Meet Elizabeth Su

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elizabeth Su. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elizabeth below.

Elizabeth , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

Purpose, for me, is not a static thing. It seems to be constantly changing based on what’s important to me at the time. For many years, my racial identity was the most important thing to me. Reclaiming parts of myself that I had lost as a third-generation, mixed Asian girl from the Midwest. I spent most of my life rejecting my Chinese side but with the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020, I felt a deep longing to feel connected to the Chinese community. It’s like I didn’t realize what was missing until my heart felt this new kind of achiness.

At the time, my hubs and I were living nomadically. What started out as a carefree road trip became a two-and-a-half-year search for belonging. It was through this reclamation journey that my tarot deck, The Adventure Tarot, was born.

It turns out that loving yourself is a lot easier when you can see yourself at the center of the story. So I made this deck for all the mixed kids and immigrant kids and third culture kids who have ever questioned if they were “enough” could see themselves represented.

My writing teacher once told me that, as Asian American women, we often need to write ourselves into existence. That is why I created The Adventure Tarot and that is what fueled my purpose. This project became a window into my own self-love journey, a way of declaring to the world that I AM PROUD TO BE ASIAN.

Nowadays, I have new things that I’m healing and exploring, new things that I want to make art about. And I find that wherever my creativity takes me becomes my purpose.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m an author, creator, and speaker. Earlier this year, I published a road trip-inspired tarot deck called The Adventure Tarot that’s about self-discovery and belonging. The idea stemmed from living on the road, my research on burnout and perfectionism in grad school, and mostly, as a way to embrace my Asian American identity. I have taken everything I’ve learned on my journey thus far – the pain and the beauty – and infused it into these 78-cards (illustrated by my dear friend and talented artist Jenny Chang) & 200-page guidebook filled with bestie advice.

I earned my master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University with a focus in spirituality and mind-body practices. Prior to that, I was busy hustling for my worth at a Silicon Valley start-up. I now focus my time on leveraging my creativity to destigmatize mental health and celebrate Asian joy. I am also an executive functioning coach for teens, young adults, and working professionals.

I’m a storyteller by nature and my work has been featured in lots of fancy places like the Los Angeles Times, POPSUGAR, and Bustle. I’ve even spoken at The Washington Post and been on a billboard in Times Square! But I spend the majority of my time sharing heart things on social media. If you were to say, “Elizabeth, what do you write about?” I’d probably start sweating because your girl hates an elevator pitch. But in a few words, I could probably sum it up to self-love, personal growth, and being multifaceted.

It has been a long and winding career path with many, many bumps along the way. The most special thing about what I do now is the sheer fact that I get to work on projects that are meaningful to me. It took a lot of years, tears, and rejections to get to this place and not to say I don’t still have bad days, but I feel a new sense of ease about how work fits into my life. I get to share my whole self with the world and that is truly such a gift.

I have a new project coming out next year, which I am very excited about!! I am not able to share about it publicly just yet so follow me on Instagram at @heyelizabethsu or sign up for my Monday Vibes newsletter at www.elizabethsu.com to be the first to know 😉 Let’s just say it’s the most fun, sassy thing I’ve created yet <3

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Hire Help – going out on your own is very daunting. The learning curve is steep and it feels like you need to be an expert at everything: marketing, sales, operations, finance, and beyond. I kept paying for expensive masterminds and online courses that were supposed to teach me how to build all of these skills and they would leave me feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.

So instead of torturing myself trying to learn things I really didn’t care much about (ahem, social media), I decided to reallocate my budget to hire help instead. I did this pretty early on in my entrepreneurial career and it was one of the best decisions I made. I got so much time (and energy) back to work on the things I am uniquely good at and left the other tasks in the hands of people who were uniquely good at the things I was not.

2. Stay Away from Dream Squashers – it is hard enough to find the courage to chase after your dreams so if you are surrounded by people who poo-poo what you’re doing or remind you of all the things that could go wrong, well, that’s not very inspiring. I had to be very intentional with whom I shared my ideas and dreams. I learned that not everyone is going to see your vision so you need protect it like a mama bear.

3. Try a Lot of Things & Pivot Quickly – I tried a lot (and I mean A LOT) of different types of ways to make money including one-on-one coaching, online workshops, in-person workshops, evergreen courses, speaking, freelance writing, and the list goes on.

I also tried supporting people in a variety of capacities. At some point in my career I’ve called myself a wedding doula, a life coach, a career coach, an executive coach, a mindfulness teacher, a perfectionism expert, a writer, and more. It took many years of trial and error to find my “Ikigai,” a Japanese concept meaning “a reason of being” where there is a balance of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

All that to say, the path is not linear and it’s ok if it takes you a few tries to figure out what works for you. Because what works for one person may not necessarily work for another so it’s better to be honest with yourself and know when to pivot so you get closer and closer to who you’re meant to be.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I absolutely adore my literary agent, Margaret Danko, at High Line Literary Collective. From our very first call together she understood me. More than that, she saw my potential. In typical Elizabeth fashion, I came bursting into our first conversation together with a million ideas. Instead of telling me to niche down or reign it in (feedback I receive often), she saw my multi-passionate nature as a positive. She told me she wanted to help me bring all my ideas to life and she’s stuck by her word. I was writing a memoir when I first met her and when that project no longer felt aligned, she encouraged me to pursue a “project of my heart” which ended up becoming The Adventure Tarot.

I cherish our open and honest working relationship where I can reach out to her about pretty much anything. I have never really had that luxury in a professional setting before, the ability to share what’s truly on my heart. When something doesn’t feel right, when I need to walk away from a project, when I need help making a decision or re-ordering a paragraph or negotiating a contract. Mostly though, we have fun. Margaret’s belief in me has helped me to believe in myself, and because of this, I have been able to achieve some of my wildest dreams.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.elizabethsu.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyelizabethsu/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@heyelizabethsu

Image Credits

@heykristamarie