Vanessa Vakharia is always excited. I’m not kidding. She is always excited.
It is just one of the many, many reasons she is
absolutely infectious. Five minutes with Vanessa will leave you with a mind
full of new ideas, some novel tea flavour inspirations, a bedazzled calculator,
her band's album and that feeling like there is nothing you can’t do. No dream
too big. No idea too crazy. Vanessa is your best friend, your confidant, your
tutor, your muse, your idol, your sister and your inspiration. You just don’t
know it yet. Grab your calculators, turn up your speakers, and buckle up…
Vanessa, aka The Math Guru,
aka lead vocals and keytar in Toronto rock band Goodnight, Sunrise, is one of those people who literally does
it all. I often wonder when she finds the time to sleep. In 2006 she
started a tutoring business based on a personal belief and a love of education.
From that day forward she has worked tirelessly, transforming the lives of her
students’ one exam at a time, building their self-confidence and encouraging
them to be good (like really good) people. Today, The Math Guru is a
bustling studio at the heart of Yonge and Eglinton made up of a group of
awesome people who love to teach, learn, and inspire.
In 2011, Vanessa and her BFF David Kochberg, formed Goodnight, Sunrise, the
4-piece Toronto-based rock and roll hurricane pulling funk, metal, soul, pop
and prog into its vortex. Whether they are killing it on stage at the Horseshoe
Tavern, touring Ontario, providing a live soundtrack to one of Micheline's Spin
Classes at QUAD, or jamming with friends, the members of GNSR are truly
something special. In a prom dress and full tuxedos, the band celebrated the
release of their debut album, Create/Destroy/Create, in March 2013.
We took some time to catch up with the five foot four, secret-tattoo covered, bedazzled little force of nature...
We took some time to catch up with the five foot four, secret-tattoo covered, bedazzled little force of nature...
Your Full Name: Vanessa Vakharia
Hometown/Neighbourhood: Toronto,
ON
Job Title: Founder/Director
of Learning & Inspiration by day // Rockstar-in-prog by night
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| V at The Math Guru Studio |
The Math Guru is a magical
place where teenage dreams meet intellectual pursuits; where simmering tea
lattes meet lips thirsty for knowledge; where passionately inquisitive minds
meet like-minded brains equally passionate about fueling those minds with
answers. For real, The Math Guru is an innovative and totally awesome math
& science tutoring studio where education sheds its socially-imposed stigma
of being ‘lame’ and ‘boring’, instead becoming synonymous with all things cool
and fabulous.
Let’s face it: I hated math
when I was in high school. I hated SCHOOL when I was in high school. But that’s
because I felt that the education system and its institutions were not
aligned with who I perceived myself to be. I was artsy, social, a
rockstar-in-the-making. Surely there was no place in a MATH classroom for ME,
right? The Math Guru is a place for me and all of those other ‘me’s’ out
there. It's a space dedicating to making math and science education accessible
to anyone and everyone, a place where ‘peace.love.pi’ is not only
our slogan but our way of being.
"Math
is a journey, not a destination – let’s all just chill out and enjoy the ride!"
YOUR STUDENTS ARE OBSESSED WITH YOU! HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO MAKE MATH COOL?
Ha! Well, I’m flattered. To be honest – it’s not so much about making
math cool as it is about REDEFINING what ‘cool’ even IS. We have this idea of
what it means to be ‘cool’ that the media forces upon us at a very young age.
Most of us grew up thinking that math was for losers, for people who have no
social life, who look weird and carry pocket protectors, you know? But why do we think that – who decided that?
I love math and I wouldn't be caught DEAD with a pocket protector! Actually…the
irony is that pocket protectors are so nerdy that they ARE cool…but that’s a
whole other thing and this is supposed to be about math, not hipster culture. It’s not so much that I MAKE math cool,
as that I show people how cool math already IS – I
debunk the rumours and gossip surrounding math, getting rid of the discourse that
tells us that math is boring. Because really, what’s boring about a fractal?!
What could POSSIBLY be cooler than having the building blocks to problem solve,
to see the world through a chaotically simple lens? Not much!
“The
secret is to stand strong against all of the crap out there trying to convince
us that math ISN'T cool, to go against the grain, to see intelligence as the
ultimate accessory –
THAT’S what ‘cool’ ACTUALLY is.”
TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE DÉCOR AT
TMG…
The décor is pretty much “I like pretty sparkly things” meets “I don’t
like making decisions.” I call it “Indie-boho-chic”. Dig it?
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| Techno-Gallery: Math-Art! |
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| Where the Magic Happens |
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| Math, math & more math |
WHAT QUESTION DO PEOPLE ASK YOU
ALL THE TIME?
"Is
the girl in “The Math Guru” logo supposed to be YOU?!"… oh, and if I’m a vegetarian.
Actually that’s more of an assumption – why does everyone think I’m a
vegetarian?! Seriously, why???
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME,
WHAT WOULD YOU TELL YOUR YOUNGER SELF?
DO YOUR MATH HOMEWORK! That and seriously, all of those mean girls –
like the ones that act like they’re straight out of “Mean Girls” – are going to
be total dips when high school is over. Acting like they’re better than you is
all they have to hang on to – so let them hang on to the threads of the web
that you’re weaving, they simply don’t have the capacity to weave their own.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
You know, there are so many things that I’m proud of, but when I think
about it, they are all a result of the same thing: Refusing to be defeated by fear. When I was in high school I failed
grade 10 math twice before finally passing it the third time – but that didn’t
stop me from taking math the next year.
The fact that my teachers tried to convince me that I wasn’t a ‘math
person’ only further motivated me to show them what was up, to prove them
wrong. With a new attitude (and a new
amazing teacher!), I aced math the following year and never looked back. The
same holds true for music: I was always the afterthought in my high school
music class AND fun fact: I tried out for Popstars Canada TWICE and got
rejected AFTER STANDING IN LINE FOR EIGHT HOURS. That certainly didn’t stop me
from starting a band and acting like a self-entitled rockstar.
The thing is, in life we are constantly ‘told’ what we can and can’t
do, and if we’re told something often enough – we start to believe it. That
truly is part of the reason that I started The Math Guru: Teenagers are so
fragile and so impressionable and their lives are essentially comprised of
people everywhere telling them what they can and can’t do! From parents to
teachers to, worst of all, the media, their heads are filled with notions of
what they can and can’t be, and the sad truth is that they hear the word
“can’t” more often than “can.”
In addition to being most proud of continually proving to myself that
fear equals incomparable growth, I am just as proud of inspiring teenagers to
see fear the same way.
“fear
equals incomparable growth.”
FAVOURITE VENUE TO PLAY IN
TORONTO?
Cherry Cola’s HANDS DOWN. Love that place!
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| Goodnight, Sunrise: A Birthday Party in a Band |
People at rock shows who actually have the capacity to stand still and
look totally apathetic if not unimpressed. Creepy!
WHEN YOU'RE FREAKING OUT, WHAT IS YOUR GO-TO?
The nearest spin bike!
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| GNSR rocking out at QUAD Spin Studio in Toronto for the filming of "The Honeymoon is Over" |
WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF BEAUTY ADVICE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR MOM?
Wear sunscreen even on the stormiest of days. I feel like this is a life mantra in addition to an absolutely key beauty tip…
WHERE DO YOU ESCAPE TO WHEN YOU NEED SOME GROUNDING?
Balm Beach, Midland. My Fave.
IF YOU WEREN'T DOING TMG & GNSR WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?
Dreaming up ways to create an inspirational math
tutoring studio and starting a rock band!
IF THERE IS ONE THING YOU WANT
TO BE REMEMBERED FOR WHAT IS IT?
"Being
the Miley Cyrus of math education. Yep,
I said that. And meant it."
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Twitter & Instagram: @themathguru
Twitter & Instagram: @gnsrband
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