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

Alright, Gurveen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Grateful Purpose was born in a moment where I realized the most beautiful things often come from our hardest seasons. In 2020, like so many others, I was navigating personal grief, career uncertainty, and the mental toll of a world turned upside down. Amidst it all, I craved a space that felt safe, honest, and deeply human — somewhere people could talk about mental health, purpose, and self-worth without it feeling like a performance or a checklist of trendy buzzwords.

I remember sitting alone in my apartment in Philadelphia, journaling one night, and writing the words “What is my purpose?” It struck me in that moment that while we’re often told to be grateful or find our purpose, no one ever talks about what it feels like in the messy, in-between moments — when you’re searching, when you’re healing, when you’re figuring it out.

That was my spark.

I started small — hosting intimate conversations with friends, sharing my reflections on social media, and eventually launching my podcast focused on mental health stories. The community responded in ways I could’ve never anticipated. I realized people didn’t just want glossy self-care tips; they wanted to hear real, unfiltered stories of resilience from everyday people and founders alike. That connection led me to create mental health events and founder panels, giving space for entrepreneurs and creatives to talk about the intersection of ambition, anxiety, and authenticity.

What made Grateful Purpose feel worthwhile wasn’t just the demand — it was the depth of the need. In a saturated wellness space often dominated by curated aesthetics and surface-level advice, this was about creating something that felt real. A space to both celebrate your highs and sit with your lows. The logic behind it was simple: if I felt this way, others did too. And if we could build something that reminded people they didn’t have to have it all figured out to be worthy or to belong, it would matter.

What got me most excited wasn’t just the concept — it was the possibility of community-driven healing. A chance to turn my hardest season into a platform that made others feel less alone in theirs.

And here we are. 💛

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hi, I’m Gurveen Thakkar — a storyteller at heart, mental health advocate, and the founder of Grateful Purpose, a mental wellness platform designed to hold space for the stories we’re often too afraid to tell out loud.

I’ve spent the last several years working across industries from healthcare to legal administration to social media marketing. But the common thread through it all has always been people — understanding them, supporting them, and creating meaningful conversations around the things that make us human. I started in social media because I loved telling stories, but over time, I realized the narratives I was most drawn to were the ones about resilience, purpose, and mental health — the unglamorous moments we don’t post about but desperately need to process.

That’s how Grateful Purpose came to life. What began as a personal journaling practice during a particularly difficult season turned into a podcast, and then evolved into a larger community-centered brand focused on mental health storytelling and advocacy. Through our 31 Days of Mental Health Awareness interviews, founder panels, podcast episodes, and wellness events, I create spaces where conversations about anxiety, burnout, identity, and healing are not only welcomed but celebrated.

The problems I aim to solve are rooted in connection and authenticity. We live in a world that glamorizes hustle culture, hyper-productivity, and curated perfection — and in that, people often feel isolated in their struggles. Grateful Purpose exists to disrupt that narrative. We provide mental health content, community events, and founder conversations that address the very real, often messy realities of balancing ambition with wellbeing.

What sets Grateful Purpose apart is its soul. This isn’t a brand built on trends — it’s built on lived experience. Every podcast episode, every post comes from a place of wanting people to feel less alone and more seen in their journeys. I don’t pretend to have it all figured out, and I think that honesty is what resonates most with our community.

I’m most proud of the community we’ve built. Whether it’s a stranger who messages me after an event to say they finally felt heard, or a founder who opens up on an episode that they’ve never opened up about their anxiety publicly before — those moments remind me why I started.

If you’re new here, what I want you to know is this: Grateful Purpose isn’t just a brand. It’s a movement rooted in storytelling, softness, and showing up for yourself and others in whatever season you’re in. It’s about knowing you don’t have to have it all figured out to be deserving of peace, joy, or belonging.

And if any part of that speaks to you, you’re already part of our community. Welcome home. 💛

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the biggest pivots I’ve made — both personally and professionally — was in how I framed my purpose. When I first began this journey, I was so focused on finding “purpose” in the traditional, capital P sense. The kind we’re told should be clear, ambitious, career-defining. I wanted to build something meaningful but found myself getting stuck in this endless loop of pressure and perfectionism, chasing a purpose that felt performative more than personal.

I originally called my idea simply “Purpose” because that’s what I thought people wanted — a neatly packaged, motivational brand about finding your why. But something about it felt empty to me. It lacked heart. It didn’t reflect the messy, in-between moments of grief, confusion, and growth I was actually navigating.

And then one night, during one of those classic 2 AM reflection moments, I was journaling about everything I’d been through — the losses, the setbacks, the wins that didn’t feel like wins — and I wrote the words “I’m still grateful for all of it.” That sentence stopped me. It made me realize that what had truly carried me through wasn’t just having a purpose, it was choosing gratitude within the process of finding it. The act of holding space for both the beautiful and the brutal. And that’s where Grateful Purpose was born.

The pivot was both in name and in mission. I decided I didn’t want this to be another motivational brand shouting about hustle and ambition. I wanted it to be a community about embracing every season — the uncertain, the joyful, the painful — and finding meaning within it all.

Grateful Purpose felt honest. It captured both the search for direction and the intentional choice to be grateful for where you are, even when it doesn’t look like what you pictured. That subtle word shift changed everything for me. It allowed me to build something more compassionate, more human, and more true to my heart.

That pivot taught me that sometimes the thing you need to change isn’t the work you’re doing — it’s the lens through which you see it. And that one word made all the difference.

How did you build your audience on social media?

My social media journey started back in 2014, long before algorithms, trends, and aesthetics dominated the conversation. At first, it was a personal space — sharing bits of my life, things that inspired me, and moments that made me feel something. I never went into it thinking I was building an audience. I was building connection.

Over the years, I realized the posts that resonated most weren’t the ones where everything looked perfect — they were the ones where I was honest about what I was going through, whether it was about mental health, career pivots, grief, or small wins that felt big to me. That vulnerability slowly built a community. People weren’t just liking my posts, they were messaging me to say “thank you for putting this into words” or “I needed to hear this today.”

When I launched Grateful Purpose, I leaned into that same approach. No overly polished highlight reels — just real, raw stories about navigating mental health, ambition, and healing. I collaborated with people I genuinely admired, joined conversations that mattered to me, and showed up consistently, even when it felt like no one was watching.

My biggest piece of advice for anyone just starting out is this: don’t chase followers, chase conversations. Find what feels authentic to you, talk about it with heart, and trust that your people will find you. Social media can feel overwhelming when you’re focused on numbers, but when you focus on value, connection, and community, the growth happens naturally.

Also — don’t be afraid to pivot. The content I started with in 2014 isn’t the content I post now, and that’s okay. Let your online presence grow with you.

Lastly: consistency matters, but so does rest. Don’t let the pressure to constantly post rob you of living the life you’re meant to share.

If your work comes from a place of honesty, it will always find the people it’s meant for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gratefulpurpose.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gurveen.t99/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JadeThakkar/featured
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Yv8cra9b5WW71INwFrv2b?si=xghLOJ4sTsKvbcgrNcPa4w&nd=1&dlsi=742675163e2149fb