At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the finest stories from the startup ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited a passionate entrepreneur – Priyanka Verma for an exclusive interview with us. She is an Entrepreneur, Leader, Coach, NLP Expert, Consultant, Influencer, Change Enabler, and Mentor. Let’s learn more about her exciting journey, her background and her advice for our growing community.
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Priyanka:
Talk us through your background and your journey so far, please;
I come from a middle-class orthodox family from Gwalior. I completed my schooling from Convent girls’ school. After my BSc. Microbiology, I got married at the age of 20 to a merchant navy guy, in a joint family. I had the privilege to complete my Master’s in biotechnology.
I became a proud mother of two beautiful daughters and took care of them, the household and the in-laws being a homemaker for almost 13 years.
I started learning and earning certifications like Life Transformation Coach, Certified International Trainer & Coach, Psychological Counselor and NLP Super coach.”
I am also the author of the book ‘Awaken the self-love queen within you’.
In my professional journey so far, I have helped hundreds of women in the Rapid transformation of their life by building their growth mindset so that they rewire and realign to live life with their highest potential and joy. Also, they become financially and emotionally independent.
Currently, I am working as a Life coach and helping women through 1-2-1 coaching/counselling and conducting workshops on “The ultimate self-love blueprint for women” and “Exploring the new you”.
I believe in “living life by design, not by default” and mentor my clients in designing their lives.”
How did you discover your passion in ‘Coaching’?
As I said, I got married at an early age so, amid juggling between the different roles of being a ‘responsible daughter-in-law’, a loving wife, and a caring mother, I lost my identity and left with a void inside me. Eventually, I succumbed to severe depression, anxiety attacks, and physical ailments like hypothyroidism, hormonal issues, migraine and whatnot.
Every now and then, I was screaming inside my head to myself – “Where are you Priyanka?”, “Who are you, why are you here? What’s the purpose of your life?” “This is not a life that you had imagined if any”.
I tried very hard to lure myself by indulging in my old forgotten hobbies, trying to escape from the hustle-bustle in my mind, but in vain. I woke up many mornings wishing I hadn’t.”
Whenever I looked into the eyes of my two beautiful daughters, I was disheartened and felt ashamed of being a helpless woman. And then! One fine day something pierced me – the thought of what legacy I will leave for my daughters, I cannot be a loser, more importantly, I can be a nobody! And I decided to NOT remain the same. I decided to chalk out my own journey, I decided to find the lost me!
I mustered up the courage to work on myself every day in every way and challenged myself to be my Best version- Priyanka 2.0. I managed to gain all my lost self-confidence and strength and realized how powerful I am. I completed my certifications in Psychological Counseling and also got myself trained as a Life Transformation Coach under various trainers and mentors. I fought the odds of my life and conquered my inner world and have immense pride in myself.”
I didn’t want to restrict this to myself and plan to reach a larger population. I’m on a mission to transform the lives of other women who are going through the same agony that I had to go through. I believe that this is the purpose of my life. I couldn’t feel any happier to be here and hold their hand in their life transformation journey. What I feel is every woman has a hidden miraculous potential within, it’s just she needs motivation, support and handholding to unfold her powers. If I can do it, every woman can do it!
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I believe challenges are a part of life and they are necessary for our growth journey. If we desire to grow and evolve we have to come out of our comfort zone.
We need to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. The more the challenges the more is growth because you become stronger and stronger every time you face them. The bigger the dreams, the bigger the hurdles.
If you know the true purpose of your life and are passionate enough to work towards it, you become unstoppable. Just you need to figure out the alternatives.
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me”
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My daughters Tanishka and Yuvika, are my constant source of inspiration and motivation and the reason I am here today.
My mother and sister are my pillars of strength including all of the powerful and strong women in my life. I am grateful to my dear husband for always trusting me.
I believe in always challenging myself by going beyond my fears, and whenever I achieve a rewarding result, it motivates me further for the journey ahead.
If I fail, it also motivates me to change my strategy, but never give up. I think the universe is conspiring my success, what I have dreamt of and hence indirectly motivating me to get closer to my mission.”
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
I constantly work on following, for growing my business –
(i) Always up-skilling myself
(ii) Exploring effective marketing tools
(iii) Serving the clients, more than expected
Getting the right opportunity and performing to the best of my capability when I get it, is the key to success in my business.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few but profound strategies:
(1) Taking 100% responsibility for my life.
(2) Always being resourceful and open to learning
(3) Being Mindful and agile
(4) Ability to take risks & challenging myself to grow and evolve as a person every day.
(5) Clarity towards my mission and purpose in life.
(6) Empathy towards others and helping them in the best way possible.
(7) Setting healthy boundaries with people.
(8) My ability to forgive and let go.
What about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
First of all, getting great feedback from those who have been inspired through my social media content, through my coaching sessions and workshops. It’s not just about my teachings, I also get profound learnings while working with my clients.
Recently, I was awarded a ‘Global outstanding leadership award’ by UK skill central, the ‘Inspiring Gem of India’, and the ‘Women of Excellence award- 2022’.
I am also one of the finalists for Mrs India, woman of substance. Last month it was a dream come true moment for me when I launched my first book “Awaken the self-love queen within”.
I am welcoming new opportunities every other day. Getting recognition for the work I do makes my work satisfying and exciting. It is less about the recognition but it serves as a reminder from the Universe that I am on the right path and working towards my purpose.
Please share with us, how do you motivate your clients?
My clients generally come to me when they feel stuck in their life or struggle or suffer silently due to some internal or external factors. 90% of our problems are due to our internal mindset so we need to create a conscious shift in it.
I am a big believer in the saying “Everything is figureoutable” and assist my clients with inculcating the following skills in them:
~ Growth mindset
~ Assertive Communication
~ Clarity towards life
~ Challenging your limiting beliefs
~ Courage To Set Boundaries
~ Discipline To Take Continuous Action
~ Become unstoppable
I create customized sessions for them and make use of the right tools and strategies. Here NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) plays a big role. My main intention always is to help women heal, energize and become aware of their inner strengths. I empower clients to take responsibility for their own self-development and show confidence in their abilities to achieve their goals.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
To be very honest I don’t believe in full-time positivity and motivation. We need to learn to accept each and every emotion as it is. Then figure out, is this emotion degrading or uplifting my energy and then process it in a better way.
Mostly my motivation comes through meditation because I keep on exploring and empowering myself through spirituality. The motivation to work hard, stay disciplined and learn something new comes from the desire to evolve myself and inspire others. I always set healthy boundaries with others to protect my energies, and stay away from the people who EXPIRE me. I stay in touch with like-minded people who are positive, and eager to grow along with and INSPIRE me.
I keep my emotional first aid- kit handy with me for my self-care, be it just alone time, listening to music, exercising, nature walking, or spending time with my kids. Also, I keep a gratitude journal and daily write my feelings and emotions that help me vent out & healing.”
I am also a hardcore reader and love to read motivational, self-help and inspirational books by successful people. Last but not least when I see my clients having breakthrough moments and achieving their goals, I get filled up with contentment and motivation.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
For me, living a harmonized holistic life is the definition of real success. If I have to give a few key elements then they are:
> Self-acceptance and self-love
> Responsibility for my actions
> Standing up for my priorities
> Commitment towards growth
> Curiosity to know more
> Taking consistent actions and being resilient
> Serving humanity
What advice would you give women who want to transform their lives and live stress-free and happy life?
– Most important one is, to take 100% responsibility for your life.
– Love yourself to the core, accept yourself with all your positives and negatives.
– Believe in yourself, you have a huge hidden potential, even if no one believes in you
– Have immense clarity towards your priorities.
– Design your future proactively rather than living a reactive, robotic and meaningless life.
– Always keep on growing and become unstoppable.
– Become an inspirational role model to others.
– Set an example for your kids, after all you are liable to create a new happy and abundant generation.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
