Sushmi Aggarwal,
A Certified Personal Life Coach, Thought Leader, Community Leader, Certified Yoga Instructor, Speaker, IT Professional and a Mom.
I arrived in Minneapolis for the first time ever as a nine-year-old immigrant for a short initial visit. Thereafter, I commuted annually between Minneapolis, USA and Kanpur, India for the next 9 years.
I remember growing up making observations of the cultural differences. The lessons learnt as a result of the differences have contributed to my own inner quest. I finally ended up moving for a permanent stay in Minneapolis after completing my high school. As a second generation, bi-cultural teenager, moving in with my parents at an age when youth move out was full of many transitions.
Trained as a Biochemist (Bachelors of Science) from University of Minnesota, I worked in Research and Development for 10 years designing natural perfumes as a junior Perfumer.With limited opportunities for this specialized skill in Minneapolis, I decided to pursue a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Information Systems.
The plan was to utilize the newly acquired skills to better the corporate future, that happened but with a twist. After finishing my MBA, I got married and moved to California. Midwest to West Coast that’s a transition!
We didn’t stay there too long, pregnant with the first child I moved back to Minneapolis and began working for a Fortune 500 company in Information Systems in the Applications Development and Management team. Coming back wasn’t a transition but working a new job in a new industry as a pregnant working woman had many transitions wrapped in one.
In my initial role as an analyst I had to solicit requirements from the customer and be the bridge to communicate them to the developer. This experience allowed me to create a desired outcome and co create with the client taking them from the state of chaos to clarity.
Life was speeding by, it felt like traveling on a bullet train, I first realized this when I had to visit the ER suffering from stress headaches. I was too busy raising seven and five-year old’s as a working parent and had no time to “smell the roses’ ‘ as they say.
Parenting is a satisfying experience but it is not easy as a bi-cultural working woman! This transition of life nudged me into an inner quest. Like many others in the race of life, I was busy with life’s goals in the external world that were consuming most of the time. I realized that fulfilling dreams, shouldering responsibilities at the expense of my own health was not going to be an option.
I needed to learn to run efficiently in the journey of life, I needed to learn how to create life consciously so that I am in charge, where I can do what is important to me at my pace at the time of my choosing. For this I needed to explore the inner world, for it is there happiness and peace are sought for stress created in the mind.
I began paying attention to words like balance, mental well-being, peace and advancement in vocabulary from promotion, job, resume, ear infection, day care and more. I started looking for tools that would help me travel through life’s journey with a sense of calm and achievement. I observed that all I needed to do was to connect back to the Basics. I chose to do it through Yoga and community service.
Convinced with its mind-body health benefits after having seen my father practice it for over 70 years. Fast Forward to me becoming an empty nester, I went back to University of MN to get certified as a Yoga instructor. I have been teaching free weekly Yoga for over 6 years to the community.
Community service was another practice that has played a part in my journey of Inner Qwest. With over 30 years of volunteering at the Hindu Society of Minnesota. I have led organizing Diwali, the Festival of Lights event at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Documented the audio-video history of the largest temple in the Midwest in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society.
Continuing with the cultural interests, I am now a volunteer leader for the Hindu Heritage Center focusing on educational and cultural studies.
Inspired by the joys of sharing back with the community, I have Co-founded a nonprofit organization, TheNeedINDeed. TNID is dedicated to mental wellbeing and cultural diversity awareness. Offering activity-based health and wellness workshops for behaviorally challenged youth at west metro schools, Monthly Women’s Support Group, Monthly Birthday celebrations for substance abuse survivors and a seat at the Wayzata School Board of Partners for Healthy Kids.
Now, I enjoy seeing my life transition from chaos to clarity. Along the journey, I have picked up a few tips to build the foundation grounded in Inner quest. Through Inner Qwest Coaching, I will share the lessons learnt through many of life’s transition stations. As well as bring the techniques learnt through the professional training of the Life Coaching Program