At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the unique and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. This week we invited renowned Leader Shambhavi for an interview with us to know more about her inspiring journey, her background and her advice for aspiring individuals. Shambhavi is an Author, Life Coach, International Celebrity Healer & Tarot Reader, Spirituality Coach, Speaker, Change Enabler, Entrepreneur Award-Winning Leader, her list of achievements are endless. Come let’s learn more about her journey and get inspired.
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Shambhavi:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background, your turnaround moment, transition and your journey as a whole, please;
I come from one of the elite families of Bihar that have pages written about them in the glorious history of Bihar for generations to read and be proud of. True enough, just like every child, my toddler days were beautiful. I was immensely loved and looked after. But this fairy tale did come to an end. After five years, a boy was born in a Bihari Bumihar family, who was my brother. It all changed with that.
The small-town differences and mindset crept into my upbringing. I was never a pampered child, in fact, I belonged to a traditional family and I faced a lot of discrimination at all levels at home, such as not being allowed to dress at will, step out at will, go for school picnics or even for that matter, attend birthday parties of my friends.
This might sound regular to anyone today, but for a small child, it meant freezing the world for them. Suffocation started at this tender age, where expression was never an option. We never learnt to have a voice, to put forth our will. Even if there was a voice, it was squashed. So basically a girl child was forbidden to have a view.
All this resulted in extreme mental stress and immense anger issues at an early age, and there was a time when it resulted in a speech issue. I started stammering, which further resulted in low self-confidence. I went into a shell and would not talk much to people for the fear of being ridiculed and judged. My silence was never understood. Years went by within the four walls of my room, and my little window through which I would see the outside world and would wish for a day when my dreams would be fulfilled.
Looking back, I feel I had a very restricted childhood unlike my brother with very limited friends and memories to be fond of. This was indeed a bittersweet start to my journey, but where there is a will, there is a way, I very strongly agree with this statement. It is possible to battle and wins over small-town mindsets and complexes, and I did exactly that. That was my first lesson – everything in life is transient.
The Change – The caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. The year 1998 was the golden year in my life. I set foot out into the real world where I could feel the air on my face and be the person I was hiding behind the four walls. I found my voice and my lost identity in a metaphorical and somewhat literal sense when I went to Bangalore for my college and finally found my wings to fly.
After I completed my degree in Hotel Management, I was awarded a scholarship by my college for bringing pride to my college in my entire batch. Without the help of anyone, I cleared a group interview and competed against 25 professionals to get a job at The Oberoi, Bangalore. It was not only a personal achievement, but I take pride in making history for my college.
I was beginning to realize my potential. Later on, after working for some time, I opted to study for an MBA in Marketing & HR, that I had earned as my scholarship. I also completed my IATA and Computer Science courses.
I truly discovered my identity in Bangalore. I credit one incident which turned out to be a turning point in my life. I was told to be the emcee for an event at college, in which I had to address an audience of 2000 plus students. I credit my college, Garden City College of Sciences and Management Studies, for showing me the path to walk that truly brought out my potential. Later, my college acknowledged me after 15 years of passing out for being the best outgoing student inspiring lives, the function was attended by the news and 2500++ freshers.
I never looked back, and life in Bangalore has been a huge upward movement. From an insecure simpleton to someone with extreme confidence, zeal and willpower, I set out to conquer.
Life kept bestowing me with opportunities and I kept grabbing them. In 2001, while working at The Royal Orchid Hotel in Bangalore, I got the opportunity to represent the group of hotels of Mr Chander Baljee to host a meal at ISRO in honour of the late APJ Abdul Kalam. It was a moment of absolute honour to share a moment with the most humble man. It’s one of my most cherished memories of a lifetime.
Later on, I got an opportunity to facilitate the late Jagjit Singh, the great ghazal maestro, and present to him a wonderful book on Bangalore. I kept thanking the Almighty and kept marching ahead; indeed there was no looking back. I met some very eminent names like Lucky Ali, Javed Jaffery, Javagal Srinath, Charu Sharma, Prasad Bidappa and the list is endless.
Life taught me another important lesson; The strongest factor for success is self-esteem, believing you can do it, you deserve it and most importantly, that you can get it.
With Late APJ Abdul Kalam – Former President of India
What are the awards and accolades that you have received in your field so far?
I have won over 20 awards, and have been featured in over 3 dozen online interviews and been written about in spiritual handouts and lifestyle magazines like Femina, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, The Beautiful Powai coffee table book, Bombay Times, and the local newspaper of Powai called the Planet Powai.
Some of my awards for Tarot include:
(1) ‘Grand Master in Tarot Prediction’ by Inspire,
(2) ‘Excellence in Tarot’ by WOW (Wow Personality Awards ),
(3) ‘Best Tarot Reader of 2019’ by Growing Buddies and
(4) ‘Excellence in Spirituality & Healing’ by PIFA 2020, among others.
(5) I have also been awarded by UNICEF, CRY and Helpage India.
As an upcoming entrepreneur, I have also been blessed to receive a number of other awards including:
(a) ‘The Business Diva Award for Excellence in Life Coaching’ by The All Ladies League
(b) ‘Women Achievers Award’ by Young Environmentalist and Aspiring She, ‘Influencers Awards’ by Qween
(c) ‘Speakers Award’ by WEE
(d) ‘Excellence in Life Coaching’ by Pinnacle Fame award
(e) ‘Icon of the year 2020’ by GB TEOI Awards 2020
(f) ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2021
(g) ‘Rangoli Awards’ and the ‘Entrepreneur Excel’ award.
(h) Most recent one is ‘The Perfect Achievers Awards 2021.’i
(i) Top 100 Woman Icon Award.
(j) 50 top influential authors of 2021
How was your experience in the Big Cities?
So, I worked in big cities like Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai and faced the usual struggles of someone who moved from a small town to a large city. The struggles ranged from finding the right house and paying rent, to living all by myself and battling the narrow mindset of people I met along my journey.
I also witnessed how girls, or groups of girls, come together to pull people down on the pretext of friendship. When we speak so much of woman empowerment and woman support woman, I had the most unusual experience. The best part of this is, I realised that Life is not easy.
We are all on our own and must stand up to first enjoy your own company and work with a focused approach. Life taught me some really hard lessons at an early age, as though it was preparing me to deal with bigger setbacks.
I’ve lived in various cities in India and this experience has empowered me to become who I am today. I have also worked across industries and sectors from hospitality, media, real estate and telecom, which has played a part in shaping my identity.
I feel blessed today when I look back at both my college life and 12 years of my corporate stint. It was beautiful and a life blessed me with whatever I seemed to have lost in abundance.
All along I have worked with the best brands in the country. My career started as an intern with ITC Windsor Manor and Sheraton, under the mentorship of Mr Suresh Kumar. I then worked with The Oberoi, Bangalore. Subsequently, I moved on to work in PR at The Baljee group of hotels, which was later renamed The Royal Orchid.
I was the best PR professional in the city then and had some lovely job offers. I then moved on to working with The Times of India, Airtel and HCC.
Talk us through your inclination towards spirituality, please;
My corporate career was going gung-ho, but I had a niggling feeling. I felt as if there was something missing in my life. The mundane 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. routine was not satisfactory, and the craving in me to do something more was huge.
I felt as if I wasn’t adding value to myself. Corporate life was also taking me away from my passions. This was the dominant thought in my head and I quit a well-paying, settled job to explore my passion and it led me down a path of spirituality.
The art that I had acquired during the growing years of my life seemed to come in use. My father’s voice echoed in my ear all along, “No amount of knowledge is ever a waste.” I started burning the midnight oil, and I set out to acquire knowledge and enter a whole new world for myself.
How did you discover your true calling? Why Tarot is your everlasting love? And what drives you despite all odds?
Being spiritually inclined has always been as important to me as being formally educated. My induction to the spiritual world came through Reiki and Nyaas healing by my late grandfather Dr B.P. Sahi. Over the years, I also learned other aspects of spirituality and continued to invest in lifelong learning.
Bangalore holds a very strong significance in my life. Not only did it give me my voice, but it also gave me an identity of who I am today. I am indebted to the city for the same. My first induction to cards was at my aunt’s place and I seemed to connect with it instantly, as though it was meant for me.
Tarot to me is a language of the universe, each card that I pick up to interpret has 78,000 meanings and that makes it a very intense process. It is a science and an art that answers almost everything with precision and also helps one heal. Being passionate about it, I invested a lot of time and effort to learn from the experts.
I got married and eventually became a mother. As I was becoming a full-time tarot reader, it was not easy balancing my two big responsibilities; being a duty-bound mother and maintaining the identity I had created for myself. It was the best decision of my life.
I love reading cards, helping people find their peace and the smile that they had lost. This was one phase of my journey that truly mattered more than the destination. Today, when I look back over the last two decades of my practice, I have helped and healed close to one lakh people in over eight countries, including France, Hong Kong, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, Canada, USA, Australia and many more.
Just like any business entity I, too, got to establish my footprint in the entrepreneurial world and the making of the logo was a landmark activity as it established me as an entity. I always craved professional acknowledgement and this was the making of history for times to come. Indeed, I have come a long way, I choose carefully, and choose the sun; the only one in the universe. A lot of studies has gone behind the making of the logo.
The sun card is one of the most powerful cards in the deck. The sun stands for new beginnings and what better than this as my logo? I also coined the brand name, Tarot For U as I wanted to bring tarot to anyone and everyone, to the common man and woman, and make it accessible to all.
Please tell our audience a little bit about colour Therapy too!
Colours define me; they resonate very strongly in my life, and Colour Therapy is something I hold very close to my heart. I truly believe in the power of healing with colours and have helped people in numerous ways to tweak their life via a change in colours.
Colours are also a very effective way to teach kids and I have used this very successfully in workshops with kids. In fact, I have designed a colour course for kids on Kidsstoppress, a parenting community.
Please share with us about the book ‘Aura’?
I also have a woman’s community called the Woman of Substance, under the umbrella I recently launched my dream book called Aura – Stories of Inspiring Women. The iconic book of 100 plus pages is about 23 inspiring women from across countries and continents.
Where we shy away from supporting women, I proudly hold hands with my woman’s team to showcase them. Having personally gone through immense biases and negativity in the name of support. I am here to say, I support it in its true sense. The book is a good read for all those who have their struggles in life, it’s a book to uplift you. It’s a must-read which inspires you. The book is available on Amazon Flipkart and Notion Press.
What are the areas besides healing that interests you?
I have been reading and interpreting tarot for 23 years now. Apart from tarot, I consult in other modalities, namely Life Coaching, Colour Therapy, Vaastu, Switch Words, Meditation and Doodles.
I also do handwriting and signature analysis, dream interpretation and conduct a very unique workshop of healing through art and runes.
A common theme that runs across all the above is my passion to heal and help people tune inwards for answers.
Who are some of the people that touched your life along the journey?
In the course of my journey, there have been many people who have touched my life and I am eternally grateful. I have met the late President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam over half a dozen times, the late ghazal singer Jagjit Singh and members of the royal family of Mysore.
Many celebrities and some of the best names in the film industry including Anand Milind, the famous music composer under whom I did the most expensive guitar classes for a short stint, ace actor Shishir Sharma, pop singer of the 90’s Anaida, Pooja Bedi, Nandita Puri, renowned journalist and late actor Om Puri’s wife, actor Kubbra Sait, Miss Malini and many others.
You are also involved with a considerable amount of Social Work, we would love to know more!
The more you give, the more you get Charity is a way of life with me. For the last five years, I have partnered and been invited every year by the Ogaan Foundation to be part of a noble cause, which is to raise funds for the treatment of breast cancer patients through a carnival. I read tarot cards at the Elle Carnival and the proceeds for the same are donated to cancer patients.
I have also worked with destitute girls in juvenile remand homes. Every year, I associate with a municipal school and donate during the annual Daan Utsav. I volunteer with BMC in my L ward and help to solve civic and infrastructure issues at a hyper-local, societal level.
The Robinhood Army is another organization that I hold in fond esteem and have collaborated with them to conduct workshops for street children.
What are some of the Community Initiatives that you are involved with?
Today, I can proudly say that I have many communities that I am very passionate about.
❖ Tarot for U connects tarot to whoever needs it.
❖ Woman of Substance is a thriving community of women entrepreneurs that generate opportunities for women in business and networking.
❖ Sams Musings – A compilation of my writings consolidated on Instagram. I started penning down my thoughts and blogging during the pandemic. I wrote a column called ‘Happiness Matters’ on mental health and ‘Back to Roots,’ a mythological column.
We would love to know your mantra and advice for all the aspiring individuals?
My favourite quote has always taught me self-belief and the power of manifestation. I hope it resonates with you too.
– Attract what you expect
– Reflect what you desire
– Become what you respect
– Mirror what you admire.
Stay patient and trust your journey: This is one message I would like to give to you, my reader. I know it takes enormous courage and resilience to stay true to it. But this is the truth that has been my guiding principle.
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.
