About Me — Aura Telman

Published in

About Me Stories

4 min readNov 24, 2020

Yes, like the aura of a person. An imperfect human trying to make the world a better place through my spirit given talents.

This About Me post is an ode to every person who has ever felt like they were less than because English was their second language.

My first language is Romanian. My family (parents + younger sister) and I immigrated to Canada when I was 13 years old. The only words/phrases I knew were: “cat” “dog” “how are you”, “name is Aura”, and “what is clock” aka what’s the time.

I’ve come a long way since then. Although I still make some common mistakes a native English speaker would likely not make, I write confidently now, both because I enjoy it & for a living.

My love for writing started by accident. When I was a child I hated reading , it was always a battle with my parents. I really started reading & writing because I had to learn English, I had to learn to communicate with others… it’s not easy making friends when you can’t ask basic questions or understand what people are laughing about.

Overtime, with the help of my ESL teachers, teen romance novels, fellow immigrant friends, and FRIENDS (yes the TV show, I watched & learned a lot of English from Friends) — I fell in love with reading & writing.

Writing is so powerful to me, through writing you can tell stories, build connections & reach people’s hearts.

My experience as an immigrant didn’t only start my love for writing, it also sent me down a career path I could have never dreamt for myself.

My Career Journey

This year (2020) I took the biggest risk of my career and founded my own HR consulting firm. I’ve done many things in my life that were outside of my comfort zone but this was the biggest one.

After having worked in human resources for almost 10 years, I wanted to do it my way. Having the experience of being an outsider, it hurt my soul to see HR professionals label people, categorize people, and view people as just “resources” for the company.

I said good bye to outdated business practices, rigid policies, and the “culture fit” mentality. Human resources to me is about the human spirit at work, whole imperfect beings at work.

Through my consulting I focus on holistic HR practices, mindfulness principles, team alignment with vision, people development using human-centric strategies, and I put a big emphasis on inclusion.

I don’t subscribe to labeling people in any way at work & I don’t subscribe to surface level engagement, performance or inclusion strategies. You know the ones where you do a lunch & learn on harassment once a year & then harassment is expected to disappear from the company magically.

I deeply believe the only way to improve anything in the workplace is to help employees find fulfillment at work & support them in self-motivation.

I use a unique model with clients…

❂ Communication ❂ Connection ❂Growth

Why Communication First ?

Because it’s the start of everything, the start of connection, inclusion & growth. Everyone’s communication style is unique and shaped by their life experience, and communication (verbal or non-verbal) can transcend many of our differences.

Coming Full Circle

When I started this story I dedicate it to every person who feels less than because English is not their first language or they don’t speak English well.

I did this because if anyone had told me in high-school that I would one day be writing Medium articles and creating content for my business & many coaches and consultants I would not have believed them!

In my life now, I get to use my experience as an outsider & my love for writing and communication as powerful tools to connect with others, empower others, and make the world a better place by inspiring leaders to create authentic connection in the workplace.