We recently connected with Sivan Harary and have shared our conversation below.
Sivan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
I have two business ventures at the moment: one for process work, and one for art workshops.
My first business is Pulse Process Consulting, specializing in process improvement and project management. The name is based on the way that trees communicate with each other. I’ve always loved trees and I feel revived when I’m in nature. I remember learning about the intelligence that trees have and how they help each other survive. Research has shown that trees communicate with each other through their roots in a process that involves pulses (or waves of electrical and chemical signals). The process starts when a tree sends out pulses through its roots, which are detected by neighboring trees. These pulses travel through the network of roots connecting the trees, and can indicate a variety of things, such as an attack by a pest, a shortage of water or nutrients, or the presence of a nearby tree with which it can form a symbiotic relationship. Once the neighboring trees detect the pulses, they respond by sending out pulse signals through their own roots. This is a complex and fascinating system that highlights the interconnectedness of nature, as well as the importance of communication and organized efforts to the survival of a delicate ecosystem.
Much like the complex communication system of trees, business organizations are complex ecosystems that require the exchange of information, sharing of resources, and coordinated efforts to survive. Process improvement and Project Management involve a system of interconnected components, in which changes made to one component of the system can have a ripple effect throughout the rest of the system. It’s important to take a holistic view of the organization and consider the impact of changes on all of the components involved. By taking a cue from nature, we can gain a greater appreciation for the interconnectedness of the world around us and work to make positive changes in organizations.
The name of my other business is Leave It on the Canvas. This business offers intuitive painting art workshops, both publicly and through private corporate team building events. It incorporates an array of expressive techniques from journaling to stenciling, texturing, and painting. This workshop helps people to surrender expectations and trust in the creative process. The act of journaling under the painting allows participants to pour themselves into the process of creating and bring to light whatever is on their mind. This class is all about the process of creating and how you feel when you do it. It’s called “Leave It on the Canvas” because the process encourages people to use the journaling step to release any tensions or call in what you want and need in your life, inviting participants to release their feelings onto the canvas rather than bottle them up inside.
Sivan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Art has always been part of my life in some form, even if it was just in the back of my mind as something I wanted to get back to doing. In college and law school I would work on a painting here and there, but I never really liked anything I painted. Much like my life at that time, I had strict standards for what I should paint…it had to look realistic, be perfect, and have profound meaning. All of these rules paralyzed me into not painting for years.
From 2013 to 2018, I practiced Immigration Law as an Attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was eager to dive into my career and was willing to pay whatever dues were required. I managed large caseloads, oversaw legal teams, and built processes for programs within the firms where I worked. Being in a state of constant learning was stimulating and rewarding, but I didn’t realize the price I was paying. I used to think, “Sure it’s stressful and the hours are long, but I’m giving endlessly of myself, for myself.” I hardly spent any time being creative during this period. I felt like two different people, the “work” version and the “creative” version of myself, even though I wasn’t really creating. My husband would always encourage me to paint, but I couldn’t bring myself to make anything.
About six years into practicing law, it became clear that the stress levels, working hours, and demands of being an attorney would only increase over time. My work started to impact my health, and that was a huge wake-up call. I took some time off to reconnect with my mind and body, allowing me to refocus and draw boundaries. I ultimately decided that it was time to pivot to a profession that provided balance in my life. After reflecting on my career to that point, two functions stood out as enjoyable: improving systems and mentoring people. I always loved mentoring and learning from the people around me and investing in becoming a better manager, particularly in high-pressure situations. I also felt energized by setting up systems to streamline large caseloads, and got excited when discovering new and better ways to manage workflows. That information led me to a new role.
I spent the next four years as a Project Manager driving projects and programs at a global immigration law firm, and ultimately obtained a PMP (Project Management Professional) Certification. In supporting the law firm and its Fortune 100 and 500 tech companies, I learned to shift my mentality from being directive to being a facilitator. I learned to lead groups to decide the best option for their teams and for the people interacting with the systems day-to-day. It became clear that employees were more invested in change when they were included in the decision-making process, and had an opportunity to share their lived experience. I started to reflect on these lessons and others from my career.
During that time, my amazing sister, Jodi Harary, taught me the painting process that her talented friend, Kat Furrow (katfurrowart.com), had taught to her. This intuitive painting process incorporated chalk, journaling, painting, stenciling, and other techniques I’d never tried before. Most importantly, the process encouraged me to start with no expectation or idea of where the painting would ultimately end up. It helped me to take it one step at a time, to stop and reflect on the current state, and to make a decision about the next move rather than the final outcome. It gave me the freedom to pick up a brush without all of the pressure and perfectionism that I was putting on my previous paintings, and on everything in my life really. The aspect of journaling on the canvas before adding paint helped me to release negative thought patterns that I didn’t realize were brewing under the surface, or to write positive messages to myself. I used this process to help me work through life transitions and to support the work I was doing in therapy. Once the paintings were finished, they had a deeper meaning, knowing what message I had journaled underneath. Through this creative process, I ended up creating a series of paintings for the first time in my life, which were psychedelic portals juxtaposed with nature. I was surprised and delighted by what I was painting, each one more vibrant and colorful than anything I’d painted previously. I used this series to help me work up the courage to leave the security of my project management job at the law firm.
I ultimately decided that being in the legal industry, even without the pressure of being an attorney, was not for me. In 2022, I started Pulse Process Consulting to help organizations build human-centered process that drives productivity. Pulling from the extensive hours I’ve spent working and volunteering with non-profit organizations, law firms, and startup tech companies, my business aims to drive change that is centered around the needs of the organization, the people doing the work, and the available resources, with an understanding of how those intersect. I believe that employees should be treated as whole people, and that investing in the people who work for you in a meaningful way leads to increased loyalty, efficiency, innovation, and cohesion. While “process” and “efficiency” sound like sterile words next to this idea, they are deeply intertwined. Taking the time to establish unified systems that reduce wasted time, consider the employee’s experience, and empower employees to instigate change, can drastically increase morale and reduce attrition.
A month after I started my business, something unexpected happened: art became much more prominent in my life without me actively pursuing this avenue. My friend Amber Martinez asked if I had any large paintings, because her friend and curator, Patanisha Williams, needed one more artist for her show. I ended up showing three pieces in that show in Oakland, CA, which led to having my own show and reception at a brewery in San Francisco, and now my sister and I are having a joint art show with David Friedman and other artists in May 2024 down in Vista, California. I have since sold three paintings, many prints, and have been hired for two commissions. All of this has happened without me pursuing art as a means of income, and I decided I had to listen to the messages I was getting.
In September 2023, I felt compelled to teach an art workshop using Kat Furrow’s process. I didn’t want to do it to make money, but because it felt like something I had to do. I felt passionate about how much art had helped me to process, heal, and cope. I wanted to connect with others and to share this process that allowed me to set myself free from the critical mind. Since then, I have taught several intuitive painting workshops and the feedback has been wonderful. I am so grateful to everyone who has participated and I can honestly say that teaching art has brought me more joy than anything I’ve ever done. As a result, I decided to offer these workshops to corporate clients as a corporate team building exercise, where I work with the client to understand the goals, needs, or tensions of the team, and incorporate those themes into the journaling exercise. My next intuitive painting workshop is on June 15, 2024 at Moon Landing Meditative Arts in Oakland, CA and my incredible sister, Jodi Harary, will be there giving intuitive readings throughout the day to participants (class link is on link page).
Being able to pursue both art and process work simultaneously has made me feel like a whole integrated person for the first time in my life, instead of the divide I used to feel as an attorney and in the corporate world. Although art and process seem so far apart, they are actually quite aligned. The lessons I teach in my art workshop, to be open, curious, and non-judgmental, are precisely the principles that I take into my process work. Often times in a business environment, systems break down because we become closed, resentful, and critical. In both art and process work, the magic is in the freedom we give ourselves to step out of being right and into being curious, and the freedom to make big decisions on a small scale, one step at a time.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I used to believe that I was only worth the job I had, and that the more I gave of myself, the more value I would have as a person. I think that my active participation in this mindset partially stems from childhood expectations about what it means to succeed in this world. I think this mindset is also largely attributable to the value placed on work in our society, and the message from employers that their deadlines are more important than your mental and physical health. This is a message I heard loud and clear throughout my career, and I had to unlearn it to create healthy boundaries. I remember being an attorney and feeling like I was slacking off if I left work before 7pm. I would receive emails from bosses and coworkers at 2:00 a.m., which sets an unconscious expectation that work should be your priority over all else. Living that life drained me and led to serious burn out. Now that I work for myself, I sometimes can’t believe that I’m allowed to be this happy, to have this much balance, and this much time to paint. Initially I felt like I was somehow cheating the system, but now I understand that the system was cheating me. I try to bring this idea into my process work, to help companies build systems that honor their employees as whole human beings, create reasonable deadlines, and allow space for creative thinking.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Yes, there are so many great books that have influenced me. Here are some highlights:
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, Kaley Klemp
Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan, and anything else put out by The Ready
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transforms Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters by Priya Parker
The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pulseprocess.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sivanhararyart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SivanHararyArt
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivan-harary-process-specialist-2392a97/
- Other: bio.site/sivanharary https://momence.com/31089/upcoming-events/101417163 (art workshop registration)
Image Credits
Patanisha Williams