Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Su
Hi Elizabeth, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
After achieving success in the ways I thought would bring me happiness like graduating Summa Cum Laude from Tufts University with a B.S. in Quantitative Economics and Community Health and reaching a six-figure salary at a hot Silicon Valley start-up where I could drink #allthekombuchaontap, I realized I was trying to win a game I didn’t even want to play. I struggled with disordered eating, my anxiety was through the roof, I had exactly zero minutes for self-care, and was really tired of leaning in.
I said goodbye to my decade-long career in corporate to pursue my master’s degree at Columbia University in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Spirituality and Mind-Body practices and an advanced certification in Sexuality, Women and Gender. While at Columbia, my work around burnout and perfectionism in corporate women and the science of happiness was given the honor of “Distinction in Research and Creative Work.”
I have since dedicated my career to empowering women, amplifying the stories of my AAPI sisters, teaching about emotional and spiritual wellness, and changing the rules of the game.
I have taken everything I’ve learned on my journey thus far – the pain and the beauty – and infused it into a 78-card road trip-inspired tarot deck and guidebook called The Adventure Tarot (illustrated by my dear friend and talented artist Jenny Chang).
Turns out that loving yourself is a lot easier when you can see yourself at the center of the story 🙂
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not AT ALL. It took a long time to figure out what exactly I wanted to do and how to do it in a way that was financially sustainable. I tried a lot of different things, sucked at a few of them, hated the majority of them, and slowly but surely found my way to what I was meant to do. I think it’s important to let yourself experiment and to know that the path is not linear. Everyone starts somewhere, the scariest part is taking the first step (and also knowing when to walk away when something isn’t working).
The Adventure Tarot, for example, started out as a memoir. But just as I was ready to go out on submission, I realized I had written it for the white gaze and that no longer felt in alignment. It was painful to step away from a project I had worked on for so long — like giving up — but it felt like the right thing to do at the time.
I received a lot of rejections on the way to publishing The Adventure Tarot. Many people didn’t see the vision and thought there was no market for a deck that celebrated the Asian American experience. It stung a lot to receive feedback like that but eventually, we found a publisher who understood the value of inclusion and representation. You just need one yes!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a writer and creator. I’m a storyteller by nature and love to find new and creative ways to share what’s on my heart with the world. For example, something I’m really proud of is the comic I co-created with Yao Xiao that was published in The Los Angeles Times. It was a spicy critique on the spiritual/wellness industry and an example of how I love using humor to talk about more serious issues. I am most known for my relatable, best-friend advice and for making spirituality accessible such as through my road trip-inspired tarot deck The Adventure Tarot. I also enjoy writing poetry, creating memes, and dream of writing a Young Adult book someday!
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I think I have had good luck in terms of timing projects — right place, right time — and I’ve also had bad luck in terms of not always having the connections I need in the publishing industry since I came into writing later in life and never had any formal training. I do believe in manifestation, though, so what might seem like “bad luck” may have just been part of the trial and error needed to get me to where I was ultimately meant to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elizabethsu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyelizabethsu/#
Image Credits
@heykristamarie
