Rising Stars: Meet Farah Mitha

Today we’d like to introduce you to Farah Mitha.

Hi Farah , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hey everyone! My name is Farah, and I’m an artist, songwriter, actor, speaker, and founder of the empowerment brand Firefly World.

My story begins in Ottawa, Canada, where I grew up. I was a pretty good kid, busy with school and several extracurriculars like sports and music that kept me running around most of the time. However, despite seeming like a happy, confident kid and having a great family, I was suffering from an invisible disease—the disease of ‘Not Feeling Good Enough.’ My symptoms were loneliness, inadequacy, imposter syndrome, insecurity, and an obsessive need to prove my worth and value. On top of this, the injustices and inequality around me deeply affected my sensitive soul, leaving me with big, overwhelming emotions I had no idea how to handle. Luckily, I found solace in music. The artists and songs I listened to became my best friends, helping me feel less alone. From back then, I decided I wanted to sing and write to inspire others and help them feel like they weren’t alone in their struggles.

However, growing up in a South Asian household, pursuing a creative career was not the way to impress my family. Doing music as a hobby was fine, but it wasn’t supported as a career. So, I pursued a path towards becoming a doctor. I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Physical Therapy and started applying to medical schools. One day, while sitting in a medical school interview that was going very well, my heart suddenly sank. I had been too busy doing all the things, to hear my inner voice telling me, “This is not your path.” As I left, I made a deal with God: If I get in, I’ll go, but if I don’t, I’ll take it as a sign to pursue my true mission. Finally, I got my answer. It was time to pursue what my heart had been calling me towards—my creative career!

I quit my job to go part-time, quickly found a manager, took acting and singing classes, and began my journey as an artist. Living in Toronto at the time, I was very clear on my mission: to use art to inspire others. What I never expected was to become a channel for my own healing and the healing of others. It has been an incredible journey of ups and downs—a beautiful mixture of thrilling projects on stage or in front of the camera all over the world, and the lows of rejection, failure, and multiple times starting over.

This journey led me to start over in LA five years ago, which was one of the best decisions I ever made. Surrounded by the best of the best, I was pushed to be even better at my craft. Since then, I’ve traveled back and forth from LA to Toronto for various music and acting projects, which have left me with a very full and fulfilling life. Last year, I officially started the Firefly World brand—a youth empowerment organization using music, tech, and social media to inspire youth, encourage healthy emotional coping skills, and help address the rising youth mental health crisis.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been the opposite of smooth, lol! There have been SO MANY struggles along the way, but if I had to narrow them down to the top three, these are what I would pick:

1) **The struggle of figuring out who I am as an artist:** The industry is full of people constantly telling you who to be, how to be, how to look, dress, and act. If you don’t know who you are as an artist, your journey can become very convoluted and confusing. Luckily, I knew my boundaries and values as a person, but I definitely struggled to find myself as an artist. I was so open-minded, adaptable, and liked many different genres and styles. That doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but it becomes very challenging to market yourself properly when you don’t know exactly who you are. It’s been a long journey of discovery, but I’m finally closing in on the style and sound I really hear myself portraying.

2) **Learning to deal with some very tough personalities:** For whatever reason, my journey was paved with some challenging personalities that drew out some very harsh lessons. Because my personality is naturally so accommodating, adaptable, and believes the best in everybody, I put up with things I really shouldn’t have, leading to serious self-esteem, confidence, and boundary issues. There were times I felt completely broken down by the very people who were supposed to be on my team. At this crossroads, many of my peers chose some rather unhealthy coping mechanisms. Luckily, I was drawn down a very spiritual path that taught me how to pick myself up, set better boundaries, set higher standards, and detach in a healthy way. All of these lessons are what I hope to share with others through my creative journey, especially if it can help make anyone else’s journey easier.

3) **Learning how to be a great artist AND a great businesswoman:** The fact is, if you’re an artist, you’re also the product and the business. The business structure and model can be very confusing and overwhelming in the arts, especially for someone with a more creative mindset. If you don’t have the right team from the get-go, you inevitably have to learn the business. In fact, I would say, even if you have the right team, learning the business is only an advantage for you. I had been learning things in a very piecemeal way, which wasn’t always the most efficient, but it always left me more empowered. Even today, I try to learn as much as I can, even through the resistance—because my mind and soul just want to create—knowing I have more power at the end of the day when I do so. It’s definitely a juggling act, trying to wear both hats, but it is important to know what’s going on. The other part of this is, it can give you more confidence as an artist. Instead of feeling like you’re at the mercy of others and the industry to push your product, you can see ways to treat it like any other business and gain some traction on your own, even if you don’t have a team yet.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Thank you for asking! Essentially I’m a creative entrepreneur, using various art forms to spread love, healing and inspiration.

Firstly I’m an artist-songwriter. I find the most fulfillment being on stage or in the studio singing and writing songs that I believe will help the world shine brighter. Whether that be an emotionally evocative song that helps you vent and brings you back into the light or fun songs to dance to, the goal is always to use music in positive way.

Secondly, I’m the founder and creative director of Firefly World, a youth empowerment brand and organization that uses music, technology, education, storytelling and transformative experiences to combat the youth mental health crisis by helping people find healthy coping mechanisms and deeper levels of connection – to themselves, others and the universe. My mission is to create a world full of fireflies – people shining as the brightest versions of themselves. Our main offering at the moment are Firefly concerts – a concert experience fusing live music, creative arts, education and storytelling. Think of Ted X meets your favorite live music concert!

Finally, I’m an actor and speaker. I’ve been a part of some very cool acting projects recently that i’m very proud of. One is called Slam Dunk Sehaj, a proof of concept short film that addresses women in sports, south asian women in sports and the conflict women face when choosing between their passions and motherhood. The most recent project is an upcoming TV dramedy called Whip Cream, set to air in 2025 on the TLN network in Canada.

I would have to say, that I’m most proud of never giving up. It’s been a long journey with these visions in my head. When you’re doing music to spread positivity, the path isn’t as easy as when you’re willing to promote whatever is trending or selling at the moment. For me, the whole point of taking on a creative career (instead of a medical career) was to help the world be a brighter place. To be the change I wanted to see and use my talents and passions as the vehicle. To be a part of healing millions of people at a time. The Firefly concert is something that I envisioned so many years ago and couldn’t quite put my finger on how to execute it in a way that made sense because I knew I wanted to bring together many different elements in one concert experience. When I finally figured it out last year, I have to say, that felt like a lifetime accomplishment. Since then we’ve done 6 pretty big concerts with resounding success and I look forward to doing many more.

What makes me unique are 3 things: 1) My natural global mindset 2) The struggles I’ve been through. and 3) My ultimate intention.

My background is South Asian, with most of my family born and raised in Kenya, I was born in Canada, we are of the muslim faith and I spent many years living in Toronto where I was heavily influenced by the Caribbean and Latin cultures. I say this to illustrate the many many cultural influences I’ve been exposed to in my life. I truly feel like a child of the world and feel like I can celebrate and relate to almost anyone. This becomes hugely advantageous when wanting to connect and promote connection through different mediums, especially music.

As you’ve heard through my story, I’ve been through a lot and while sometimes it seemed unfair, I can now see that it was all for the mission of equipping me with the tools and skills to really help heal and inspire others. I feel like I’m so strong now, I understand so much, I’ve learned and grown in ways I never would’ve imagined and therefore can relate very authentically to the struggles of others. I had to go through the depths of the darkness and find my own light so that now I can help others find theirs.

And finally, I do think that my underlying mission is what brings that X Factor. My soul mission is to ignite the light in others and this is what keeps me going from experience to experience, no matter how big or how small. I know I’ve been put on this earth for a reason, and my job is to keep executing that mission in whichever ways come up for me. This is what brings me true fulfillment and my hope is that I continue to be able to do this on larger and larger scales.

What makes you happy?
What makes me happy is the feeling of alignment. I’ve learned over the years that you can have all the things: money, fame, family, health, wealth, success, even love, but if your spirit isn’t in alignment, you won’t be able to truly enjoy these things. And when you’re in alignment, something as small as walking down the street feels like a luxurious miracle. It’s definitely challenging to stay in alignment all day but I try my best. One of the quickest ways to get into alignment with your spirit is through gratitude which I try to practice as a foundational element of my being. So essentially what makes me happy is pretty much everything when I’m in alignment 🙂 I will say that sun, beach, nature and experiences that promote deep connection are pretty surefire ways for me to be in alignment and feel really fulfilled.

Pricing:

• Firefly Concerts – price varies upon event
• Custom Songwriting – pricing varies upon desired outcome

Contact Info:

• Website: FarahMitha.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamfarahmitha/
• Facebook: tiktok.com/@iamfarahmitha
• Twitter: youtube.com/farahmitha
• Youtube: Firefly Concerts Reel – https://youtu.be/i8zKVge0_ho
• Yelp: Farah Mitha Performance Reel – https://youtu.be/cynR-A2MQQA
• soundcloud: IamFarahMitha@gmail.com

Image Credits
Erik Griggs, David Gallo, Jonathan Wong, Gautham Photography