Meet Ann Mathew

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ann Mathew. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ann, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Confidence is definitely not something that came naturally to me. Growing up, trying to navigate the expectations that were placed on me as a South Asian girl felt really overwhelming. The pressure to always be perfect and be seen as the “good daughter” ironically always made me feel like I was never enough. I ended up being so busy trying to live up to all of these expectations that I realized I didn’t even know myself at all, and looking back, that was definitely a big reason for my low confidence.

I struggled with a lot of social anxiety, panic attacks, and always felt uncomfortable in my skin. While it’s still an ongoing process to unlearn, it’s definitely a full circle moment to look back now being a public speaker, events host, and content creator. I guess my career path now was technically my 16-year-old self’s worst nightmare.

I believe confidence is built through taking those small steps towards our mental, physical, and spiritual health. Those small steps may honestly feel pointless sometimes, but showing up for yourself even 1% everyday eventually adds up. I’m a big advocate of therapy, I went to a few different therapists to help with my anxiety and just be a safe space to vent. I was the first person in my family to seek therapy in this way, so it came with a lot of guilt but it was so worth it.

Being physically active was also a big game-changer for me. Going to the gym was probably one of the biggest mental obstacles for me. The thought of people seeing me workout made me feel so nervous. So I would focus on mainly home workouts, and eventually signed up for a gym to go on the treadmill a few times a week, and then switched to dumbbells, and so on. And within a year, one of my biggest fears of going to the gym that caused me so much mental stress, became my main source of mental clarity. That was definitely a really pivotal confidence boost for me, because if my brain was convincing me I don’t belong in the gym, what else was it lying to me about?

That’s why I love hosting wellness based events for South Asian women. Having a safe space to try new activities for our health, learn new things, challenge ourselves despite our fears, is where we find the biggest moments of growth and learn more about ourselves, turning into confidence.

Being kind to ourselves in these moments of learning, having compassion for ourselves, can come a long way. Because setbacks will happen when we are approaching something new, but it doesn’t mean we are failing. It just means we are learning & experiencing growing pains into a new comfort zone that is more aligned with our authentic self. In those moments, I like to reflect on how far I’ve come and draw strength & faith from it.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

As a multi-hyphenate, describing what I do can be a bit difficult especially at family gatherings. I usually get a lot of blank stares for not being a doctor, lawyer, or engineer right off the bat.

In the beginning of 2024, I took the scary leap and quit my corporate job to pursue a multi-hyphen career. I could feel the traditional path not feeling right for me, and I wanted to feel more fulfilled with my day-to-day work. Fast forward to now, I am the founder of Brown Girls Thriving, a wellness club for South Asian women to heal & grow, a public speaker, a wellness content creator about trying new experiences, and a social media consultant for creators & brands.

Leaving my corporate job was probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. It took me 6 months to muster up the courage, especially being the first woman in my family to take this kind of path. But my passion for wellness, growth, & building community speaks strongly to my heart, and I am grateful for the privilege my ancestors didn’t have to pursue these avenues.

I created Brown Girls Thriving in 2022, to be a safe space for South Asian women, because it took me 22 years to realize I was not the only brown girl who felt this overwhelming amount of pressure to live up to these expectations and not complain about it. Whether it was making sure I was academically succeeding, or when to get married, or move out of my family’s home, I could feel it in my gut that these expectations didn’t align with what I truly wanted. When I did decide to follow my gut and pursue my own timeline, I experienced a lonely journey as a result. I wanted to create a community for brown girls to not just feel tolerated if they choose to follow their own timeline, but instead feel celebrated for it. We have hosted all types of events in Toronto & GTA including therapy workshops, brunch socials, pilates classes, self-defense socials, karaoke nights, hot yoga social, gut health & PCOS workshops, and more. The main intention of our event is the opportunity to build intentional friendships, while growing out of our comfort zone. I am a big advocate of having supportive women around us aligned in our values can make life so beautiful. I am also excited to announce that we will be launching our first international trip curated for South Asian women to recharge, build lifelong friendships, and get out of our comfort zone. Trip details will be announced January 2025 on our Instagram, @browngirlsthriving_to. This group trip is for the brown girlies all over the world who are into wellness, personal growth, and building deeper connections!

As a public speaker, I have been a guest speaker for mental health, personal growth, South Asian culture, and body image to share my story on navigating these topics. It’s something that is still very out of my comfort zone, but I enjoy getting to hear everyone’s stories and perspectives at the events. I’ve been a speaker for CPRS Toronto, Proof Strategies, Girl Strong/Plan Canada, and more.

As a wellness content creator, I love finding hidden gems in Toronto & GTA that are worth investing in. I believe we live in a more materialistic society, and sometimes we believe that buying the latest products is what can make us happy. But, I like to share wellness experiences that can help improve our health or be a unique way to spend time with our loved ones because that’s what recharges me the most. I have collaborated with many local businesses including spa experiences, fitness activities, and more.

Finally, as a social media consultant, I graduated with a Commerce degree at McMaster University specializing in Marketing. I always knew I wanted to work in a more creative field, and I gradually gravitated towards social media. I’ve worked with national brands across Canada & United States. After quitting my corporate job, I became the co-founder of Align Social, a social media consulting company where we empower creators & brands to build a strong organic presence on social media that attracts their dream clientele & collaborations.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Be impatient with action, and patient with results: Sometimes we wait for the perfect scenario in our life to pursue what we truly want, but the only perfect time is the present. We never know how much time we have, so give yourself permission to feel that urgency with action and planting those seeds, and be patient enough to properly reap the rewards.

2. Networking is a game-changer. Go to events that interest you, get to know people for who they are not what they do, offer help where you can, and build those relationships because your network can help you get to where you want to go. I’ve gotten clients, gigs, opportunities, through word-of-mouth within my network that I don’t think I would have received through applying online.

3. Be loud about your wins! Especially as women, sometimes we tend to minimize our accomplishments, or continue to raise the bar so we don’t take a moment to celebrate and vocalize our wins. Take that moment, tell people about your wins because there are people that are cheering for you, and it can really help build momentum to recognize how far you’ve come.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

One of my favourite books is “How to Manifest” by Laura Chung. She breaks down the power of manifestation, especially for women of colour, with actionable prompts everyday for 40 days. I picked up this book randomly in the library right after quitting my corporate job. I was in this really scared mindset of not knowing if I made the right decision, and I also knew there were a lot of self-limiting beliefs I wanted to focus on releasing to make this decision feel right.

One of the biggest self-limiting beliefs I had was financial related. Even when I worked in corporate, asking for raises, advocating for myself financially was a struggle, and I felt guilt for even asking. But when navigating your own businesses, you have to practice standing in your worth and standing your ground, being willing to walk away from a potential client who may not be willing to invest.

So I took this manifestation challenge seriously, and I’ve definitely gotten a lot better at advocating for my worth and being properly compensated for the expertise & energy I give to a project. It helped me transition from more of a survival mindset to an abundance mindset. Whoever says manifestation isn’t real, don’t believe them. You can truly manifest anything you want in this life.

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