We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Suguna Chunduri. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Suguna below.

Suguna , appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Although my heritage is Indian , I never actually resided there. I was Born in Singapore and then moved to the US at a very young age. My father who worked at the world bank travelled a great deal and relocated us a few times globally. No matter what or where the moves have been we were taught to assimilate , learn local languages and always be mindful of our own culture and traditions. Our beliefs began with always remembering god and. that being a good human being was always the most important of all. We went to Sunday school from a tender age of 7-13 known as Satya Sai Balvikas where we learned moral values and the need for values in life stemming from 5 of the most important. Love, truth, peace, non violence and right conduct.
being the good human being and sticking to the values in my day to day life helped me in my journey as a leader in my field and as a mother and wife. My mom was a stay. home mom to three children but everything she did was totally selfless. She never stated anything but seeing her dive into action to help the needy without a second thought made me follow in her foot steps and my children in mine. It proves only one aspect and that is you don’t need to preach only practice. Children observe and learn so let them observe the right things all the time. I was also taught that being in teh right company and in a non judgmental environment is what. is most important.

Suguna , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

From the age of 20, I began teaching Moral education to people younger than me. I always felt a passion to share my stories and the truth to value based education. My students began to love the way I openly conversed with them and I loved being surrounded by them. The true teaching begins with learning and I was learning a great deal from them. More than they may have gotten from me. As many began to feel comfortable with me, they began to share their issues with me and I would try and offer comfort and advice that I knew of. In the later half of my 20’s I started to do Oncology counseling and therapy in a voluntary setting then formalizing that as a career path for myself for a while until I went into the world of Phrama and Medicine. I began to realize that there was a gap in communication and understanding between generations also pleasantly known as the “generation gap”
As I began to get advice and read more, I also realized that social media and constant comparisons were still the root cause of many traumatic situations giving rise to mental apprehension and disease but due to many factors people did not want it to come out. I began to be transparent about my own life and the battle I had with post partum depression. My own journey with my health has given me insights into how to help people across the board. Starting my own non profit Sai-connect.org has helped numerous people around the world to educate and empower and enable themselves to overcome their issues and remove stigma from mental health challenges.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Being a minority female of color and starting a mental health non profit was not easy. I went through many turmoltous days and nights trying to see if people would judge me in various ways when I finally figured out that no matter what you did, judgement is something that you can never escape. I had o make myelsf vulnerable so others could benefit from it and with a great deal of encouragement from my husband and children , I forged ahead. I had a few friends who supported my endeavors and who donated kindly.
Every day even today is not easy. Asking for donations especially when there are so many organizations doing phenomenal work makes you wonder at times if you can ever stop running. In my defense, I believe and am dedicated to my purpose and that is one things I realized is that you can never run low on your energy juices. When I am in a slump or am just having a bad day overall, I ask myself why I stared this? did anyone say a negative word? if they did, what happened in their life to make this statement and if they did not then why am I doubting myself. Self doubt is the biggest destroyer of dreams.

recently after helping a mother save her young daughter form the depths of suicide because of misconceived notions, I got a beautiful phone call on valentines day along with a huge bear and a box of chocolates. when I appreciated the call and the card and said gifts are really not an expectation or a desire she stated” this is for you to realize each dat the work you do and to help us celebrate the fact that we still have our daughter thanks to you”. This bear sits o n my sofa in my bedroom.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson that I had to unlearn is that not al people that look kind or speak kind words in the air truly care.
As a child , I was always asked to be humble, simple minded and love everyone, because what you offer to others is what you would get back. NOT TRUE ! is what I realized. each person has their personality and many people say things that must to be decent amongst others but this whole thing about saying one thing and doing another exists in all facets of life, all ages , races and communities. We have perfected the language of Perfection but the deceit his so internal that even we fail to recognize fake from genuine.
I had to quickly and by that I mean in teh last decade which puts me at 40 years young learn that no amount of attachment is worth doubting your own self worth ned destruction of your mind and heart.
This is not wrong because teh world would be deathly boring without the multiple personality types, but it reinforced one aspect in me and that is that you only really need a few true friends in the world and all else can go in and out.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sai-connect.org
• Facebook: Suguna Chunduri
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suguna-chunduri-8366a8a/
• Other: Sorry not much on social media

Image Credits

Lerisel clark photo studio
Jagdish Ganti
Ramya Chunduri
Rajiv Chunduri
Imandi Herath