Meet Mona Sharma

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mona Sharma.

Hi Mona, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Ten years ago, my life looked very different. I used to work in the luxury beauty industry on the corporate side for a handful of leading fashion brands. As the story goes, I experienced burnout, anxiety and my health crashed. This was all after having two heart surgeries for debilitating heart palpitations as well. When doctors told me I may not be able to have children and may have to live the rest of my life with a pacemaker or on medications, I decided to throw it all in and went back to my roots.

Growing up, my parents would take me to live at the Sivananda Ashram – this is where I saw firsthand the healing power of food, mindfulness, yoga and living in tune with nature. Because my Mother suffered from severe autoimmune disease, my Indian father, with insight of Ayurveda and Ashram living introduced us to this world. I remember him tapping me on the shoulder to wake me up at 5:30am as a kid to go and meditate, which at the time felt like torture, not knowing this experience would become the blueprint of my work today.

When my health suffered, it was this experience that took me back to the Ashram as an adult when I changed my career path to become a holistic nutritionist, yoga/meditation teacher. Today I say I bring the “ashram to the city” for all of my clients to create the same foundation for healing that is rooted in using food as medicine. This is what led me to create Xicama™ – gut health and immune boosting beverages based on the healing power of Jicama. I’ve used Jicama on my client’s meal plans as a perfect swap for crackers, cookies and processed foods. Who knew this would lead to creating the #1 selling beverage at Coachella 2019! And we’re just getting started.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The choice to become an entrepreneur and working on multiple businesses while raising two kids has thrown the idea of “balance” out the window. Knowing the journey comes with peaks and valleys, I choose to look at it as a great adventure, otherwise I’ll get lost in the day-to-day struggles. These struggles became very acute during the pandemic when we were meant to officially launch my Xicama™ beverage brand at Coachella 2020 as an official beverage. With the closing of all events, our hospitality partnerships closed indefinitely, supply chain shortages, and even basic logistics became a challenge, all while growing my personal brand and coaching my clients with two kids homeschooling upstairs.

Looking back, I can see that by enduring the struggles, you’re met with growth on the other side. So, I’ve focused on doing the best I can, day by day, in full acknowledgment that my challenges are ‘first world problems’ considering the state of the world. My guiding light question everyday is ‘how can I help, how can I serve’ to keep me motivated to move forward. Showing up is half the battle, and no pandemic will get in the way of that.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I work with clients around the world to help them optimize their health, mindset and happiness. My clients include Will Smith, where we’re currently documenting him getting into the “best shape of his life”, Julianne Hough, Hrithik Roshan and Jay Shetty and many others. My own journey showed me the healing we seek lies in our hands. Our complex relationship with food reflects our relationship to ourselves, and by addressing our mental well-being and happiness first, we set the stage for food to truly function as medicine. My mission is to help as many people as possible awaken the health and vitality they deserve to feel everyday.

Using the power of food to heal is also the foundation of my Xicama™ brand – currently, we have three flavors of PREbiotic sparkling waters using the superfood jicama to deliver a functional beverage that doesn’t sacrifice taste. We just wrapped a fantastic brand accelerator program with Expert Dojo and continue to connect with investors as our brand grows and we move from direct to consumer to being available in retail stores. Our beverages are just the beginning for this superfood brand as we cover a wide range of products to come. Will Smith also just came on as an investor.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can work with me one-on-one for health optimization by selecting one of the programs from my site.

Everyone can also try my functional beverage Xicama™ by purchasing online. We’re also actively connecting with investors to take our products into retail and out to the world.

I’m also happy to collaborate with others/companies looking to educate the world on healing and creating awareness on how we can change our food system and fuel our farmers and companies who are making their mark to deliver food from nature while sustaining natures resources.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.monasharma.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monasharma/, https://www.instagram.com/xicama
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/monasharma___
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpuQq1IrtKdJPRs80AjuxoA
• Other: https://xicamalife.com/

Image Credits:
@penaphotography – yoga photo @xicama – beverage photos