Look &/or listen as my guest, Elizabeth Lenherr, takes us along on her coming of age journey through the stories woven into the fabric of her beautiful sarees.

On the cusp of turning 27, Beth, as she’s also known, was offered a work opportunity to move to a remote island in the middle of the Indian ocean called Mauritius. She jumped at the chance.

She had moved around the states a bit, but had mainly lived in rural Kansas most of her life. Most people looked like her and came from similar ethnic & religious backgrounds. Though she’s proud to call it home, she knows she lived a pretty sheltered life there.

This move was her first BIG adventure. These sarees represent all she experienced & learned in her two years on Mauritius.

From the moment Beth set foot on the island her senses were on overload! The humid air hit her, the intense colors vibrated & the food flooded her with sights, sounds & smells she’d never experienced before. Mauritian food is a fusion of Chineses, African & Indian cultures. It was a bit overwhelming but in a good way. Beth fell in love immediately.

She found the Mauritian people to be warm & welcoming. Several people offered friendship & took Beth in as family. She was invited to weddings & local festivals and for each one she bought a new saree & jewelry. Her new family loved to help her dress in traditional Indian fashion and enjoyed watching her love it in return. Each time Beth got dressed up for an event she felt like a princess.

Though she lived on the island for such a short time, this experience changed her life forever. It was a cultural exchange extraordinaire. Beth learned a lot about the Hindu faith, their different sects and the Muslim religion as well. She was invited to share her Catholic faith as well all in a peaceful and curious manner.

When Elizabeth arrived back in Kansas she brought her sarees with her. Her Mom asked how she planned to preserve them (Thanks Mom!) … a comforter storage bag was the solution. Beth has moved that bag with her over the past 14 years. It even traveled to Scotland when she was invited to a Maritian friends wedding there.

These sarees tell the tale of Beth’s coming of age. Her quest to deeply know herself & the life she wanted to live. Her true journey of exploration began on this island in the middle of the Indian ocean.

Up until her move to Mauritius she had never really thought deeply about herself or her life. What does a fish know of water? There she was able to ask herself important questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What do I want to do? She thought about her privilege as a white, female American and what living with integrity means to her.

Elizabeth’s personal journey of exploration are woven into the very fabric of these sarees. They inspire & inform her work as an executive leadership coach where she invites clients to be curious about their lives. To live this one life without regrets, to the fullest.

She wants to gift her stories & sarees to her Goddaughter who’s only 3 years old.

FYI: She found that Mauritian people have a tough time saying Beth, so she uses Elizabeth too!

Find out more about this amazing woman here: www.elizabethlenherr.com. She also offers yearly retreats in Japan with a colleague: Here

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