I used to think that owning my truth would bring me freedom.

That each time I chose to step into another part of my identities – queer, brown-skinned, eldest daughter of South Indian immigrants – I’d suddenly walk around the world and feel like ME.

So, when I finally followed my heart and married the love of my life - a trans man - I thought I had arrived.

…and when my ethnicity and queerness no longer felt at odds - I thought I had arrived.

…and on the day I decided to be publicly out and open about ALL of who I am - I thought I had arrived.

…and with every cycle I broke in a family lineage of intergenerational trauma - I thought I had arrived.

Don’t get me wrong; every one of these moments was huge.

But they didn’t change how I showed up in everyday life.

I still found myself shape-shifting and forming myself into versions of me that other people would tolerate.

Holding some parts of myself back to avoid rejection, and over-extending to be of service.

Constantly explaining myself to cis people, straight people, white people…exploiting myself to make others more “accepting.”

You see, like most of us in marginalized bodies, I had spent a lifetime echolocating: looking outside myself for validation, acceptance, reassurance and permission.

Every minute of every day since I was five, that’s how I had survived the world.

Those reflexes followed me everywhere I went: my marriage, my leadership, my down time, even my relationship with myself.

Turns out that you can free yourself in big ways, but still feel un-free in all the little ways.

Then…I became a photographer.
(stay with me here.)

Not just any kind of photographer.

A documentary wedding photographer for people who didn’t fit the wedding industry mold.

My couples were queer, trans, interracial, interfaith, disabled, came from blended families and complicated histories.

When you document a wedding - without posing or other fake shit - you can only capture what’s actually present on that day.

Emotions, moments, relationships.

So for me to capture my people in their fullness, they needed to actually SHOW UP AND BE PRESENT AS THEMSELVES.

But when you plan a wedding, you bump right up against norm after norm.
An entire industry dedicated to force-feeding you ideas of how things are supposed to to feel, look and be.
And that creates a pressure cooker…especially when none of that fits who you are.

That’s when I realized I needed to do much more than just document these weddings.

I needed to help my couples stay and be themselves throughout the process.

So I created something called wedding planning advocacy.

I’d spend a year helping couples figure out how to translate who they were and what they valued…into wedding planning.

Sifting through conflicts, social pressure, confusion and stress until we found answers that felt right.

And then I’d document everything that unfolded when the wedding arrived.

As I helped people find what mattered beneath all the noise, I started to change, too.

I saw how spectacular it was when my couples let their whole selves shine through - unapologetically, wildly and wonderfully.

I saw the magic in their freedom and the bravery in their choices.

And I finally understood: every time we marginalized humans contort ourselves - in big and small ways - something irreplaceable is lost.

So I set about to change that.

Professionally - I expanded beyond the world of weddings, got properly trained, and became a Certified Wayfinder Coach.

I’ve continued to center my work on us: marginalized humans trying to show up whole in the face of institutions and individuals who’d prefer we keep it contained.

And personally - it meant applying my medicine to myself, one tiny step at a time.

So that now, the me that shows up in front of you…is just…well…ME.

Over the past 20+ years…in my life and in my work…

I’ve come to realize that each of us desperately craves some version of the same thing:

🌱 To walk away from every situation and feel unapologetically at peace with ourselves.
🌱 To say what’s on our minds without running it through a hundred filters.
🌱 To exist without disguise or constraint.
🌱 To trust our inner voice and make decisions without self-doubt

To just BE. OURSELVES. and LIVE. EMBODIED. LIVES. despite a world that wants the opposite for us.

From my own experience, and all the precious humans who have trusted me with yours…

…I now know that freedom is a practice, and it’s one that we can learn.

So, there you have it.

I’m Meera.

I’m Queer, brown, loving, irreverent, principled, truthful…and so much more than any list of adjectives can contain.

I know what it is to be everywhere but with yourself, because I used to be there, too.

I also know what it looks like to change that, because I walk this walk every day.

And while I don’t know what it looks like for YOU to live or lead honestly and authentically…

…I do know how to guide you to those answers for yourself.

This is the work of my life.

I can’t wait to share it with you.

-Meera