[Music]
[Applause]
thank you so much for being here I’m so
excited to share my story with everyone
and hope that something sparks in you
and inspires you to do something that
you never thought you could do so the
theme for this for this talk is really
close to me because it really resonates
with my whole life when Sarah told me
the theme is you know you your zip code
doesn’t determine your destiny and to me
that’s really true I mean your dick code
doesn’t really determine your destiny
it’s what you make of it now that’s what
does that really mean so let’s just talk
about how or what zip code is you know
some I think of it as a physical zip
code and a mental zip code the physical
boundaries that hold you in and the
mental boundaries that hold you in so
what is a physical boundary that
sometimes keeps us from pushing forward
it could be your family our circumstance
where we’re born and maybe we don’t have
enough resources to go and do what we
want and from those physical boundaries
we form our mental boundaries it
develops this fear of the unknown the
fear of not wanting to push or push the
boundaries or or tip the balance sort of
say to really follow what you were
passionate about or even have a have the
courage to figure out what your passion
is we get into this this loop of
negativity and this loop of we can’t do
something or this loop of um I don’t
think I can do it I’m not good enough
and those are the physical those are the
zip codes that I would like to talk
about the mental and the physical
invisible fences that we hold ourselves
in and that’s what I talk about a lot
with my friends and families the
invisible fence or mental or the the
bound
that we don’t see so I’m gonna tell you
a little bit about where I come from and
how I push through some boundaries or
every boundary that I guess been faced
with I was born and raised I was born to
a 16 year old mother she was married at
15 and had me right after she had she
and I have less of a gap than me and my
youngest brother so she was she was
still in school when she had me and my I
I hear the story and breaks my heart
every time that when my father his mom
came to visit because back then you know
they couldn’t tell if it was a boy or
girl when she saw that I would the the
baby was a girl she rejected me because
I was a girl and also because I was
dark-skinned because in India fair skin
is much more preferred than darker skin
people so here I am I grew up with this
story everybody tells me this and it
breaks my heart every single time so
here’s my mom still going to school has
a baby and her mother-in-law totally
abandoned her in helping her and some
she reaches out to her mom and ended up
giving me up to her when I was only 3
months old so I didn’t grow up with my
parents I grew up in my grandmother my
maternal grandmother’s home where when I
look back today it was a massive
blessing because those few years that I
spent with her the love that was
cultivated in me in those years was is
what I think drives me forward even to
this day that love that that in those
initial years from then on I you know
grew up I was seven and I think it was
my father’s decision to move me from my
love filled home into a home of my uncle
and aunts her his brothers because
traditionally a kid gets spoiled when
they’re given too much luck and actually
that was exactly the
their argument you’re getting too
spoiled you need to have discipline you
need to have this and so they moved me
from they didn’t move me into their home
they moved me into my uncle and aunts
town where I felt like I was never good
enough I always felt that I was me I was
treated differently than their son and I
was I was a girl and girls don’t really
you know important in my family even to
this day and throughout those years
I remember feeling wanted feeling
abandoned and I’m feeling like I’m
missing something and so when the time
came to for me to move to the US where
my parents were at that time I was
estatic I just I I couldn’t I couldn’t
have asked for a better I don’t know a
better miracle to happen than living
with my parents and when I went to live
with my parents when I was I think 11 or
12 it was it was the day I went into
heaven and I got there and those few
years that I stayed there was were just
full of disappointments because I
expected something different from my
parents and my parents expected
something different from me and I you
know we constantly argued and disagreed
because we just had so many different
expectations about each other and as you
can see my zip code constantly changed
whether it was physical or mental there
were many times I mean there was there
was a time when I left home when I was
13 slept on the street and because I
didn’t want to go home
hey I didn’t feel home I didn’t I didn’t
feel like there were my parents because
they didn’t treat me like they’re like
my parents when I came back or when I
was found because I actually went to a
friend’s my family friend’s home because
I was knocking on each door that day
that night should I say
and I ended up at a family friend’s home
and I told them I’ll do anything just do
not call my parents and those those
mental boundaries that I was constantly
pushing I think everybody struggles with
those good done and I think my story
really started to change when I decided
I need to I need to do something on my
own I know I need to live with my
parents and I don’t feel at home there
so I needed to cultivate my own life my
own my own being and that took that took
time – even though I decided that that
thought had the awareness or became came
into that feeling I that still took a
lot of time I went to college based on
what they wanted me to do they wanted me
of it you might wanted me to be a doctor
surprise there and even though I went to
school for biochem and later on went on
to being a scientist for a big pharma
company it didn’t make them happy it
like I just not get any approval from my
parents even though I had decided that
I’m going to cultivate I’m going to make
my own path I was still longing for
their approval so always pushing about
pushing me on my mental boundaries my
physical boundaries I think I remember
that day very clearly when I decided I
do not want to work at this from
pharmaceutical company anymore I do not
want to be a scientist I needed to push
past another boundary so what did I do I
quit my job I went into waiting tables I
went into taking acting classes I went
into working insurance to retail to the
food industry and until I could find
something that I was passionate about I
mean to go from a six-figure job to
waiting tables which is great it the
things that acting and restaurant
business taught me was how to connect
with people it really made me feel like
home it made me connect with my emotions
with myself it
really help me be more aware of myself
my feelings and I think it’s that
journey is what I was looking for to go
on to find what I want to do and
throughout life I think there isn’t even
a second that I would change because of
the things that I’ve gone through is
what made me who I am
I think sleeping on the streets going
through a Newark when I ride away from
home or when in college going through
relationships with boyfriends that were
less than perfect were mentally abusive
physically abusive that also put me out
on the street
it was always pushing my mental zip code
my mental boundaries oftentimes we we
just have trouble finding our own way
and believing in ourselves and I think
we need to I need to I think we need to
constantly challenge ourselves I think
we need to constantly be there for
ourselves because ultimately I found
home in myself
I didn’t find it in somebody I didn’t
find it in a specific zip code I didn’t
find it anywhere except my own being and
I think when we when I think of this
theme I think people need to when they
are struggling instead of asking the
question why am I going through why is
this happening to me ask and be curious
about what am I supposed to learn from
this and I think those are the questions
I constantly asked myself like why what
is it what is the question what is the
learning ground I’m going through this
right now but what is it that I’m
supposed to learn from this I learned
how to survive in my childhood when I
was tossed around from home to home I
learned how to stand up for myself when
I had the courage to quit my job and go
on to the unknown of acting winning
tables insurance retail whatever it is
whatever it took to get me to where I am
today I think that’s what we need to do
more of we need to find that courage in
ourselves and it wasn’t easy I mean it
was I had I had a lot of I had a lot of
challenges but I think it’s also when
you’re going through these challenging
times it’s also very important to find
your tribe find that connection with
people that are constantly going through
things that you might be going through
and it’s really important for you to
find that try find those people and
realize that you’re not in this alone
there’s so many people who are going
through what I went through and I only
knew about that when I started talking
and my family had constantly pushed down
emotional emotional being emotional in
general they don’t recognize emotion
even to this day don’t think that you
know a woman doing something is as
important as a man doing something so I
think it’s really important for us to
share our experiences and find that
relief in knowing that there are a lot
of people in this with me and I think
that’s where I found a lot of my my good
friends and also believing in myself
throughout this whole journey that I am
going to make it I know that not
everybody goes through you know the same
phase at the same time I know that not
everybody goes through the same things
at the same time but if you just build
that connection with other people and
share your experiences I think that’s
where you find true connection and true
being and your true home because I think
you know you don’t necessarily have to
be born with a family that you want to
be in you can create your own family and
that’s what I’ve done throughout my life
collected people in a way my friends and
kept them close to me and that’s what
has helped me get through to where I am
today nobody would have thought that a
girl who was born in a village that had
no water no toilets no electricity
that’s where I was raised that’s that’s
what my grandmother’s home was would be
able to be standing here today in front
of you with a fully funded started
startup with all these experiences under
her belt whether it be a saying whether
it be you know dealing with the food
industry or whether it be being a
scientist whatever it may be I never let
anybody tell me what to do and what not
to do and that’s why from the girl from
that village is standing in front of you
today to try to kind of help you
understand that you know where you are
born it doesn’t dictate where you are
going I hope that my story helps inspire
somebody to maybe take a leap of faith
or start something new or less than
their fear of the unknown because the
greatest success to me is to be an
inspiration for somebody to do something
new and different and daring
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause]
thank you so much for being here I’m so
excited to share my story with everyone
and hope that something sparks in you
and inspires you to do something that
you never thought you could do so the
theme for this for this talk is really
close to me because it really resonates
with my whole life when Sarah told me
the theme is you know you your zip code
doesn’t determine your destiny and to me
that’s really true I mean your dick code
doesn’t really determine your destiny
it’s what you make of it now that’s what
does that really mean so let’s just talk
about how or what zip code is you know
some I think of it as a physical zip
code and a mental zip code the physical
boundaries that hold you in and the
mental boundaries that hold you in so
what is a physical boundary that
sometimes keeps us from pushing forward
it could be your family our circumstance
where we’re born and maybe we don’t have
enough resources to go and do what we
want and from those physical boundaries
we form our mental boundaries it
develops this fear of the unknown the
fear of not wanting to push or push the
boundaries or or tip the balance sort of
say to really follow what you were
passionate about or even have a have the
courage to figure out what your passion
is we get into this this loop of
negativity and this loop of we can’t do
something or this loop of um I don’t
think I can do it I’m not good enough
and those are the physical those are the
zip codes that I would like to talk
about the mental and the physical
invisible fences that we hold ourselves
in and that’s what I talk about a lot
with my friends and families the
invisible fence or mental or the the
bound
that we don’t see so I’m gonna tell you
a little bit about where I come from and
how I push through some boundaries or
every boundary that I guess been faced
with I was born and raised I was born to
a 16 year old mother she was married at
15 and had me right after she had she
and I have less of a gap than me and my
youngest brother so she was she was
still in school when she had me and my I
I hear the story and breaks my heart
every time that when my father his mom
came to visit because back then you know
they couldn’t tell if it was a boy or
girl when she saw that I would the the
baby was a girl she rejected me because
I was a girl and also because I was
dark-skinned because in India fair skin
is much more preferred than darker skin
people so here I am I grew up with this
story everybody tells me this and it
breaks my heart every single time so
here’s my mom still going to school has
a baby and her mother-in-law totally
abandoned her in helping her and some
she reaches out to her mom and ended up
giving me up to her when I was only 3
months old so I didn’t grow up with my
parents I grew up in my grandmother my
maternal grandmother’s home where when I
look back today it was a massive
blessing because those few years that I
spent with her the love that was
cultivated in me in those years was is
what I think drives me forward even to
this day that love that that in those
initial years from then on I you know
grew up I was seven and I think it was
my father’s decision to move me from my
love filled home into a home of my uncle
and aunts her his brothers because
traditionally a kid gets spoiled when
they’re given too much luck and actually
that was exactly the
their argument you’re getting too
spoiled you need to have discipline you
need to have this and so they moved me
from they didn’t move me into their home
they moved me into my uncle and aunts
town where I felt like I was never good
enough I always felt that I was me I was
treated differently than their son and I
was I was a girl and girls don’t really
you know important in my family even to
this day and throughout those years
I remember feeling wanted feeling
abandoned and I’m feeling like I’m
missing something and so when the time
came to for me to move to the US where
my parents were at that time I was
estatic I just I I couldn’t I couldn’t
have asked for a better I don’t know a
better miracle to happen than living
with my parents and when I went to live
with my parents when I was I think 11 or
12 it was it was the day I went into
heaven and I got there and those few
years that I stayed there was were just
full of disappointments because I
expected something different from my
parents and my parents expected
something different from me and I you
know we constantly argued and disagreed
because we just had so many different
expectations about each other and as you
can see my zip code constantly changed
whether it was physical or mental there
were many times I mean there was there
was a time when I left home when I was
13 slept on the street and because I
didn’t want to go home
hey I didn’t feel home I didn’t I didn’t
feel like there were my parents because
they didn’t treat me like they’re like
my parents when I came back or when I
was found because I actually went to a
friend’s my family friend’s home because
I was knocking on each door that day
that night should I say
and I ended up at a family friend’s home
and I told them I’ll do anything just do
not call my parents and those those
mental boundaries that I was constantly
pushing I think everybody struggles with
those good done and I think my story
really started to change when I decided
I need to I need to do something on my
own I know I need to live with my
parents and I don’t feel at home there
so I needed to cultivate my own life my
own my own being and that took that took
time – even though I decided that that
thought had the awareness or became came
into that feeling I that still took a
lot of time I went to college based on
what they wanted me to do they wanted me
of it you might wanted me to be a doctor
surprise there and even though I went to
school for biochem and later on went on
to being a scientist for a big pharma
company it didn’t make them happy it
like I just not get any approval from my
parents even though I had decided that
I’m going to cultivate I’m going to make
my own path I was still longing for
their approval so always pushing about
pushing me on my mental boundaries my
physical boundaries I think I remember
that day very clearly when I decided I
do not want to work at this from
pharmaceutical company anymore I do not
want to be a scientist I needed to push
past another boundary so what did I do I
quit my job I went into waiting tables I
went into taking acting classes I went
into working insurance to retail to the
food industry and until I could find
something that I was passionate about I
mean to go from a six-figure job to
waiting tables which is great it the
things that acting and restaurant
business taught me was how to connect
with people it really made me feel like
home it made me connect with my emotions
with myself it
really help me be more aware of myself
my feelings and I think it’s that
journey is what I was looking for to go
on to find what I want to do and
throughout life I think there isn’t even
a second that I would change because of
the things that I’ve gone through is
what made me who I am
I think sleeping on the streets going
through a Newark when I ride away from
home or when in college going through
relationships with boyfriends that were
less than perfect were mentally abusive
physically abusive that also put me out
on the street
it was always pushing my mental zip code
my mental boundaries oftentimes we we
just have trouble finding our own way
and believing in ourselves and I think
we need to I need to I think we need to
constantly challenge ourselves I think
we need to constantly be there for
ourselves because ultimately I found
home in myself
I didn’t find it in somebody I didn’t
find it in a specific zip code I didn’t
find it anywhere except my own being and
I think when we when I think of this
theme I think people need to when they
are struggling instead of asking the
question why am I going through why is
this happening to me ask and be curious
about what am I supposed to learn from
this and I think those are the questions
I constantly asked myself like why what
is it what is the question what is the
learning ground I’m going through this
right now but what is it that I’m
supposed to learn from this I learned
how to survive in my childhood when I
was tossed around from home to home I
learned how to stand up for myself when
I had the courage to quit my job and go
on to the unknown of acting winning
tables insurance retail whatever it is
whatever it took to get me to where I am
today I think that’s what we need to do
more of we need to find that courage in
ourselves and it wasn’t easy I mean it
was I had I had a lot of I had a lot of
challenges but I think it’s also when
you’re going through these challenging
times it’s also very important to find
your tribe find that connection with
people that are constantly going through
things that you might be going through
and it’s really important for you to
find that try find those people and
realize that you’re not in this alone
there’s so many people who are going
through what I went through and I only
knew about that when I started talking
and my family had constantly pushed down
emotional emotional being emotional in
general they don’t recognize emotion
even to this day don’t think that you
know a woman doing something is as
important as a man doing something so I
think it’s really important for us to
share our experiences and find that
relief in knowing that there are a lot
of people in this with me and I think
that’s where I found a lot of my my good
friends and also believing in myself
throughout this whole journey that I am
going to make it I know that not
everybody goes through you know the same
phase at the same time I know that not
everybody goes through the same things
at the same time but if you just build
that connection with other people and
share your experiences I think that’s
where you find true connection and true
being and your true home because I think
you know you don’t necessarily have to
be born with a family that you want to
be in you can create your own family and
that’s what I’ve done throughout my life
collected people in a way my friends and
kept them close to me and that’s what
has helped me get through to where I am
today nobody would have thought that a
girl who was born in a village that had
no water no toilets no electricity
that’s where I was raised that’s that’s
what my grandmother’s home was would be
able to be standing here today in front
of you with a fully funded started
startup with all these experiences under
her belt whether it be a saying whether
it be you know dealing with the food
industry or whether it be being a
scientist whatever it may be I never let
anybody tell me what to do and what not
to do and that’s why from the girl from
that village is standing in front of you
today to try to kind of help you
understand that you know where you are
born it doesn’t dictate where you are
going I hope that my story helps inspire
somebody to maybe take a leap of faith
or start something new or less than
their fear of the unknown because the
greatest success to me is to be an
inspiration for somebody to do something
new and different and daring
[Music] [Applause]
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