Lane Changer - Faiv Noelle, solo on a global highway
After our gazebo interview
Thirty-four year old Faiv Noelle has made one heck of a solo lane change. I know about it only because I took an interest in a service provider who shares my aesthetic. You see, Faiv designed my custom Chandlerville kitchen. And now she’s my friend.
Faiv grew up in India. Unlike the fathers of other girls, her dad encouraged education. He’d overcome the shame of being born a love-child, going from rags to riches - well, middle class riches - and instilled in Faiv a need to take control of her own life too. Faiv studied interior design at a good university and by 26, instead of planning a traditional life of marriage and children, she had a successful career. She dreamed of moving to North America though. She’d seen the way women were treated around her; TV and movies showed her a different way. Carrie Bradshaw and the gang on “Sex in the City” were particularly inspiring - free to do whatever they wanted. (I’m not sure the reality has lived up to the expectation for Faiv or for any of us, for that matter!)
She was in a good relationship with a man and they planned to leave India together. When they applied for Canadian permanent residency, only Faiv was accepted. She was secretly (and guiltily) pleased when his application was rejected. Everyone - the BF included - assumed she would stay in India until he sorted out his visa. She didn’t. And when they then assumed she’d sponsor him from Canada, she broke it off. She just didn’t want that life.
Faiv Noelle arrived in Canada on February 7, 2018, the first time any member of her family had travelled outside India. She had $3,000 and knew no-one. Without a rental history, bank account, or job, she couldn’t find a place to live. Through a distant Facebook connection, she found a couch to sleep on under the staircase of a student rental in Peterborough, two hours east of Toronto. In exchange for cooking and cleaning for the students - Indians as well - she slept there. They charged her nothing. She didn’t tell her parents; they were, unsurprisingly, petrified that their daughter was alone in a strange country.
Once her PR card arrived, she got a bank account, and began the search for housing again. Another Indian woman gave her a month-to-month arrangement until she got a job. She was down to $1,600 in her pocket.
Faiv took transit daily to Designers Walk in downtown Toronto. She waited in a parking lot at lunch time with her laptop and her resume and approached all the designers as they went out for lunch. With no money to waste, she was careful to get back on transit within the two hour fare window. The LinkedIn connections she collected eventually secured her a temporary gig doing drawings for a high-rise project. That was two-and-half months after her arrival.
By then she was living in Weston and so she supplemented the contract work as a weekend greeter at Caplan’s Appliances just down Weston Road. It was there, in fact, where our paths might have crossed when I bought a washer/dryer combo after Jack died. When her workday contract was expiring, Caplan’s took her on full-time selling vacuums and helping with cooking demos. Through that, she got connected with a kitchen design company, Bloomsbury, where she shadowed well-known designer, Jack Creasy on some high-end projects including one for Canadian design icon, Lynda Reeves!
As with so many lane-changers, though, Faiv’s life shifted big-time when, in March 2020, the pandemic affected the design world. She was laid off, leaving her with only EI. Things got even tougher when her father died suddenly and she was expected to contribute to funeral costs back home. She traveled to India a few months later when restrictions allowed, but even that was more costly than expected. COVID tests alone cost her $800. Her return flight was cancelled and she had to reroute through Dubai - kaching.
Back in Canada, with savings depleted and no job, she put her grieving on hold, borrowed from friends, and job-hunted until she secured a position at Lucvaa Kitchens. That’s where I met her in the fall of 2022. She was offering me the kinds of kitchens many white middle-aged Canadian women want - you know, the ones where navy is considered daring. I spotted the mustard cabinetry in a far corner. Faiv was delighted at my enthusiasm. Together we created a functional and delightfully untraditional kitchen. When she came to oversee installation, I was impressed at how comfortable she was in the midst of a construction site despite her youth, her small size, and her gender. When I discovered she lived up the street that sealed the deal - I knew we would remain in touch.
Faiv has moved around a little but has landed back in the millwork world this time at Cortina Kitchens in Woodbridge. It’s work that combines her design background with the expertise she’s gained and, unlike the world of design, is commission-based so she can earn more. She acknowledges she happens to be good at it too, and if my kitchen is representative of her work, then I concur! As someone who loves cooking and eating as much as I do, I needed something that could be the heart of Chandlerville and she certainly delivered on that.
Faiv’s found a new life in Toronto and has no contact with family back home. If she did, she could certainly set her naysaying uncle straight - he predicted she’d end up mopping floors at Walmart. Has it been easy to find a toehold socially here? Probably not. Other than me, she hasn’t found a friend among clients yet. But I’m sure she will. Regrettably, Torontonians are not known for their friendliness but there are a few exceptions!
Sometimes a lane change is so complete the person before the change no longer exists. For Faiv, traversing the globe at 26 alone and jobless and starting over again has obliterated the Indian girl she once was. Two years ago, she replaced her birth name with Faiv Noelle. Why did she pick that? Her grandfather used to call her Faiv, which, in his dialect, means quick-witted. She chose Noelle because it sounds pretty with Faiv. The name change has freed her from the baggage of her family allowing her to start afresh.
Has she achieved Carrie-Bradshawdom? I’d say not quite. But she’s well on her way!
Missed previous Lane Changer profiles?
Peter Chandler, how it all began for me
Cathy Crowe, her lane is the street
Marissa Bastidas, same lane, new direction
Pam Hudak, living on a multi-lane highway
Jennifer, crossing lanes from Phuket to pup-minder
Emma Simpson, from taxiway to writing terminal
Jessica Waraich, changing lanes on the career on-ramp
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