Fif received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama from the University of Calgary, specializing in theatre for young audiences. She is a certified Laughter Yoga teacher and a graduate from the Humor Academy of the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor in the U.S. For more than 25 years her work has included teaching and facilitating classes for doctors, nurses, social workers, chief executive officers, educators, and children with special needs. Teens, adults and seniors have sought Fif to assist them and train them in discovering joy and happiness in their lives.
A co-founder of the MediClown Academy, Fif is a practitioner of medical clowning, working on humanizing the medical profession. She believes that hospitals need not be gloomy, they can be infused with laughter and gaiety. Through medical clowning, she transforms spaces, moods, and allows for healthy expression of unpleasant feelings. Through her work, Fif Fernandes raises awareness and proves every single day that physical and mental health go hand in hand. She works on making the medical profession more humane and seeks to fill this gap through medical clowning.
In her 2020 TED Talk, Fif, who calls herself Fun, Intelligent, Female (FIF), made the audience believe that every person has a clown inside of them. Happiness can be found in the slightest of things if we choose to feel it and use it to blow up our confidence. She told the audience that we don’t need a clown attire to joke around, we can be happy just the way we are. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by local community.
A clown is one who takes the ordinary and makes it absolutely absurd. Therapeutic clowning is increasingly becoming a part of patient care. (source: TEDxXIMB 2020)