My pronouns are she, her, and hers.

Offering pronouns is one small way to signal acknowledgement and respect for another’s gender. According to Egale Canada, “for trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse people, being referred to by the correct pronouns is a signal of affirmation and acceptance.” As a person who experiences privileges based on my gender identity, “normalizing, sharing [my] own pronouns, and asking for other people’s pronouns will make it less likely that anyone will be misgendered.”

Building a more inclusive, safe, and respectful place for everyone in this world is something of which I want to be a part, so I offer my pronouns as way to invite others to share their, if they so choose.

You can find more information about why pronouns matter, and helpful resources via Egale Canada and the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE).

In my biography I have included territorial acknowledgements for the unceded territories of the Katzie (q ̓ ic ̓ əy ̓ ) First Nation and Kwantlen (qʼʷa:n ̓ ƛʼən ̓ ) First Nation. These are the lands on which I live and from where I predominantly work. I have also travelled to, been a guest on, and worked from, other ancestral and unceded Indigenous lands across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.

Territorial acknowledgements are one small step in the list of many actions that are required for Canada to reconcile with its Indigenous peoples. The harms of colonialism are not historical artifact, but are present and felt today.

In this article by Ka’nhehsí:io Deer, a Kanien’kehá:ka journalist from Kahnawà:ke (south of Montréal), she speaks to five First Nations people about their views on land acknowledgements, how they have become performative, and ways to make them better.

Native Land Digital is a space filled with Indigenous knowledge, maps, and information anyone can access to learn more about the land and waters upon which they reside. There is also a Land and Waters Acknowledgement Guide powered by Kōrero, a conversational AI designed to help people reflect deeply on their relationship with place and craft a personal statement of acknowledgment and commitment. Here is one it helped me create based on my reflections and relationship with place:

I live and work on these lands and waters, and I recognize this daily life is a relationship. My commitment is to remember I am a settler here, that my privileges are tied to colonial harm, and that I must actively dismantle the assumptions I carry. My action is to respect and learn from Indigenous ways of knowing, to engage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and to find my role in healing systems of oppression.

I offer this reflection with respect for the Indigenous nations who have always belonged to this place: the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Semiahmoo, Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ), Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, Kwantlen, sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie), and Stz’uminus peoples. My learning, commitment, and care here is a small part of honouring their enduring stewardship, sovereignty, and connections to these lands and waters.

In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made 94 Calls to Action which can be read in full here.

For further general reading on the work of repentance and how to repair harm, Danya Ruttenberg’s book On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World offers story, teaching, and practical steps for any individual, organization, or nation wishing to examine and take action on their relationship to justice and healing.  

‘Torkington Kew’ is not a big agency, and that’s not what I intend it to become either, despite what the name might suggest.

My company name is equal parts practical and nostalgic. ‘Michelle Harper’ is a common name and belongs to some pretty interesting, talented people like a Colombian fashion consultant, an artist based in New Zealand, a physician/author in the US, and more. Less ideal for domain registration or search!

Affectionately, my family has a little inside joke about naming companies after places we have lived or that have significant meaning to us. In my case, Torkington Road and Kew Drive represent two of those places and are equal mixes of Western/British and Eastern/Chinese cultures that comprise my identity.

At some point you need to pick a name, and that’s how mine came to be!

A small, dusty corner of the internet is home to a rarely visited, sparse collection of writings semi-adjacent to my conventional leadership development work. No publication schedule, nothing profound, just a bit of scribbling as a way to process my own thinking. They are thoughts about the experience of humanness, and in turn, what that humanness might serve.

They are inquiries into the nature and performance of self; vulnerability, power, and social dynamics; purpose, meaning, and existential tensions; vertical development and transformation; systems, hierarchies, and authority; and inquiry into motivation and intention…and probably some other things along the way, yet to be determined. A plethora of questions. And questioned answers. And unanswerable questions. Like why is my printer making that weird clicking noise again?

They are about the kaleidoscope of becoming.

I’m interested in the liminal spaces between knowing and not knowing, the choreography beneath our constructed realities, and how we make meaning.

I find amusement and wonder in the absurdity of cycling through our mundane rituals as we float amongst the swirl of our never-ending universe. I love the dance of nuance and existential dread. Of delight and tenderness. Of seriousness and satire. And jokes about falling into black holes while the dishes need doing on an everyday-sort-of-Tuesday.

It is a space for those who are curious about what motivates us, what our shadows whisper, and what might be possible when we let our embedded maps dissolve.

What does it feel like to stand at the edge of what language can hold?

What comes after the growth arc collapses?

What bridges the domestic and the divine?

Here we all are… just hoovering in the cosmos.