Family Matters with Lisane Basquiat

Head Talks

Lisane Basquiat, the founder of Shaping Freedom, grew up in an immigrant Haitian family in Brooklyn. She and her siblings — including the artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat — were expected to succeed in conventional ways. Her brother took his own creative path. Lisane, who is an entrepreneur and a life strategist, followed a conventional corporate route for a while but now also helps others to define what they want from their lives. She says that families and their legacies to us are central. She tells us we need to work out how to be accountable to ourselves and not to put the responsibility for our own happiness onto others, whether that means members of our family or those outside.