Darsheel Kaur is a beloved community facilitator, culture worker, writer, and educator. As an artist and a healing practitioner inspired by the Sikh faith practices of her upbringing, she carries on the lineage of her parents and ancestors from the region of Punjab in South Asia. Born in England and raised in the Miami Valley by way of Chicago, she truly lives an international life while grounding her work locally as a proud resident of Five Oaks in Dayton. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership with minors in Spanish and Youth & Community engagement from Wright State University and her masters in Conflict Transformation with focuses on Restorative and Racial Justice and Psychosocial Trauma & Resilience from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.
Known for her activism and public speaking over the last decade, she focuses her energy with a politicized healing ethos. She is here to expand our sense of what is possible. For the last 3 years, she has been building intentional community through her house, the HeArt- the House of Healing Arts, which has hosted multiple co-living residents, Shon Curtis photography studio, Baldwin Cafe’s Lit Exchange events, multiple artist-activist meetings and healing circles, game nights, kickbacks, and pop-up meals. the HeArt was also a hub in support of Jared Grandy’s campaign for Dayton City Commissioner. The HeArt is a place to experience warmth and belonging so we can remember who we are and where we are going, expanding our capacity to be more human with ourselves and one another. When she is not working, at the HeArt, or traveling the world, you can find Darsheel taking long walks by the river, sitting and communing with the waters, and picking up litter in her neighborhood.