Why I created Chai & Her
For a long time, I thought success meant being able to handle it all — career, family, expectations, and everything in between. I hit a real midlife moment recently and asked myself, "Is this the life I actually want, or just the life I've become really good at managing?" This changed everything. I realized how many of us are incredibly capable of caring for everyone else while quietly putting ourselves last. We achieve so much, yet can still feel stuck, stretched thin, or unsure what comes next.
I arrived in the US almost 20 years ago, unsure and yet determined, with my entire life packed into two suitcases. A residency and two subspecialty fellowships later, I went from assistant professor to full professor in ten years — but what never made it onto that CV was having three kids in between, and the quieter trade-offs and family hardships that came with it. As an eldest daughter, and now a mother of three, I am navigating parenting without a "village" and caring for elderly parents back home, all alongside getting those notes written, grants submitted, and meetings attended. And of course, the back-to-school nights, weekend sports, and getting "in" with the school moms — while making sure I don't forget it's Rainbow Week at school.
None of this has been easy, and I'm not here to tell you it is. I've been coached myself for years and found it genuinely valuable — and that's exactly why I'm here now, to give that back to other women walking a similar path.
I created Chai and Her as a space to pause, get honest about what you want, and create a life that feels like yours. Because you don't always need more time. Sometimes you need to get the right time back.