Anisa Khan

I attribute my success to my mindset of turning challenges into opportunities and my resilience. Every time I've had a setback, I've sort of tried to do better. I don't know why that happens, but every time there's been a setback, I fall into this whole limbo, not doing anything, and all of a sudden, it strikes me, and then I'm like, okay, let's do this, or let's do that. And that just happens to become better. The whole moving to New York is the better part - there have been a lot of challenges, extremely excruciating ones, but I think looking back, a few years from now when I look back at it, it's going to be worth every moment of this. I was living a very comfortable life for a very long time, so now the real challenges are coming in. What I've faced here in terms of coming to a whole new city, whole new environment, starting fresh after just graduating - it's been very challenging but exciting. My mentor all my life has been my mother. She's been my anchor, she's been my everything, and she's always encouraged me to do anything and everything at any point of my life.

The best advice I’ve ever received came from my mother. She always tells me this Hindi proverb about the musk deer, an animal that carries a beautiful fragrance within its own navel - it carries it in a very nonchalant way-and spends its whole life searching for the source of it elsewhere. There’s a line often attributed to Kabir: “Kasturi kundal base, mrig dhoondhe van mahi” which means, “The musk resides within, while the deer searches for it in the forest.”

She always tells me this: you know, you carry so much within you, but you don't value it enough. She's telling me that my inner spirit is in there, I just have to reach out and value it. I believe art is a gift, it really is, and I should value it more. She's always encouraged me to recognize what I have and not be negligent toward my art and my practice.

First, anybody, more than anything - educate yourself. I'm not even saying just a formal degree, but get the experience. To anybody who's trying to pursue art and starting early, I want to tell them that they would have a whole world in front of them at any given age. I don't want them to see that ageism or bias or prejudice is going to bring them down. It will, we will face challenges because we are in a world that keeps changing, but we have to adapt. We have to educate ourselves, we have to be humble, we have to understand that there is always going to be somebody better than us, and we have to be inspired by that - not be bogged down by that, or become bitter, or lose ourselves or lose our art or the beauty of art in that. We have to understand that art is much larger than the artist, and it has to be appreciated, studied, and practiced. They have to be resilient - everybody today has to be very resilient in what we're doing and believe in what we're doing, because it's very easy to be derailed and become discouraged. I just want them to understand that it's okay if they feel negative feelings. I just want them to understand that they need to absorb it, educate themselves, and learn from it and keep moving. I think empathy is really, really important in design and humanity today. Authenticity is another milestone that you have to keep throwing in your own path every time, because it's very easy to copy. To be authentic, even as a human being, is difficult today and challenging. It's easier to be a people pleaser, and I just hope they don't become that, because I've tried it, it doesn't work.

There's been a shift which is why I think I should just move towards art more. In terms of equity in the field, there may have been the same opportunities available, and I would love to say that it's equitable, but facts are not that - there's a huge pay gap worldwide, and I don't think much has changed there. Now that we are normalizing all genders, I choose to speak broadly. It's not even just women that are not in an equitable situation - it's all genders that are not at par with anybody. When I was working as an Art Director for about 6 years, it was still not equitable.

I see a lot of women taking the front seat and being respected, but I also feel really bad for the other genders that fall under inequality. I don't think it's going to be all at par anytime soon - I'm just trying to be realistic. With AI and everything tech, and although it's been said to death, I will say it that to be authentic is difficult today. It's actually more difficult to be authentic and popular - they don't go hand in hand.

In my field which is an expansive plain, I find opportunity in upskilling, and this is good reason why I chose to do my Masters in Human Computer Interaction two decades after I completed my Bachelors in Fine Arts. My path has not been linear, and that is a challenge and an opportunity both.

Resilience is the most important value to me - you just have to keep it, you have to be resilient, you have to stand up for yourself and for what you represent. It's going to be very challenging. I'm saying this by example, not just as a saying or something nice to say or something I read somewhere - it's just come up in my life that way. Every time there's been a setback, I fall into this whole limbo, and all of a sudden it strikes me, and then I do something that becomes better. Empathy is really, really important in design and humanity today. I think everybody from all ages and all walks of lives needs empathy. Authenticity is another value that's critical - it's a milestone that you have to keep throwing in your own path every time. Being humble is essential - we have to understand that there is always going to be somebody better than us, and we have to be inspired by that, not become bitter or lose ourselves or lose our art or the beauty of art in that. We have to understand that art is much larger than the artist. Education and continuous learning matter deeply to me - we have to educate ourselves and learn from our experiences and keep moving.