Angela Fairhurst of Los Angeles-based on Life, Classes & Legacy

We not too long ago had the prospect to attach with Angela Fairhurst and have shared our dialog beneath.

Angela, so good to attach and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our viewers. There’s a ton to be taught out of your story, however let’s begin with a heat up earlier than we get into the center of the interview. What is one thing outdoors of labor that’s bringing you pleasure these days?
Spending time with my grownup youngsters who each reside away.

Can you briefly introduce your self and share what makes you or your model distinctive?
I’m Angela Fairhurst, Founder & CEO of Geri-Gadgets®, a sensory engagement firm impressed by my caregiving expertise with my mom. When I couldn’t discover protected, sturdy, washable instruments that helped her really feel calm and related, I created them myself. That grew to become Geri-Gadgets®—a patented line of SafeTouch™ silicone kits now utilized in dementia care, particular training, neurodivergent communities, and rehabilitation packages.

Made from medical-grade SafeTouch™ silicone, our kits are tender, mouth-safe, dishwasher protected, and constructed for real-world care settings. What units us aside is our deal with dignity and inclusivity—offering protected, washable, screen-free instruments that help contact, curiosity, and communication for folks of all ages and talents.

Today, Geri-Gadgets® is used throughout the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. with new themed kits and analysis collaborations underway. My mission is to create hands-on instruments that assist folks really feel seen and supported, and provides caregivers significant methods to attach when communication is difficult.

Okay, so right here’s a deep one: What did you consider about your self as a baby that you simply now not consider?
As a baby, I believed I wasn’t able to a lot. My mother and father valued training and inspired conventional careers—they as soon as steered dentistry—however I used to be an English main who felt inventive, awkward, and really a lot a late bloomer. I didn’t but perceive that there have been paths past the predictable ones.

What I do know now’s that functionality typically reveals itself by means of expertise. Luck and timing opened the door to tv, and creativity helped me see the whitespace that finally led me to entrepreneurship. I’ve discovered to belief the strengths I didn’t acknowledge in myself as a baby and to comply with the concepts that don’t match neatly into anybody else’s expectations.

When did you final change your thoughts about one thing essential?
The final time I modified my thoughts about one thing essential was after I realized that reinvention was nonetheless potential for me. I had a protracted profession in tv and by no means imagined getting into the world of dementia care or product improvement. But caregiving for my mom modified every little thing. I went from believing I needed to keep within the lane I’d all the time been in to understanding that I may create one thing solely new—and wanted to.

That mindset shift is what allowed me to construct Geri-Gadgets®. I ended considering, “Who am I to do this?” and began asking, “Who better than someone who has lived it?” Changing my thoughts about my very own limitations opened the door to a brand new profession, a mission, and an organization I by no means anticipated to guide.

It taught me that reinvention isn’t reserved for the start of your life—generally it arrives precisely once you suppose your story is already written.

I believe our readers would respect listening to extra about your values and what you suppose issues in life and profession, and so forth. So our subsequent query is alongside these strains. Is the general public model of you the actual you?
For most of my life, the general public model of me was the model that match the job I had on the time. In tv, I used to be polished and unflappable. As a journey journalist, I leaned into the storyteller and adventurer in me. But the actual “me” is the one that grew to become a caregiver, who sat with the exhausting moments, and who discovered how significant small moments of connection could be.

Today, the general public model of me and the actual me are lastly the identical. I’m nonetheless inventive and pushed, however I’m additionally extra grounded, extra sincere, and extra mission-centered than I ever was earlier in my profession. Building Geri-Gadgets® got here from a deeply private place, and that have aligned who I’m privately with the work I do publicly.

I now not really feel the necessity to carry out a task — I get to indicate up as somebody who cares, creates, and tries to make issues higher for households and care communities. That is probably the most actual model of me.

Thank you a lot for your whole openness to this point. Maybe we will shut with a future oriented query. When do you are feeling most at peace?
I really feel most at peace after I’m creating one thing that has goal behind it. For years, that meant storytelling in tv, however later it grew to become caring for my mom. Sitting along with her—holding her hand, serving to her really feel protected—taught me that peace comes from being absolutely current with one other particular person. That expertise modified me in a long-lasting means.

I discover that very same peace now after I see the affect of the work I’m doing. Whether it’s a resident partaking with a sensory software or a caregiver discovering a second of calm, there’s one thing grounding about understanding that one thing I created out of affection and necessity helps another person really feel related.

For me, peace comes from contributing to one thing significant.

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Image Credits
Portrait of Angela Fairhurst by Hugo Palette