As the “Queen of Empathy,” Kim Smiley wants the world to remember “the human connection”. As we are overloaded with technology in all areas of our life, Kim has founded Empathy Empire, to bring us back to the joy of connecting with each other as human beings. As a lifelong social trailblazer, she brings knowledge, talent, confidence and the beauty of being a woman to all aspects of her mission from entrepreneur to jeweler. Meet Kim!
FWM: Kim, it’s a privilege to conduct this interview with you. Please introduce yourself to our readers.
KS: I’m a mom, wife, daughter, sister, artist and jewelry designer. In my spare time, I run a nonprofit organization and charitable foundation devoted to starting an empathy revolution.
FWM: Please tell us about The Empathy Effect.
KS: What started as a humble social experiment snowballed into a social movement. In 2015, I sought to test a simple hypothesis: Is empathy infectious? Over the course of 365 days, I posted one true story and black and white photograph every day (save Saturday) about someone transforming the world through stepping into another person’s shoes. On Day 5, the experiment went viral, and we’ve since evolved into a nonprofit organization and charitable foundation. Our goal is to start an empathy revolution in public and private life.
FWM: In your travels, have you found that we, as human beings, suffer from a lack of empathy?
KS: I do not believe we lack empathy. But believe our over-reliance on technology has atrophied our capacity to relate to one another. We need to rebuild our “empathy muscles.”
We live in a world that is hyper-connected technologically, but progressively disconnected emotionally, interpersonally and spiritually. I see my work as a wakeup call to bridge the abyss, to explore, honour and reawaken our shared humanity and interconnectivity.
FWM: You are also a designer. I love jewelry and am COMPLETELY OBSESSED with your line. I also love that you have named your pieces after some of my favorite authors. How did your love for this craft begin?
KS: Hearing this fills me with indescribable gratitude and joy! Thank you. I was a self-taught mixed media artist from an early age. About ten years ago, I began incorporating lace into my paintings. One day I had a big epiphany. Staring at a series of paintings on my wall in my studio on King Street West, I realized: these paintings were too feminine to be on a wall. They belong on a woman’s body, that moment culminated in the creation of a simple lace bracelet. The rest of the story is a combination of experimentation, divine inspiration and luck.
FWM: What keeps you motivated?
KS: Passion, purpose and my connection to the divine. It doesn’t feel like work because I feel like I was born to manifest the vision I am bringing to fruition. Some days it’s exhilarating, and some days it is daunting and deflating and I lose my steam. There are tons of highs and lows. I would say that I’ve also strategically surrounded myself with people who motivate me: people with passion, who are driven by a higher purpose. Support from family and friends has kept the wind in my sails on the grey days.
FWM: “Beauty for the public good” is one of your mottoes. Please tell us what this means to you.
KS: We are bombarded with images of beauty. My company, like any fashion brand, celebrates external beauty, but we believe it’s more inspiring and enduring to honour beauty for the sake of something higher than itself. So, we’re harnessing the power of beauty to address social problems like poverty and economic injustice. Our objective is to give local, often marginalized women an opportunity for economic self-sufficiency by creating beautiful, handmade jewelry. We’re also committed to giving a portion of our proceeds to charity. As an artist, I want to create wearable works of art that make women feel beautiful. As a social entrepreneur, I believe creativity can be a force to change the world.
FWM: If you could give one piece of advice to all women, what would it be?
KS: As one of my mentors always says, you can have it all, just not at the same time.
FWM: In reading your bio, it states that you can be found with a book of poems in your purse. What is your favorite poem, who is it by and how does it apply to your life?
KS: That’s like asking me to choose my favourite child! If I was forced to narrow it down, I would say The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot is my favourite. It’s a poem about inertia, decay and disappointment, but in the spaces between Eliot’s words I am transported every time by the untold possibilities of a life lived with purpose and passion.
FWM: Do you feel that sisterhood is important?
KS: It is everything. There is a wellspring of possibilities in lifting each other up. But so often we tear one another down, which completely breaks my heart. But the sisterhood I have in my life is a source of tremendous fortitude and inspiration. The point is that there is a wellspring of magic in women empowering other women. I would argue that it is one of the most transformational forces in the world for stretching our purpose on this planet.
FWM: How can our readers connect with you outside of this interview?
KS: Go to my website kimsmiley.com for all the ways to reach out. In the next few months, I will be opening a flagship store in midtown Toronto. By day it will be a jewelry store. After hours, an Empathy Academy, teaching everyone from 3-year olds to Fortune 500 CEOs.
