The Woman Who Said No to the Checklist with Rajyalakshmi Kola

Choosing Joy: A Mother, a Son, and the Dance That Saved Her with Sarika Nayak

In this episode, Harry sits down with Sarika Nayak — IT professional, Bollywood dance instructor, community builder, and mother to Ranch, her son on the autism spectrum. Born and raised in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Sarika has been dancing since she was three years old, training for over a decade in the classical Indian dance form Odissi under a guru who shaped not just her art but her spirit. Now rooted in Salt Lake City, Utah, she leads the Bollipop dance community — a space she built from scratch that has become, in her own words, a home away from home. This conversation goes deep. We talk about what it felt like when Ranch was first diagnosed, the silence and isolation of those early days, and how dance became the lifeline that pulled Sarika back. But this isn't just a story about surviving hardship. It's about what it looks like to choose joy — deliberately, repeatedly — and how that choice ripples outward into everything you build. What We Cover * Growing up hyperactive and happy in Bhubaneswar, and a mother's quiet wisdom in channeling that energy into Odissi * The "Indian checklist" — academics, job, marriage — and the buried dream of dance that never quite went away * Moving to Utah in 2014, Ranch's diagnosis at eighteen months, and the first time Sarika felt truly low * How a recreation center instructor's offhand suggestion sparked the Bollipop community in 2015 * Reimagining milestones, accepting different timelines, and what resilience actually looks like for a special needs parent * The Bollipop community as mutual healing — comeback moms, IT professionals, people who just need to move * What autism has taught Sarika about unconditional love, purity of heart, and living without judgment * Her advice for parents just beginning their autism journey: get the diagnosis, accept it on your own timeline, and know that you are the difference * Why staying passionate isn't selfishness — it's the thing that keeps you showing up A Moment That Will Stay With You "I think I never left dance. And I think it was mutual — dance never left me." "When you look at a heart rate monitor, it's the ups and downs that tell you the person is alive. If it's flat — he's dead. Life is that. If you have the ups and downs, you're actually living." "Ranch has come into my life to make me a better person." Rapid Fire * Favorite book: Autobiography of a Yogi * Favorite song: Love Me * Favorite quote: "Miles to go before I sleep" — Robert Frost * Favorite movie: Titanic * Greatest fear: That Ranch won't know what to do without her * Philosophy of life: Be happy. Make others happy. Everything will magically change around you. Connect with Sarika Find her and the Bollipop community on Instagram and in Salt Lake City, Utah. Listen & Subscribe Available on Spotify and YouTube. If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs it today. A quick shout-out to today's sponsor, Sri Krishna Jewellers — over 50 years of craftsmanship, now serving the Dallas community from Frisco, Texas. Visit srikrishna.com or call 430-231-1111.

The Strength to Choose Yourself with Suha Lingam

Guest: Suha Lingam — Managing Principal of Digi Trunk, former digital marketing leader at Studio McGee, Intermountain Healthcare, Zale Jewellers, and Claire's. MBA from BYU, digital marketing training from Cornell. Survivor of domestic abuse and someone who chose to rebuild life entirely on her own terms. Episode Summary: Suha's story begins long before the boardroom. Born in Sri Lanka, raised between India and the U.S., she grew up carrying the weight of generational trauma, cultural expectations, and a family defined by survival rather than thriving. Her parents escaped war. Safety was the ceiling. Ambition wasn't in the vocabulary. What followed was decades of quiet unlearning — about what strength means, what loyalty actually requires, and what it costs to finally trust yourself. Suha opens up about leaving a domestically abusive marriage, not because she had found herself, but because she became a mother and couldn't unsee what she was seeing. She talks about the compartmentalization that got her through, the vision of a better life that kept her going, and the surprising grief of healing — the relationships, beliefs, and versions of herself she had to leave behind. Today, she's intentionally stepped away from a two-decade corporate career to simply figure out who Suha is. Not the digital marketer. Not the immigrant daughter. Not the wife. Just Suha. This conversation is about what it takes to stop defining yourself by your roles, set real boundaries with the people you love most, and build a life in alignment with who you actually are. Key themes from this conversation: What "strength" meant growing up — and how that definition has completely transformed. The role of intuition as the clearest compass she has. Why healing costs you relationships you never expected to lose. How becoming a mother gave her the courage she couldn't find for herself. The difference between surviving and thriving — and the decades it took to claim the latter. What it means to be "complete on your own" before inviting anyone else in. Why she stopped caring about how her LinkedIn looks — and why that matters. Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Sri Krishna Jewellers — over 50 years of craftsmanship, now serving the Dallas community from Frisco, Texas. Visit srikrishna.com or call 430-231-1111.

The Woman Who Said No to the Checklist with Rajyalakshmi Kola

What does it look like to build a thriving company in a male-dominated industry, stay grounded in your identity, and still make time to dance? Rajyalakshmi Kola — co-founder of Sunworks Energy, IIT Madras and Virginia Tech alumna, and a force in India's renewable energy sector — joins Portraits of Strength for a conversation that is equal parts grounding and inspiring. With over 12 years of experience and more than 1,400 megawatts of solar capacity delivered, Rajyalakshmi has built something remarkable — not just professionally, but personally. In this episode, we explore: The woman behind the work. Rajyalakshmi traces her roots to her grandmother — a doctor, Red Cross volunteer, and MLC who was working until the age of 80, back when that was virtually unheard of for a woman. Growing up with that model of strength shaped everything. Navigating a male-dominated path — from day one. The gender ratio didn't start at the boardroom. It started at IIT prep, where women made up less than 10% of her class. Rajyalakshmi shares how she got used to being the only woman in the room long before she co-founded a company — and how that prepared her for the moments that would have rattled someone else. The assumption that almost made her walk away from a client. A prospective client once opened a call by asking which of her partners was her husband. She stayed composed through that half-hour conversation — and then called her partners the moment she hung up. What happened next says everything about her character and her team. Why she came back to India. After graduating from Virginia Tech around 2009–10, Rajyalakshmi tried to find work in the US in her field. When the opportunities didn't materialize, she made a deliberate choice: travel, see the country she'd been living in, and leave with no regrets. Then she went home and built something extraordinary. Leadership lessons from scaling to 100 people. The math and engineering were never the hard part. People management was. From delaying a necessary firing for six months to learning how to build a culture that holds at scale, Rajyalakshmi is honest about what they got wrong and how they course-corrected. The proudest moment she almost dismissed. When four board members from a company — each independently reaching out through their own networks — all came back with the same name: hers. She called it small. We disagree. Dance as a lifeline. Rajyalakshmi has been dancing since she was two and a half years old. Bharatanatyam, contemporary, hip hop, belly dance — she has trained in them all. After a 25-year gap, she picked Bharatanatyam back up during COVID, starting from scratch alongside six-year-olds. She performs regularly with a small troupe in Hyderabad and dances at weddings when asked. No hesitation. CrossFit as the foundation. What started as a way to become a stronger dancer became a non-negotiable daily ritual. She does her own programming, meets her crew every morning on a terrace in Hyderabad, and credits the discipline of movement with pulling her out of the most anxious period of her professional life. Advice for South Asian women caught between expectation and ambition. Stop explaining yourself to people who aren't listening. Find the path of least resistance, move forward, and stop waiting for permission that was never yours to need. Connect with Portraits of Strength 📺 YouTube | 🎙️ Spotify 📸 Instagram: @portraits.of.strength.podcast Portraits of Strength is proudly supported by our Founding Sponsor - Sri Krishna Jewellers.

Determined, Not Stubborn with Dr.Maddy Manchi Nukala

Dr. Madhavi Manchi Nukala (Maddy) — Sociologist, Researcher & Human Ethics Manager What does it mean to stay rooted in who you are when life keeps uprooting you? In this episode, Harry sits down with Dr. Madhavi Manchi Nukala ~ sociologist, researcher, fierce advocate for social justice, and self-described "politely persistent" human being. Born into a Telugu-speaking family that moved across India over generations, Maddy now calls Auckland, New Zealand home, where she serves as Human Ethics Manager at the University of Auckland. This conversation is about the quiet, water-like strength it takes to navigate cultures, challenge expectations, and build a life on your own terms , without ever losing sight of who you are. What we talk about: From childhood memories of Ek Do Teen and a head always buried in a book, to kicking math's ass at 92% just to prove she could, Maddy's story is full of those small rebellions that quietly become a life. She shares what it was like growing up across Bangalore, Chennai, and Mumbai as a kid who could never quite answer "where are you from" — and why she now sees that shapeshifting quality as a superpower. She opens up about the long, lonely road of a PhD at TISS Mumbai, meeting her husband three days before saying yes, shuttling between India and New Zealand for three years to finish her thesis, and what it meant to be the first woman in her family to earn a doctorate. She also takes us inside the world of human research ethics — why AI and indigenous data sovereignty are keeping her up at night, why ethics is the canary in the coal mine, and how you hold empathy and assertiveness side by side when the conversations get hard. And she leaves us with something worth sitting with: strength doesn't have to be loud. Sometimes it looks like water — taking the shape of its container, but quietly eroding everything in its way. Highlights: * Growing up across cities in India and never being able to answer "where are you from" * Choosing sociology over engineering in a Telugu family, and what that fight looked like * Six years, two countries, a new marriage, and one PhD * The advice that got her through: "Come have a cup of chai, every day" * Being the first woman in her family to earn a doctorate * Navigating race, gender, and invisibility as an Indian woman in New Zealand * Why AI and Māori data sovereignty are the biggest challenges in research ethics right now * Clog dancing on Thursdays and why getting out of your head is serious self-care * Imposter syndrome, quiet strength, and calling stubbornness what it really is: determination Books Maddy loves: The Prophet by Khalil Gibran · The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin · Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay Connect with Portraits of Strength: Spotify | YouTube | Instagram @portraits.of.strength.podcast

Work-Life Integration: The Real Secret to Success with Sai Mounika Potti

What does it look like to rise to the director level in one of the most male-dominated industries in the world — while navigating motherhood, imposter syndrome, and life as a woman of color in Utah? In this episode, Harry the Anecdotist sits down with Sai Mounika Potti, Director of Product and Test Engineering at Texas Instruments in Lehi, Utah, for a conversation that is as honest as it is inspiring.Mounika doesn't just talk about success. She talks about the days she wants to quit, the pregnancy comments that stopped her in her tracks, the imposter syndrome she battles every single day, and the mentor who told her something she'll never forget. She also opens up about grief, dance, discipline, and what she believes sisterhood really means.This one hits different. Sai Mounika Potti is a Director of Product and Test Engineering at Texas Instruments in Lehi, Utah — and the first woman of color to hold a director-level role at her organization. Born in India, Mounika grew up across three continents — the US, UK, and India — before completing her bachelor's degree in India and her master's in Singapore, where she began her semiconductor career at Micron. She relocated to Utah in 2016 and has been building ever since.Beyond her corporate role, Mounika is a dancer with a growing social media presence who believes that self-expression and professional ambition are not in conflict — they're complementary. She is also a mother to a young toddler and a vocal advocate for women's leadership and sisterhood in the workplace.📸 Growing up across three continents and what constant movement taught Mounika about resilience and fitting in. How her father — who left a small town in Andhra Pradesh to pursue his IIT Madras degree — became her earliest model of ambition. The stark difference between working in Singapore, where her first manager was a woman, and arriving in Utah to find she was often the only woman in a room of 20. The pregnancy comment a supervisor made that she refused to let slide — and why she says you should never let those "funny" comments pass. Battling imposter syndrome as the first woman and woman of color director — and what a male ally told her that she still carries today. Why she rejects the concept of work-life balance and argues for work-life integration instead. Losing five close friends in a car accident — and how grief taught her to stay present. The maths teacher in Chennai who lit a lamp every evening at 6 PM and quietly taught Mounika the meaning of discipline. What the DISC profile revealed about how motherhood changed her leadership style. Her philosophy that the best leaders know when to fly high and when to fly low. Why she believes sisterhood — not just self-belief — is what women need more of right now.Standout MomentsOn imposter syndrome: "There's a reason you're here and there's a reason that you were chosen." — words from a mentor that Mounika says changed how she shows up every day.On the oxygen mask principle: "You need to wear your oxygen mask first before you can put it on for everyone else." A reminder she returns to whenever the weight of multiple roles becomes overwhelming.On work-life balance: "There is nothing called work-life balance. It is more of how do you make work a part of your life routine."On breaking down: "Every other day or every other week I break down — and that's normal. I think as women we are more emotional, and it's our strength."On sisterhood: "A lot of times we as women don't believe in sisterhood that much. I think we need to build that." Follow Mounika: https://www.instagram.com/mounika.dance