We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Asha Rao a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Asha, thanks for joining us today. Is there a lesson you learned in school that’s stuck with you and has meaningfully impacted your journey?

As a pediatric occupational therapist (OT), my practice looks like supporting clients ages 0-3 with disabilities and developmental differences. While I support children in their development, I am also able to support mothers who have involved mental health histories, have experienced pregnancy & infant loss, and have trauma informed backgrounds.

My background in education and professional career includes pediatric disability, research and teaching related to disability and mental health, and capacity building across all of these areas. While completing undergraduate and graduate programs, I was the lucky to have access to mentors across all of my fields of interest who were so open about their professional and personal stories.

One of the biggest lessons I learned in school, was that when you don’t have something that you need or want, that you have every right to create it. Every one of my mentors curated an opportunity or experience that they needed or didn’t see in the field when they were emerging professionals. That lesson showed me that nothing I ever want to create or have in my life, is unachievable. While my training in clinical practice has given me skills related to supporting my own regulation, being able to analyze activity and tasks by breaking down the way they are done, and how to create and manage programs from the bottom up, I am so grateful that my background in OT has also given me the skills to run The Chicago Kasam, Inc. my first non-profit organization.

Asha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I originally wanted to pursue pediatric surgery either in neurology or orthopedics- but the more I gained experience through shadowing and the stories of mentors, the more I realized I wanted a healthcare career that would lend me the ability to participate in opportunities related to research, teaching, and capacity building to affect positive change for the field I would enter. Pediatric OT seemed to be the place to do this: where I would be able to a clinician who had longer face-to-face time with both pediatric client and caregiver, while also being able to have a work/life balance and pivot to advocating and awareness building for individuals with disabilities in a different medium.

I often support clients who are neurodivergent, disabled, or have developmental differences due to a variety of factors like chromosomal conditions or genetic conditions, Autism, prematurity, and more. While I help clients be as participating and independent in their routines and families, I also support their caregivers in figuring out how to connect with their child and create home environments that support the regulation of both them and their child.

While I love my role in clinical practice, I am astounded by how much of what I have learned is contributing to my new venture, The Chicago Kasam. The Chicago Kasam is a non-profit organization that aims to foster healing and unity in the South Asian community while linking professionals and creatives specifically to uplift the visions and goals of both parties. This year is roughly the 50th anniversary of the South Asian community in the Chicagoland area. My team and I wanted to figure out how to activate the South Asian community as a whole to increase the interconnectedness of our community. By creating stronger interpersonal bonds and spreading the idea of genuine connection, we hope that we can foster a community where folks are consistently raising one another up and tapping into the expertise and creative talents of one another.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I have been blessed with the best team of individuals who come from creative backgrounds and professional backgrounds- our team consists of Rahul Dhiman, Yash Hatkar, Palak Shah, Ritika Agrawal, Juhie Faheem and Bhavin Patel. Each person has a professional background or has had a 9-5, but also realized how much a creative or community related endeavor called their time.

While I have to say its not hard to inspire this group because of how hardworking and amazing they are, I will say you have to have a team that believes in your vision and your dream. No matter how big the endeavor or goal has been, this team has always had my back and has found some way to make it happen which is all I can ask for and then some. Another strategy that has been helpful is tying in each person’s creative endeavor to the organization and helping them carry out an event or campaign that resonates with them. For example, Rahul Dhiman is an expert storyteller and is committed to curating art in film- we hosted an out of state collab event with the Rickshaw Film Foundation. Palak Shah is a brilliant business woman who runs her own south asian inspired candle shop, and she has been the lead for the summer pop up we are planning with Merkahi and Amaaya Jewelry on 7/20-7/21 with 10+ small south asian businesses and brands. I truly believe one dream can be a lot to carry out, but I have never seen a reason why you can’t amplify the voices of everyone involved and tie your dream back to their inner volitions.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think for many reasons there’s been this question mark around how we can genuinely and meaningfully see South Asians support South Asians. Whether its intergenerational trauma or scarcity mindsets, sometimes it can be hard to see South Asian individuals, organizations, and communities uplifting one another from a genuine standpoint. For me, my whole career and the way my parents raised me is rooted in doing good for the greater good- in the last few months there has definitely been the question asked of why I’m doing all of this work and what my true motivation is.

My reputation to my friends is that I’ve always been like this- I’m happiest when I know my village is happy and secure. I know what it’s like to have nothing and to go through the worst of the worst on your own. You never truly know what someone is going through so why not go above and beyond to make others happy, that’s at least one thing we can all control in this crazy thing called life? These perspectives I hold near and dear to my heart I like to think are inspiring our rapidly growing brand- in 3 months we already have 400+ folks on our instagram with a 45K+ social media reach and an email listserv of 375+ individuals. I truly believe in our South Asian community being able to heal and have space for all of us to share our voices and be present with one another, and that in itself is a huge privilege and an honor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thechicagokasam.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechicagokasam/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-chicago-kasam-inc
• Other: https://www.chicagoasiannetwork.com/posts/the-mind-behind-chicago-kasam-inc