“I have come to a place where I awaken everyday with the singular intention to inspire and empower another human being. Everyone needs to grasp that their powerful story, when penned with full intention and responsibility, is fully supported by the universe.”
-Vaishali Joshi
Vaishali has a flare for inspiring and engaging people in very diverse settings. She leads and facilitates conversations from boardrooms to ballrooms with charisma, humour, and authenticity. And it all comes from having navigated through some seriously life-size challenges before and since she came to Canada alone on a student visa at age 17. Her journey is remarkably multifaceted and relatable to many who aspire to make a noteworthy impact as professionals, parents and leaders to others.
Vaishali focuses on faith versus fear. She is firmly rooted in the idea of empowering from within and leading with self-responsibility. This approach has led to a natural effectiveness as a servant leader and unprecedented levels of curiosity, courage and adventure for all things new and uncharted.
As a university student, she was rendered “wanted talent” before she graduated – both times – in the midst of two deep recessions in 1993 and 1998. Thus, she began her career at age 22 with two world-class organizations – Westcoast Energy and Deloitte. Even then, she was a disruptor as she challenged social norms about why there is not a viable livelihood beyond becoming a doctor, lawyer or engineer or why immigrants change their first names to fit into the Canadian fabric or why business and technology remained such separate spheres. In 2002, she became one of the first Canadians to pass the ITIL Masters Accreditation which, at that time, was highly prized and opened unforeseen avenues for her to facilitate effective conversations between technology and business leaders across Canada and the USA.
Vaishali has explored the fulfilling terrain of marriage and motherhood twice – first becoming a step-mother to two beautiful girls aged 6 and 10 who are now 22 and 26 before becoming a mother to her now, 13 year old son. She is also a caregiver to her aging parents who courageously forged on the new immigrant path from her place of birth, Kenya, in the early 90s. She splits her voluntary time between two key demographics that she cares dearly for – young aspiring corporate professionals and youth aged 12-20. She has been a long-time mentor for the Project Management Institute and the Schulich School of Business as well as the Voice of Vedas youth community.
All of this work has culminated in her most recent transformation. With her new start-up, Anvaya Life Journeys, Vaishali merges her corporate experience with her experience in creative physical practice, breathwork and mindfulness to bring stress management and employee experience solutions to working professionals, business organizations and youth. She teaches people how to adopt an energy-based growth mindset to become more resilient, empathetic, and responsible change makers. She has unleashed immense potential by bringing her mindfulness practices to her work and personal life and she is determined to get more people to learn this cognitive skill as part of their development journey. Business leaders speak to Vaishali about giving their people tools to proactively manage stress and build a greater sense of ownership and belonging within their teams.
Through Anvaya Life Journeys, Vaishali plans to get more adults and children practicing mindfulness as a way to becoming dynamic change makers and positive influencers for themselves and the communities around them.
