Meet Heather Avis | author, thought leader, narrative shifter

As a brand we are in the business of shifting narratives, challenging the status quo and creating spaces where everyone can belong. In fact, the very essence of our brand is belonging. As we have grown and learned and shifted along the way our “success” has been found in the ways we have shattered the measuring sticks society uses to measure success and challenged their very existence. The reality is, truly seeing the intrinsic value and worth in a human, which is a key component of belonging, happens when we say, “who you are, as you are, is enough.” It’s the exact opposite message tangled up in the idea of success. And ironically, this mindset is an important factor behind the “success” of our brand.

My artistic and creative side comes out in words on paper. I remember when I was younger I loved to read books and write stories. As I “grew -up” I pursued a career in education. Once I became a mom I decided to stop working full time so I could stay home full time with my daughter. As I made oatmeal and changed diapers the creator in me needed to, well ,create. So in 2008 I started to blog about my experience raising a daughter with Down syndrome. As social media began to make its way onto the scene so too did opportunities to connect with all kinds of people. One of those people happened to be a woman who worked for a major publishing house and within a few years I was publishing my first book. I was an author. This new title along with tools such as Instagram allowed me to explore the world of writing in many different ways. On August 9th of this year my 4th book will come out! While I’m so thankful for the way my career as a writer fell into my lap, using my platform and creative talents to shout a counter narrative can be thankless and draining. I’ve learned that comparison truly is the thief of our joy. And the ways in which society tries to measure our success, unfairly and unkindly linking it to our value and worth, is tricky to avoid, no matter how clearly I see it for the lie it is. Yet I’m grateful for a family unit I can constantly go back to, (and a good therapist), to be reminded of the very thing I write about, our intrinsic value and worth as humans with breath in our lungs and a heart beating in our chest…period full stop. A truth allowing me to continue to write on.

The reason my organization, The Lucky Few, exists at all is because of a young lady with an extra chromosome, my daughter, Macyn Hope Arpi Avis. Her extra chromosome is a third copy of her 21st chromosome which means she has Down syndrome. When she entered my life, almost 14 years ago, she began to shift my narrative not only around Down syndrome but around what it means to have value and worth as a living, breathing human being. My work as a narrative shifter is because my daughter, just by being alive, helped me to see just how wrong and harmful society’s narrative around Down syndrome is. Her existence in my life has been my greatest teacher. She’s a freaking gift and I will spend my life shouting her worth and the worth of all people with Down syndrome, to a world which questions it.