Hey, I'm Varsha!
Born in West London in humble surroundings, our family of 6 lived in a council flat with two rooms. I loved dreaming and I had a vivid imagination. I was stubborn, rebellious and helped my mother to raise my 3 sisters. My parents both worked. My mother had high expectations of me, since she didn’t have the time to do everything… I was left with babysitting duties and house chores from the tender age of 7. I had to grow up fast.
The growing bitterness.
It did come at a cost, as I rebelled against my mother. She found me difficult and disobedient. No matter how hard I tried to please her: “I JUST WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH”. This led to low self-esteem and I lacked confidence. At school, I was timid and never spoke up. I was the underdog, the misfit. I didn’t belong in the nerdy group nor did I stand a chance with the popular kids. I was a shy little girl, who never spoke. I was invisible.
My brain was broken.
At College, I sat my A-levels and failed miserably, at this point I did not understand why. I was depressed and didn’t speak to anyone for weeks. It was during this time that I came across a poster that would change my life. I found out that I had Dyslexia aged 20. I was now better able to understand the techniques that I needed in order to learn effectively. I started excelling academically, I was acing my coursework. I graduated with a near first. For the first time in my life I felt like I had won.
The climb to the top.
Following graduation, I started thinking of creative ways to enter industry, after facing multiple rejections because I had screwed up tests. I knew that I just had to keep reengineering myself to land myself a top-notch job.
Daring to be different.
I decided that traditional methods just weren’t working for me. This is the first time I DARED TO BE DIFFERENT. I threw out the rule book and started to apply for jobs more creatively. That one decision to challenge the status quo landed me a job with one of the UK’s coolest brands. What followed after was a successful career that spanned over 10 years in industry working with some of the worlds super brands. I had reached award-winning status in the corporate world.
Chasing the dream.
Professionally I had excelled, but I had become a person that I didn’t want to be. I started experiencing toxic environments at work that stifled my creativity, passion & personal growth. I worked hard and I was customer-focussed, but none of this mattered as long as profit was prioritised over people. My professional life got so bad that I didn’t sleep well for 3 years. I was earning good money, but it was all at the expense of my happiness and wellbeing. My soul had been destroyed, chasing the corporate dream. Period. I took a career break and what followed after that was a power struggle, my internal storm, the feeling of losing it all. I was disconnected and disillusioned with life. I was now a mother to little Arya. I had lost me. I was in darkness.
