The Story Behind The Name, SOFIA + EVIE
What’s the deal with the name? Who are Sofia and Evie?
Hey guys. My name isn’t Sofia or Evie, it is Navi (means new in Punjabi!). It’s actually shortened from my full name, Navdeep, meaning “new light”. ✨
The name SOFIA + EVIE came to me after drawing a blank for months (possibly even a year) as to what to call my new jewelry and accessories label. Once I said the name out loud, the connection was instantaneous. As the words bounced off my tongue, my internal dialog hit me with, “How did I not think of this already?” This then-nameless label was born two years after a profound loss that changed how I viewed and felt in the world around me. It highlighted the fragility of life and eventually recovered a creative process that was stalled due to grief and self-medicating rather than self-care. We can get fancy and pull out the catchy terms —metamorphosis, awakening, rebirth— but the bottom line was that there was an organic change of my perspective, whether I was aware of it or not. I was getting out of my funk, and my art was the catalyst that helped me get there. This feeling slowly led me out of a place of purposelessness and toward a sense of comfort, a feeling of being somewhat near home again.
I found myself cornered in a space where I had two options: fall deeper into self-pity and see how it goes, or put my energy into making things with my hands again and see how it goes.
At times I feel as if I can’t not be creative, as the wheels are constantly turning in my mind (ADHD doesn’t help). Up to this point, I hadn’t realized that creativity flows in our lives in a manner similar to emotions and how they both die and rebirth in unexpected ways. When I founded SOFiA + EViE, my creative flow had been trickling more like a creek than the flowing rivers that it once emulated. This creek was actually progress, as it had come to a full stop after experiencing the loss of a second-trimester pregnancy (in Texas, no less) and all of the related medical trauma (again, Texas). My mind came to a standstill as I attempted to forge a vision of what the future new reality was to look like… without Baby Sofia. Such instances can shock one to their core but, sadly, I wasn’t entirely dumbfounded. I knew “these things happen” because my sister had been through the exact experience one year earlier. She lost her daughter, Evie, five months into her pregnancy. Crazy, right? I mean, how’s that for synchronicity? I took my time to figure out what I wanted to do, if anything. I suppose that’s the storyteller way to say that I froze. The reality is that I felt as if the world was moving around me, at full speed, but I couldn’t move. This “break” wasn’t intentional, but rather a blatant indication that my response to stimuli was nonexistent, both external and within. I couldn’t be present in the world because I was stuck in my mind, trying to console my thoughts. I was in need of purpose or a redefined sense of direction, but wasn’t interested enough to take action to acquire it. What I did know was that I didn’t want the story to end there. I didn’t want a heaviness around what were otherwise two wanted pregnancies (accompanied by their own individual stories and chains of events).
Across the board, pregnancy loss generally isn’t a topic of conversation, let alone a common one. In my experience, the subject seems to make people feel uncomfortable. It’s unfortunate, but I can understand the thought process, given the pressure cooker of judgement that we all live within.
It’s not a good idea to discuss ‘these things’ openly.
Maybe there are women or men that believe that perhaps there is something inherently wrong with them. Maybe some people feel shameful for not succeeding at what they assume should come naturally. Maybe entire cultures or communities refuse to acknowledge women’s issues because they don’t have the emotional maturity to discuss the human body without resorting to making it about sex. Maybe it’s denial. Maybe it’s one or many of dozens of reasons why people tell themselves and others that, “it’s not a good idea to discuss ‘these things’ openly.” Not maybe, but certainly, we can all see how this type of shaming circles right back to sexism, right? Framing medical concerns as “women’s issues” isn’t just madness, it isn’t compassionate or rooted in reality. I can’t truly understand why a family’s loss, especially one of such magnitude, is expected to be quickly and quietly digested and chalked up as, “these things happen.”
For me, the trajectory of events leading up to, during, and after losing both Sofia and Evie has brought an energy into my life which was transformative and significant. It was the spirit of SOFiA + EViE that said, without so many words, “Not yet, girl. Not gonna hang up your scissors just yet. One foot in front of the other.” And here we are, making all sorts of beautiful things, thanks to what has naturally evolved into lighthearted spirit of Sofia and Evie.
x, Navi