About Kirsten

  What Matters To Me

For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated with potential.  I grew up in a family rich in character and curiosity, shaped as much by the awareness of being deeply unconventional as I was by the later realisation of the strength it took to be pioneering, and committed to truly live the gift of life.

My life’s lessons take many forms but health, wellness and mortality have undoubtedly been my greatest teachers. After almost 3 decades of exceptional health, I was diagnosed with a rare, incurable blood disorder called PNH, and counselled to understand that this would greatly accelerate my exit from this world.

The intense pain of contemplating my death brought into sharp focus what a gift life is and the realisation that there is power in actively choosing life, because life is not as binary as living or dead.  My choice to live and to live fully conscious not only set me on a path of healing that continues to defy statistics but allowed me to take ownership of my potential, providing the heart and courage to transform all aspects of my life that didn’t yet fully resonate with what I knew to be my whole truth.

My work and life show me that it is not the seismic life events, like my life/ death moments that liberate change, but the radical act of making conscious and continuous choices to live a self directed life crafted in full alignment with all the things that matter most to me.  I’ve come to appreciate that miracles are simply a shift in perspective: a moment where nothing changes and yet everything changes because you’ve seen the same situation differently. 

I carry all of this lived experience with me into my work and service...as a business owner, partner, parent, daughter, sister, friend and grateful citizen of humanity. I now have an unshakeable belief in the power to transform, realise or regenerate every aspect of life.

 

My Truth

I was born in Michigan, USA, grew up on a smallholding between Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa with nature as my playground, guide and cure-all. I moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2006 where I lived until relocating to Cape Town, South Africa in 2015.  I’ve come to understand that “home” is the place in the world where you feel most alive, most resourceful for a particular chapter of your life.  I love home - wherever it has been it has been my sanctuary.

In the age of multi-hyphenate careers, I am a truth sayer - designer.  I see beauty and potential in everything and experience profound joy in the process of transformation - whether of a person, a business or a physical space.  As a life and business designer, truth is my multi-tool…at times a flame, a blade, a map or a compass and always, contrary to popular sentiment, the least painful path to a lasting sense of peace…the inspired moments when we no longer see the hole but the whole.

I value deep and meaningful connections with others, nature and all aspects of life, and as a result of this,  I use social media thoughtfully and sparingly.  I’m privileged to work with good people and companies around the world, doing what I love, because after a long-enough time of wrestling with how to integrate being an intuitive-spiritual-empath-who-accelerates-business-and-personal- growth-while-being-passionate-about-design, it finally occurred to me - this is simply my home…my truth and my resource. I live here.