gerund vs participle

See the below sentence.

Living in a country as ethnically and hence culturally diverse as Trinidad and Tobago, and being myself a blend of cultures, has been one of the most significant influences in my life.

The phrase 'and being myself a blend of cultures' is enclosed by commas so it could be regarded as inserted phrase
and if so, it might well be regarded as a participle phrase than a gerund phrase,
but it is natural that we should take it that the phrase is a gerund phrase when we interpret the given example.

1) If we treat the phrase as a participle phrase, is the conjunction followed by a participle phrase?
2) if we think of the phrase as a gerund phrase, is the phrase "Living in a country as ethnically and hence culturally diverse as Trinidad and Tobago, and being myself a blend of cultures" the subject and why are the commas before 'and' and 'has' put in the phrase ?

In advance, thank for your help.