Your story is how you share who you are with the world.

My story is one of building courage, finding love, navigating loss and creating beauty. 

My work is to combine words and images that meet the world in an offering of beauty.

I love supporting you to mine your story for gold. I see how the hard-won lessons that built your character are now fuel for helping others.
 
This alchemy of meaning and message is what I bring to my work in art, writing and branding.

Let’s rewind to the beginning.

I have always been creative, expressive, sensitive, and intuitive. As a teenager, I felt shy and different because I wrote poetry to express my feelings. Writing and creating nourished me and they still do. I can’t stop from trying to make everything around me beautiful. 

Education strengthened my skills and reinforced what I love.

When I started university, I was as an English major. Writing essays on other peoples’ creative work wasn’t fulfilling. I co-majored in Visual Art and English. Interdisciplinary work gave me the creativity and flexibility I longed for.
 
The connection between writing and art became my working edge. In graduate school, I dove deeper into the physicality of language. I studied art and language as emotional and sensate experiences. I went on to speak about and publish my research and exhibit around the world.

Life is the big canvas, create with intention my motto.

I planned to teach university but declined a position for an industry job. I landed for my first job in branding because of how I work with words and visuals. My experience as a Design & Communications Manager, showed me that business was creative. I wanted to understand how artists could make positive change and make a living. I realized that life was the big canvas and business could help me design it.

As I woke up, life looked different.

I learned to chart my path by listening to the intuitive nudges that propelled me forward. Doors opened by being in the right place at the right time, finding kindred spirits and, of course, hard work. The more I followed my intuition, the further I seemed to get from the life I’d planned for myself. As I chose what felt right over how things were ‘supposed’ to look, miraculous things unfolded.

Life can change in an instant (mine did).

I saw my husband in a meditation before we met. I recognized his red beard, bright eyes and warm heart. We both held the same intention: let the person looking for me find me. Our lives intertwined and a shared life and business path began. After a series of synchronicities, we moved to a small city and took over a yoga studio. At each step, I built courage to befriend the unknown and trust in my ability to figure it out as I went.

Business was a crash course in leadership.

Besides managing brands, I also developed them. My husband and I transformed the studio into a yoga lifestyle and training centre. We also had two restaurants, a vegan sauce bottling facility, art gallery, and event space with a team of 25.
We renovated two heritage buildings, our home and storefront. Those projects made me cry out of overwhelm and then beam with pride.
 
At the same time, I created the City of Camrose Arts and Culture Master Plan. I loved using strategy to unite and support creative community.
Seven years as a business owner taught me what it means to be a community leader, build something and be of service.
 
Some of the things I accomplished during those years are:
· Without capital, my husband and I bought a yoga business and grew it into a thriving community studio. We had our training centre, gallery and event space with a team of 25 and two restaurants with a sauce facility. We increased revenue at 78% CAGR/year for six years and sold at 5501% ROI.
 
· I created a Master Plan for a city of 18,000+ to guide their cultural vision for the next decade and beyond.
 
· I attracted over 500 attendees to my first online summit.
 
· I reached over 30,000 people with only a small email list and social media presence.
 
· I paid for the development of my first online program with full funding through a grant.
 
· I generated over $50, 000 in award money through my art and writing.
 
· I taught hundreds of students yoga and meditation over thousands of hours.
 
This all happened with words, creativity, intuition, and determination.
 
Our business was a labour of deep love, but it also came with costs. I found there was little of myself left for me. My husband and I were also new parents trying to balance family life. When we sold our business, it was with a dream for it to be community-run. Now, I have much to offer my clients in business and community leadership.

Brand school was born.

I loved the creative expression I found in business. At the same time, I had sidelined my own gifts of art-making and creative writing. I told myself that it was necessary, but I walked further from my joy. I took my hard-won lessons and put them into Intentional Brand School. I love teaching creators how to use branding to find success with greater ease.

Loss changed me.

I was building a life in a new city, reworking my career in an exciting way, and enjoying pregnancy. Everything came crashing down one cold February morning. I sipped herbal tea and prepared my daughter for preschool with no idea that day might be my last.
 
I have been forever changed by the stillbirth of my second daughter. Surviving a severe hemorrhage and near death paled in in comparison to Klara’s loss. My dance with grief has been intense, transformative, and humbling.

Grief raged a fire through my soul and burnt down everything unnecessary.

I looked around the barren landscape of my heart and, to my surprise, saw that it was ripe with new life.

The black charred soil is sprouting the most unlikely dreams.

Loss made me dig deeper for what brought meaning. It made me grasp the tools that could alchemize pain into beauty. Through this process, I learned to integrate more of my whole self back into my work. My creativity, intuition and deep connection are part of how I support others to see and share who they are. I can see how much my clients benefit when I show up with my whole self and how it supports them to do the same.

Loss gave me a new passion for writing about challenging and tender subjects. It also helped me move deeper into seeing the sacredness of our stories. I have a commitment to making a positive impact and supporting others to do the same. The brand process can be alchemy to reclaim parts of yourself and express who you have become. Healed hearts can reach out and ignite love and healing in the hearts of others.
Learn about Identity Development

What does success mean to you?

Today, my brand clients stand out as the best in their fields. I work with positive changemakers. I make more per hour than I ever could in a job. I have freedom over my schedule, so I have time to do what is meaningful to me. I support other loss mammas to find peace and connection through yoga and meditation. I can be there to pick my daughter up from school and be home with her when she needs me. These are all parts of my version of success.
 
Your desires are a map to achieving your heart felt desires. I want to help you achieve your dreams by sharing the fullness of who you are. Let’s get you to your most desired victories with ease. That’s what this website and authentic branding is all about.

Is it time for you step into your fulfillment?

I will walk with you and be the keeper of your story and light. I will support you to feel into the truth of who you are. Together, we will weave words and images that share your beauty and how it meets the world in an offering.

 

Connect with me

Still curious?

Here’s a talk where I share the background on my career and the reasons I am passionate about doing the work I do.

Listen to this interview

My Credentials

EDUCATION:

  • MFA (2009) Visual Art, Specializing in Mixed Media 
  • Royal College of Art, London UK placement (2008)
  • BA (2007) Visual Art & English Language & Literature

CERTIFICATIONS:

  • Feng Shui Practitioner
  • Compassionate Inquiry with Dr. Gabor Mate
  • Conscious Communication, Level 2 Teacher Training
  • Life Cycles, Level 2 Teacher Training 
  • Kundalini Yoga Teacher
  • Yoga for At Risk Youth Teacher
  • Yin Yoga Teacher

 EXPERIENCE:

  • 2011- current Lisa Borin Miller Design & Consulting
  • 2016-2020 Vice President, The City of Camrose Arts and Culture Council
  • 2013-2020 Sacred Arts Co-Founder 
  • 2015-6 The City of Camrose Arts and Culture Master Planner 
  • 2011-2 Communications & Creative Design Manager, Arctos & Bird Management, Banff
  • Curator & Collections/Project Manager, The Juniper Hotel, Banff
  • 2010-11 Program Coordinator, Literary Arts, Banff Centre
  • 2010 Instructor, Drawing II: Extended Studies, Alberta University of the Arts
  • 2009 Assistant Instructor: Art Fundamentals 2D, U of Calgary
  • 2008 Assistant Instructor: Applied Concepts in Art, U of Calgary

EXHIBITION/PUBLICATION:

Since 2007, I have exhibited artwork in divserse cities including, St. Catharines (Rodman Hall), Oregon, Calgary, Toronto, Germany, Nova Scotia, Iceland, Switzerland, Berlin and Japan. 

See my art portfolio

SELECTED AWARDS:

I am grateful to have received awards and grants including:

  • City/Community Project Grants in Banff and Camrose
  • Untapped Emerging Artist Award The Artist Project Toronto
  • URGC Thesis Research Grant Centre for Research in Fine Art Research Grant
  • Alberta Graduate Student Scholarship
  • Elsie Mary Bell Scholars Endowment
  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship
  • Alberta Foundation for the Arts Master’s Scholarship International Research Grant: U of Calgary
  • Graduate Research Scholarship Graduate Studies Award, Harpweaver Award for Visual Arts

Places my work has been featured: