parts of myself with compassion and love is what ultimately led me to the work that I do now.

On paper I’m a coach, but I like to think of myself more as a guide, helping eldest daughters and daughters of immigrants navigate their own internal waters. In this work, we use creative expression, embodiment practices, depth work and spiritual exploration as compass and key, moving towards a deeper and more compassionate understanding of who you are beyond the conditioning, the expectations, and prescribed roles, opening the door to a part of yourself that feels free to express who you truly are, without fear of judgement. Building a deep and curious relationship with your creative voice opens the door for creativity to flourish off the page and into other areas of your life.

Over time, I have grounded my work in the belief that reclaiming our relationship with our bodies, the body of the earth, and reclaiming art and creativity as practices for honest and free self-expression are revolutionary acts — pathways to personal and collective liberation.

I’m now exploring creative expression as a form of resistance against oppressive systems. How can this work not only be a practice of healing but a place to come together, to imagine and create a world beyond what is, the world we wish to see, even if it’s just one step at a time?

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’m currently moving through a pivot period right now.

I’ve always been a rebel. It’s one of my defining characteristics. It’s been the source of my most painful personal challenges, but it’s also been my greatest source of strength. Being a rebel, seeking to live life from a place of personal truth, no matter the pushback, has taught me so much. It’s opened many doors and created many beautiful experiences. It’s helped me live a life that feels full and expansive.

But as I embarked on my business journey, I lost sight of that part of myself. I turned to others to tell me how to do business, how to present myself, how to speak to potential clients. Starting off as a new entrepreneur and space holder, who knew nothing about doing business in the online space, that guidance was what I needed, but after a time, the way I was doing business didn’t feel like me. This ultimately led to me stepping away from my business for some time.

I am so grateful for my mentors, the support they’ve given and the lessons I’ve learned from them, but this period of pause has opened the door for my inner rebel to remind me of who I am and what I truly value.

With that being said, I am currently in a period of revisioning, regrounding, revaluing. I’m not 100% sure what lies on the other side of this door and that’s okay.

I trust that moving forward from a place of truth will guide me to where I need to be.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the most important lessons I’ve unlearned, which is now foundational to the work that I do, is grounded in the meaning we put behind creativity, art, and self-expression.

In our Capitalist society, we are told that art and creativity are only valuable as a commodity, as a product to be sold and consumed. Our self-expression is only valuable if someone else agrees that it’s beautiful or meaningful. Many people have a desire to engage in some type of creative practice but shy away from it because somewhere along the way they learned that it’s a waste of time if it’s not perfect or if you can’t make a living off of it.

For most of my life, I was one of those people. I could hear my Creative Voice calling, but didn’t know how to answer the call. I didn’t trust in my ability to create and express. I told myself that I didn’t know what to do or where to start or that I wasn’t good enough, when in reality, being creative and expressive is one of the most natural states of being.

Take a look around and you’ll see creativity all around you. You find it in nature, in your homes, your communities, your relationships, your thoughts, your bodies. Creative energy resides in all things. Creativity is our birthright but our consumer, productivity driven culture tells us otherwise.

So the shift in perspective is this: I create and express myself not in order to be productive, to prove something or gain someone’s approval. I create and express myself because I can, because it is a form of emotional release, because it deepens my relationship with myself, my community, with nature, and all that is beautiful in the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nabitransformativearts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its_oliviakim
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nabitransformativearts

Image Credits

Olivia Kim