A Little About Me...
Hi I’m Elora! I’m an artist, mom and life coach who is all about creating safe inner space to actively change your outer world. I use creativity as a tool for personal transformation to make mental health fun, practical and accessible! I live in North Hollywood, California with my husband Eddy, baby girl Echo, dog Han Solo, and kitty Bowie. They constantly motivate me to become a better person and strive for a better world.
I specialize in helping ambitious teens, young adults and women uncover their natural strengths. To truly believe in their magic so they can move forward with confidence, bring their visions to life, and positively impact the world. My own experiences have taught me the importance of self-expression, stillness and inner balance in coping with major life transitions to practice being a healthy human.
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I know what it's like to see the world differently and feel like a total WEIRDO. I used to feel broken, but now I know there's nothing to fix! That unique spark in you is what makes you special, and I'm here to help you fan that flame!
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” - Carl Jung
I drew this in 2005 when I was 16 and felt like I needed to change to get into college. This is when I locked my heart away.
Growing up as the only Half-Asian kid in a small town, I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere.
My parents were polar opposites — an overprotective immigrant mom from the Philippines and a high school dropout hippy dad who was an amazing (but self doubting) artist. With so much confusion, contradiction and lack of guidance at home (not to mention a massive cultural divide), stories became my greatest teachers.
I didn't feel safe expressing my emotions so I pushed them down. Thankfully cartoons exist because the metaphor, symbolism and simplification of complex concept especially in anime, Disney, and RPGs taught me how to process the world around me through art. But when I was 16 I abandoned that part of myself to "be successful" in a competitive left-brain dominant society.
Even though I managed to graduate from UCLA and get my dream job as a Character Designer in the animation industry, disconnecting from my healthy creative outlet led to emptiness, loss of self-worth, and lack of trust in my ability to thrive. I fell into "fun, enthusiastic people pleasing mode" to seem normal on the outside... but on the inside I suffered from perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and a serious inferiority complex. Life felt like one big lie... like I had to hide who I really was to "fit in" a world that wasn't made for me.
But something I've learned is...YOU make the world.
You are a Creator, just by being alive.
I believe that your true power lies in your creativity. It's way more than just art. Creativity is how you show up. How you live in the present moment. How you problem solve and handle change, transitions, and the unknown. If you don't feel safe on the inside, you won't feel safe on the outside.
We currently live in a massively imbalanced competitive left-brain dominant society, which has led to a mental health crisis of epic proportions. The answer lies in balance. Making time for right brain practices helps me cultivate self-authority, courage and confidence to take responsibility as a conscious creator of my own reality rather than a reality marketed to me.
The relationship you have with yourself is the most important one there is...because it affects everything else. Inner Team Building is a practice. A lifestyle. A choice.
About Inner Team Building
Inner Team Building is my unique Creative Life Coaching method that combines art therapy, storytelling, neuroscience and psychology to help you befriend your brain for inner balance to take outer world action. It began when my Higher Self showed up, took me in as a client and urged me to put together the puzzle pieces of my life.
Inner Team Building is based on the concept that we all have many parts to us, conscious and unconscious, that, like it or not, affect our thoughts, emotions, and actions. I call these voices in your head the “Inner Team,” and learning to understand where they came from and what they need helps us accept our whole selves to live in harmony with the world and integrity with our souls.
Swiss psychologist Carl Jung theorized this to be the Collective Unconscious, a collection of universal concepts called "archetypes" -- symbols, patterns, instincts, and beliefs -- inherited from our ancestors and connect us all. He believed we could explore the unconscious parts of ourselves through dream interpretation, art and speaking to our parts through "Active Imagination." The most obvious use of these archetypes is through the power of story, as demonstrated by the widely used "Hero's Journey" model presented by Joseph Campbell, popularized by Star Wars.
According to Harvard Neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, these archetypes are built into the structure of our brain, as explained in her book Whole Brain Living. When she lost access to the left side of he brain for 8 years due to a stroke, Dr. Taylor realized that the four groups of cells in our Left and Right brain hemispheres can be simplified into four distinct and universal character personalities that correspond to Jung's model of the human psyche. I now use this concept of the Four Brain Characters to help clients accept themselves on a deeper level because getting to know my own brain has so drastically improved my life.
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The first I’d heard of anything like this was when I saw my first therapist back in 2014. She said my mom’s negative voice had become my own inner monologue and that I had to rebuild my entire inner world from scratch to live my own life. As someone who grew up processing the voices in my head through art, this naturally appealed to me. I vowed to figure out how to do it myself.
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When my dad died a year later in 2015, I embarked on a journey of self-discovery to manage my grief and out of control emotions. Shortly after that I was diagnosed bipolar, and I decided to travel to Peru to do Ayahuasca with traditional shamans which rewired my brain and shifted my entire perspective on the world. Returning to the US, I focused on integrating this spiritual experience with physical reality, immersing myself in psychology, sociology, and neuroscience. I sought out all sorts of healers, teachers, scientists and artists, mentoring under a sacred storyteller, completing an intense Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training, and becoming a certified Wayfinder Life Coach with Martha Beck.
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This site is a collection of the resources, wisdom and art to share what I’ve learned on my own journey of self-discovery to hopefully help you through yours :)
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
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6+ Years Character Design Experience in TV Animation
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Group Class Facilitation
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Graphic Design & Illustration​
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Marketing Management​
EDUCATION & TRAINING
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Design Media Arts BA from UCLA
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Martha Beck's 200 hour Wayfinder Life Coach Training (ICF Certified)
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Entertainment Design courses at Concept Design Academy, Schoolism and The Animation Guild
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Shakti Rising Trauma-Informed Professional Development Training
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Reiki Level I Certification
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Journey Home: Awaken The Wild Woman Within Women's Retreat
MAJOR BOOK INFLUENCES
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Whole Brain Living by Jill Bolte Taylor
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The Way of Integrity, Finding Your Own North Star, Steering by Starlight, and Finding Your Way In A Wild New World by Martha Beck
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Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
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Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell
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The Power of Myth & Symbol by Joseph Campbell
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The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest For Wholeness by Maureen Murdock
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Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
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Man & His Symbols by Carl Jung
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Jung: A Very Short Introduction by Anthony Stevens
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The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown
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Loving What Is by Byron Katie
1:1 Coaching is currently open!
Fill out the form and I'll contact you via text or email and we'll schedule your free discovery call to figure out how best to help you :)