About us
Dec 02, 2019 2021-10-22 21:06About us
Finding comfort in discomfort
Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable has been the key tenet of my ongoing journey in life. It instils a culture of growth by provoking challenging thoughts about the status quo, attaching comfort to the word change enabling one to indulge in innovation.
The Inception of Widerlens
I was born in East Africa and come from an extended Khoja Indian family. My upbringing was influenced by faith and values. Before my first birthday, we moved as refugees to Pakistan where I witnessed the Indo-Pakistan War. I could hear the bomb-blasts and crackling of fires on my street. It was at age 13 when we moved to London, UK, when I first experienced the pain of racisms and other forms of discrimination.
By the time I was 20 years old I was married and had given birth to my first-born – a beautiful baby girl. It was then that I experienced true and irrevocable heartache as I gave her up to be adopted by my sister-in-law. She had yearned for a child for so many years. However, soon after the adoption she was miraculously blessed with another daughter and she raised the two together. I had underestimated the power of a mother's love and the intensity of emotions that follow separation from your newborn and how it reshapes you as a person.
This was no accident as my life’s journey compelled me to tackle my innermost fears and shame, and has made me the person I am today. It was through becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable that I was able to grow.
A Poetic Breakthrough
My Poetry - Through the language of Urdu I developed a love of poetry which I write in Urdu and translate into English.
My career in Information Technology started as a Computer Technologist, fixing computers and then I progressed to Leadership roles in a male-dominated Industry that consists of only 5% women. In my first leadership role, I failed miserably and through coaching and learning, I developed new lenses that helped me to learn and lead authentically.
Power of Women
As an Executive Officer of a faith-based organization of 10,000 members I held a position at the table of leadership. This organization was composed of only 1% women within a leadership role. In 2017, I resigned as my values could not be reconciled with that of the organization. Values of respecting diversity and inclusiveness is part of WiderLens key driving force.
I have spent most of my adult life living in Canada where I raised my three sons. Living within a multicultural world, my perspectives and understandings are continually challenged and broadened. Faith, values and internal beliefs collided many times before I was able to find my way to live a courageously authentic life. I am a continual work in progress in living an authentic life and I am grateful for having a supportive family around me, as I learned hard lessons and developed different perspectives and growth through widening my Lens.
Am I enlightened, am I right, am I wrong? As beautifully put by Rumi’s eloquence: “There is a field beyond all notions of right and wrong, meet me there."
This was the birth of WiderLens. Join me on this journey.
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Khalil Jessa
