My story.

I like to think my story began long before I was born. It was the stories before my time that led me back to India each year starting from when I was 11 years old. Year after year my mother brought me to our ancestral villages just outside of Ahmedabad, Gujarat and endured the hot summer months as I spent time with my grandmothers and played with the children of the village. Little did I know those hot summer days would one day serve to be some of the most meaningful moments of my life. 

When I was 17, I decided to go between India and the US during university breaks to work with differently-abled (also known to society as disabled) children and young women from villages. This eventually led to the inception of Mamta School and Aahana, a non-profit organization I founded just before my freshman year of college. More importantly, it led me into the deeper unknown of development work and what it means to be of service. 

With a background in business, I had the privilege of working across industries in the corporate, start-up, and non-profit world. However, it was through a series of questioning that I decided to leave the world that others deemed "successful" to pave a path of defining success on my own terms. In 2015, I left the United States to come closer to my ancestral roots in India, discover a deeper part of myself, and the gifts I knew I had to offer the world. When I left, I left with questions about the world and the very systems we participate in each day. I questioned my role within these systems and how we as humans can bring deep radical and transformational change in order to leave a beautiful, more wholesome planet for our generations moving forward.

For two and a half years, I took these questions with me to every community and person I came across. I traveled around the world, backpacking through Southeast Asia, motorbiking through Vietnam, working in slums, walking 1,000 kilometers across Spain on the Camino de Santiago, and living on and off for 2 years in the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat (view my travel map and photography collection). 

In those years that I traveled within and outside of the United States, I found myself amongst some of the most inspirational communities and people. I learned to believe what I had known all along: there is a way to truly live a life of integration, one which allows us to live our deepest truths and values while still doing the work we need to do in the world. 

Throughout the years abroad, I worked as a part-time consultant for start-up organizations. I worked remotely and for the most part, created my work hours. It was during this time that I began learning more about lifestyle design and what it means to truly live life holistically. I was diagnosed by my doctors in the U.S. with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), but through a series of diet, exercise and lifestyle changes, I re-balanced my hormones and cured most of the symptoms. This only furthered my commitment to sharing what I learned with others so they can also feel the life altering effects of stepping into a life of courage to build and live a life they feel called to live. 

Thank you so much for being here and taking the time to learn more about my work & story. 

I'm looking forward to being a part of your journey and staying connected.

With love,

Rina