Canadian born of Scottish/French and Lebanese decent, our family moved from North Bay, Ontario to Jamaica when I was a year old and settled on a cliff by the sea. I went to school for a short while in Jamaica, but most of my schooling was done in Florida, Australia and Switzerland where I also spent 3 and a half years at the Beaux Arts in Geneva.

My first encounter with Tibetan people was while I was living in Montreal in 1978 and became interested in the Buddhist Teachings and the Tibetan community through a friend who was very involved in looking after the first ever resident Lama in Quebec, the Late Geshe Khenrab Gajam. After 2 years in Montreal I went back to Europe and immersed myself into intense Buddhist studies for 3 years in France.

I went on a 3 month pilgrimage to India's sacred Buddhist sites with a whole monastery of monks and Lamas, ending up in Kathmandu for the last month. I went back west, but soon afterwards decided to return to Kathmandu where I had already decided I wanted to spend more time. I spent 3 wonderful years there with my daughter's father who is Singaporean after which time I went to Switzerland to give birth and a few months later came back to Montreal where I've been bringing up my daughter for the past 20 years and where I also run my business.

Lotus Light not only sounds good, it carries with it a variety of symbolic implications, my favourite being that of a beautiful bright multicoloured radiant glow emanating from a lotus (symbol of purity, pristine calmness, awakening, unfolding enlightenment, etc.) it also happens to be a translation of my name.

When I started Lotus Light Himalaya in 1995, my interest in promoting Tibetan products, in particular Mandala Incense was fuelled with the hope that it would, in some small way, spread Tibet awareness and open the gates to a most often, life-changing, experience for those who entered. Once you know something about Tibet and have met Tibetan people, as most of you know from your own experience, you just have to look at and listen to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and you will see a bit of him in all Tibetans you meet.