My Creative Hero: Elizabeth Gilbert

Ani is a seasoned senior writer at Performance Art with a knack for crafting copy that is both compelling and laser-focused on strategic objectives. Her impressive breadth and depth of experience gained over the past 14 years includes insightful campaigns across a myriad of industries, from finance and automotive, to telco, food and beverage, travel, and more. Ani’s passion for storytelling shines through in her work, connecting brands with people through imaginative creative solutions.

LBB> Who would you say is your creative hero?

Ani> My creative hero is Elizabeth Gilbert. Most people know her as the bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, but she’s also a journalist, speaker, and author of eight other books.

LBB> How long has this person been important to you and what are your first memories of meeting them or coming across their work?

Ani> I used to work at a bookstore, and I remember people were always coming in asking for this Eat Pray Love book. I didn’t get what all the hype was about – it seemed like just another memoir about someone travelling and “finding themselves.” But once I decided to stop judging the book by its cover and actually read it, I fell in love with Elizabeth’s voice. 

Her work is full of humour, striking imagery, and well-crafted sentences that make you think “Damn, that’s good.” I’m also amazed by how raw and vulnerable she is as she bravely shares intensely personal experiences with the world. She knows how to seamlessly tie ideas together, all with a beautiful sense of pace and rhythm. It’s such a joy to stumble upon that calibre of writing. 

LBB> If it’s someone you personally know, how did you get to know them and how has your relationship evolved over the years? If you don’t know this person, how did you go about finding to learn more about them and their work?

Ani> After reading Eat Pray Love, I continued to read Gilbert’s other books, listened to her podcast, and saw her speak live twice when she was on tour in Toronto. Most of all, her speaking events left a lasting impression on me. I'll never forget what it was like to experience Elizabeth's artful storytelling in person.

LBB> Why is the person such an inspiration to you?

Ani> I love how she experiments with different genres and styles of writing, jumping from fiction to nonfiction and memoirs while making it all look easy. With each new project, she delves into completely different worlds and subject matter.

Her work is expansive, and her impact is far-reaching – so much so that TIME Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. Her writing infiltrated culture in a huge way; there’s even a book called Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It. This collection of 50 stories is about readers who set out on transformative journeys, spurred on by Elizabeth’s book. Her success proves just how powerful one person’s voice and story can be.

Beyond her writing, I admire the way she uses her platform to give back. She created her “Onward Book Club” to support and celebrate the work of Black female authors and started a weekly newsletter to foster a sense of community with her readers.

LBB> How does this person influence you in your approach to your creative work?

Ani> I’ve felt really inspired by how honest Elizabeth is in her writing. I think that people have a built-in BS detector, and it’s important that we write and create from a place of truth. Being vulnerable and putting yourself out there can be uncomfortable, but it resonates with readers in a big way.

LBB> What piece or pieces of this person’s work do you keep coming back to and why?

Ani> Shortly after the larger-than-life success of her memoir, Elizabeth gave a TED Talk called “Your elusive creative genius” that I often rewatch. In this talk, she gets on stage and openly admits that her greatest achievement is very likely behind her. This sobering realisation is the jumping-off point for the remainder of her speech, during which she unpacks the pressure we put on ourselves as creatives, and the troubling connection between creativity and suffering.

She speaks about the myriad of fears that plague creatives: fear of not being able to top your last success, fear of not doing great work, fear of rejection and failure and, as she puts it, the “maddening capriciousness of the creative process.” In place of these fears, she offers an esoteric yet enticing perspective on how else we can think about creativity. 

I always come back to this talk because I think it’s so important that creatives are open about the challenges we face collectively, and that we learn to take the pressure off ourselves. Creative work is hard, but it should also be fun. This talk always helps me to keep that top of mind.