Art, creativity, and an appreciation of beauty have been core ideas throughout my life, both when I was a kid and as an adult. My story is a story of a series of transformations, many of which were incredibly sudden, but all of which have led to who I am today, a photographer, blogger, and illustrator, as well as a mother and a wife.
I grew up in southern India, and the only constant during that period was the presence of my sister. My parents weren’t always around, having had to find opportunities for work outside of the country. I’ve both lived, at home with them, and in a boarding school with my sister or with my grandparents while they were traveling. I enjoyed creating art in various forms during these years, but as I grew, other aspects of my life seemed to take precedence, and art faded into the background.
The first transformation was in the year 2000, when my husband who was looking for opportunities in the technology industry had moved to the USA. My 2 ½ year old son and I soon followed as part of a larger trend of migration at the time. I was initially a stay at home mother, but when my child went to full time school, I decided to try to pursue a career for myself. I had earned an MBA back in India and decided to find a part time job in accounting, eventually narrowing that down to income taxes. After a few years of this, I chose to open my business, and from 2007 to 2013, I managed 4 offices, around 50 to 60 employees, and processed thousands of tax returns.
When my son went to high school, I made another decision, but this time to sell my business and spend more time with him. I both understood the importance of the next couple of years, while also worrying about a future as an empty nester. When my son did go to college, as expected, I had plenty of time and once again had to figure out what to do with it. I missed my son a lot, but life was hardly finished transforming for me. Soon after, my husband’s job asked him to come back to India for a few years. I was now caught between my son in Atlanta, my husband in India, and my home in Pennsylvania. The next couple of years involved a lot of travel, a journey which eventually evolved into an opportunity to pursue one of my passions, photography. Whenever I was in Pennsylvania, I developed my skills by taking photography classes. Skills that I got to practice every time I traveled. Whether I was flying between houses, or during vacations to the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Hawaii, and Mexico, my camera guided me around the world.
Soon after returning from India, rather than settling back down, my husband was offered a promotion alongside having to permanently move to California, and here started yet another journey. From the perspective of a photographer, California is a stunning location. We moved here at the end of 2019, and as part of always looking for the positives in life, I made plans of several photography destinations I wanted to visit, but within a few months, the pandemic struck, and the world went into lockdown. This was very disappointing as I had a lot of time in hand, but could not step out of the house. This is when I looked back at what had inspired me back when I was a kid in India, art, creativity, and beauty.
During the pandemic, I focused on what I love, and I learned how to do quilling and painting, leading to a new found identity as a mixed media artist. I created several websites to showcase my work, first one for my blog and my stories, then a website dedicated to my photography, and now my latest, Suguna Design Studio where I present a combination of art and photography in various products. This passion helped me find the person I am today, and I have truly enjoyed creating each piece of work. I hope you all receive them with the same joy I had in creating them.