My Thick Accent

From Hidden Talents to Canadian Traditions | Beneath The Accent with Doreen Fernandez

Gurasis Singh Season 2

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Ever wondered what advice you'd give your younger self or which comfort food you would choose if calories didn’t count?

Our guest, Doreen, takes us on an insightful journey through her personal reflections and cultural insights, revealing her fearless advice to her younger self and her love for Indian & Pakistani food, and the universally loved pizza. As you listen, you'll discover her hidden talents in piano and cooking, along with her passion for chocolate.
Doreen’s stories of Canadian Thanksgiving at Rice Lake cottages paint a picture of family, gratitude, and togetherness, making the essence of Canadian traditions come alive.

Join us as Doreen shares her profound connection with nature and animals like horses and dolphins, and discusses the strength she draws from her supportive network. Her candid tales of online shopping regrets and dreams of endless travel bring a relatable humor to the conversation.

Emphasizing the significance of community support and helping others, she opens up about the transformative "I Am Remarkable" workshop, highlighting personal strengths and resilience. Doreen’s message to live, accept, and simply be, serves as an inspiring reminder of the power of storytelling and the strength found in embracing our unique journeys.

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Gurasis:

so, but now I think it's your turn. I'm going to get into the final segment of the podcast I call it beneath the accent but I'm going to ask a couple of questions. You can answer them in one word or a sentence or howsoever you feel like. The idea is just to know a little bit more about you. So what advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?

Doreen:

Oh, it's not be afraid. You know, not be afraid. Just kind of embrace whatever is happening around you and know that you can conquer it and you can get through it.

Gurasis:

Okay, I love that. What's your go-to comfort food?

Doreen:

You know, again, it depends on my mood. Usually it's Indian food, because you know I grew up with it and I love it. Or I should say Pakistani food, which is kind of similar in some ways. But then I also like, you know, pizza. So yeah, who?

Gurasis:

doesn't, who doesn't right? Do you have any hidden talents?

Doreen:

Oh, I don't know how much is hidden. You know, when I was younger, I was taking piano lessons, you know, and I went up until, I think, grade four, grade five, but then I had to stop due to, you know, situations that my life at the time and then I never went back to it. But you know, I kind of do. That's. One of my regrets is not following through with that, but there's that. And then, just, I do like to cook as well. So I'm not a great cook, but I do. You know, this is what drives me to do more of the legacy writing in people. It's something that I never even knew I had, you know, but I just try my best and put my heart and soul into it and it just feels so good when I have the story done for someone.

Gurasis:

Yeah, what about chocolate? You don't like baking? Oh my gosh.

Doreen:

You hit my weak spot. Chocolate is everything to me. I love chocolate. Yes, yes, yes, chocolate comes first.

Gurasis:

Okay.

Doreen:

Any best piece of advice that someone ever gave you. You know, people are always giving me advice. Oh, that's. Another good point to note is, sometimes you know when you're when you're looking for advice, and if you ask 10 different people the question, you will get 10 different answers. What I have recently learned is you know, take the advice, listen to what people have to say to you, but only pick the right things that suit you. You know, don't do everything that everybody's telling you, because it's going to drive you crazy and it's going to overwhelm you. So listen to what they have to say and just pick one or two things that really make sense to you. You know, know, and that's the piece of advice that somebody gave you recently, as recent as just a couple of months ago. The best piece of advice is listen, but do what feels right for you yeah, okay, if you could describe yourself as any creature, what would it be?

Gurasis:

Oh, any creature.

Doreen:

I would have to say I love horses and dolphins. For some reason, I don't know, I'm just in love with those two animals and yeah, that's how I would describe myself is having that kind of a spirit.

Gurasis:

Okay, so who's your go-to person now?

Doreen:

to person. Now, you know, I have a really good network of people who some of them are. I've met through LinkedIn some very close friends and family. So they are who I go to for you know, if it's business advice, somebody who is, you know, I go to people who are level headed, you know, because sometimes I want to do everything, everything. I want to do it really fast and I'm not patient. I'm really impatient and I want to get things done and I'm really bad with technology. Technology does not work with me. So I always go to people who calm me, people who are very, have a very steady sense of you know, being.

Gurasis:

Those are the people who I go to for help okay, is this something you recently bought and you now regret?

Doreen:

I try not to. I try not to spend too much money, but there's always things you know, like this online shopping is really, really addictive, you know, and you tend to buy something online and then it doesn't look good when it comes in the mail or you know it doesn't fit right. So those are things that I regret doing.

Gurasis:

Yes, Okay, what's the most expensive thing you would like to own?

Doreen:

You know, if I could just travel everywhere forever, that's what I would like to do. That's where I would spend my money is travel.

Gurasis:

So, like free tickets. Free tickets, yes, okay. What's that? One Canadian tradition that you have adopted wholeheartedly and something that you have introduced to Canadians?

Doreen:

The one thing that I can say that I've adopted from Canada is Thanksgiving. You know it's become an annual tradition now where we get together with family and you know you cook the turkey and you have all the trimmings and it's more about really using that day to be thankful for everything in your life your health, your loved ones. You know and I love you know we've had this family tradition where we rent cottages up on Rice Lake. You know, which is close by, not too far from where I live, and we've been doing this Lake. You know which is close by, not too far from where I live and we've been doing this. We've been renting these cottages for the past, maybe over 20 years, even 25 years, yeah, and we go there every Thanksgiving for that long weekend and we take up the turkey and we spend time with each other. We roast marshmallows out on the fire pit, we sing songs, we tell stories.

Doreen:

You know we just talk, we talk, and this has become so meaningful and we all look forward to it every year, and it's really you know. We take time to really give thanks for everything great in our lives and that's something that I love to pass on to other people as well as always take time to be thankful, because, no matter how hard life can seem sometimes, there's always something to be grateful for a hundred percent.

Gurasis:

Yeah, absolutely, I love that. Um, do you have any favorite canadian slang or a phrase?

Doreen:

oh, you know what? I know we say the word A a lot. Can you use it in a sentence? It's like how's your day, eh? So yeah, I mean there's. You know you get caught up in these buzzwords too. You know like buzzwords are used all the time. Like you know, optimize and I'm trying to think of words right now, but they're not coming to me but you know it becomes part of your language, doesn't it?

Gurasis:

Yeah, it does. Okay, if you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Doreen:

Superpower, oh my gosh, like staying on a diet. Stay on a diet and exercise. That would be the superpower that I would want to have.

Gurasis:

Okay, if you could create this one law that everybody has to follow, what would it be?

Doreen:

You know, just to accept people. You know, accept people for who they are and really help people Seriously. You know, I talk a lot about this on LinkedIn and my post is to support people, help people. If you see someone who's struggling, you know, go up to them and say how can I help you? You know, I always ask that question of people that I meet is how can I help you? Because I am so grateful for people who have helped me and I wouldn't be where I am today if people didn't reach out to me and say, Doreen, how can I help you with this?

Doreen:

You know, because when you're starting a business, when you're running a business, there's a lot at play. You know how to set up your business. You know your, your logo, your, your brand, your. You know everything that you need to do to get your business and be recognized and raise your awareness. It's not just you alone. There's just so many people who rally around you to help you. So those are the people who you know I'm grateful for in my life is, you know, help other people, give back, give back and carry forward what other people have done for you yeah, okay.

Gurasis:

How would you describe Canada in one word or a sentence?

Doreen:

you know Canada is, it's Gosh, it's just so many things. You know, the one word that came to mind right off the bat is beautiful. You know that's the way. And I would describe it beautiful in terms of not just the landscape. You know the geography of it, the beautiful lakes and the mountains, and you know it's just so beautiful. But it's also beautiful for the multiculturalism you know, like I know there's. It's not always rosy, it's not always. You know what's the word Milk and honey. The land of milk and honey is what people always use. But we have to make it that way, you know we have to make it that way. So I always encourage, like, if I come across a newcomer who's coming to Canada, it's like you know what give of yourself to make it better. Don't expect things to be done for you, don't expect things to be handed to you, because we all went through that and you got to give just as much as you receive.

Gurasis:

Absolutely. I think you've articulated it perfectly. I love that. So, finally, if you could leave me, doreen, with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Doreen:

You know, I would say don't stop, just keep going, honestly, because the minute you stop, then you fail. So don't stop, just keep going, even though sometimes you will reach crossroads in your life. It's okay, it's part of living right? Take a break, take a breather. Sometimes we need to take a breather and maybe that's something that we don't do very often is you have to stop, you have to take a breath. Look around you and see the good things around. You see the good people around you.

Doreen:

And I always say when you give and when you help other people, you automatically get lifted up yourself. So those are two things that I would say to you instead of one. You know, keep going and keep giving.

Gurasis:

Thank you, thank you for that and, finally, how would you describe your experience of being on the podcast today?

Doreen:

Oh, you know what it was really refreshing it was. I love your questions. We had not, uh, rehearsed any of this. I didn't know what questions you were gonna ask me, but you know, you got me thinking and even going back into my memory, which you know, uh, you don't tend to think about these things every day, but you really made me go back and think about things and and I think there's a lot of self-realization that comes along with digging back into your memory as well, because you're reminded of where you came from and all of the things that you have overcome.

Doreen:

I recently did a post on LinkedIn.

Doreen:

It's called I Am Remarkable Remarkable, yes, because I attended a workshop by this gentleman whose name escapes me right now and I feel really bad about that, but it's IAmRemarkableorg and he reminded me, and others on the workshop as well, that you have to know why you are remarkable and really appreciate your skills, your strengths and even the challenges that you've overcome, because we tend to dismiss them.

Doreen:

We tend to say, okay, I've got to get through this, get over this hurdle. And then the challenges that you've overcome, because we tend to dismiss them. We tend to say, okay, I've got to get through this, get over this hurdle and then I'll be fine. But that process of getting over that hurdle is what makes you remarkable. You know, and it gave me a real good appreciation to listen to other people's stories, you know, some of them are really hard. You know, like if you think you're having a bad time, believe me, other people may be having even a worse time. So those are good reminders for you to you know, to remind yourself about that. Life is about just, you know, living and accepting and being.

Gurasis:

I love that life is about living and accepting and being. I love that Life is about living and accepting and being. On that note, thank you so much, Doreen, for being on the podcast and adding value to me and to my listeners. Thank you.

Doreen:

It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for your time, grazis, and I hope if you know whoever is watching this podcast finds inspiration, finds hope and you know, know that there's help and you're not alone. Absolutely Love that, thank you.

Gurasis:

Thank you so much.

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