Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonam Chouksey.
Hi Sonam, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Life is a journey full of tough decisions at personal, individual and professional levels. There are so many ways that a leader can be defined but in my eyes –True Leadership is an individual’s ability to find a ray of light in negative events and to learn even from the most challenging problems.
I believe that taking a stand for yourself and taking control of your own life is one of the steps toward being a leader. When you are not following anyone blindly. You are not doing things which you do not believe in just because you are told to do so. You know better than that. You are stronger than that.
I would like to share my story with you. About the crucibles in my life and how they motivated me to a point of deep self-reflection. These experiences helped me understand what I am and what matters to me. They led me closer to my values. If I have to put my values in words. My values to be brave and determined, fierce and fearless yet kind and compassionate. To always cherish the relationship with family and friends who are always there for you. To never forget your roots. I have great respect for past. I firmly believe in if you don’t know where you have come from, you don’t know where you are going.
I was born to incredible parents. I was the firstborn. My brother was born a few years later and even then, nothing changed for me. I want to emphasize this because being equal irrespective of being a girl or a boy might seem very normal but the place where I come from which is India, more often than not this is an exception. It is actually a privilege to get the equal rights. I refused to follow the same old rules which were set up by the society.
My village was like a typical Indian village with population of around 6000 people. It had limited access to basic amenities like electricity, water supply. Hospitals and good schools weren’t even on the list of the things we were struggling for.
Looking back, I always wanted to be a doctor. I believe in Mark Twain quote that the two important days in our life are the day when we are born and the second is when we realize our purpose in life. My purpose in life was clear to me. There were many incidents in my village where people did not live due to lack of proper medical care. I want to build a platform to provide proper medical care to people in my village and for many others like them in other developing nations. I also want to make sure I am taking good care of my family’s health even if I am far away.
With these dreams in my eyes, I was fortunate to get selected among 600k students for medical school. I was able to go to because the annual fees in Government medical school was around 167 dollars only. I finished my medical school with only 835 dollars in tuition. I wanted to do further studies in America. I dreamt of getting the training from one of the best places where I can learn evidence-based medicine and also meet people from all across the world.
But there were a million questions running through my mind.
– Of all the biggest one was how should I convince my family????
– I needed a laptop to start the preparation for American exams.
– Before that, I needed to learn how to use a computer.
– There were a few centers in India who conducted USMLE exams. There were 5 exams in total along with interviews.
– It meant flying to Mumbai a few times for those exams.
– Two exams and interviews were in America. I had no one there where I could call and ask for help. I was the first one in my family to leave the country.
-What do I do?
After a few months, I decided to tell my parents and my family. After all I was planning to leave the country. The family’s response was: What America??
When I came to America, it was just the beginning of a different life struggle. I was learning to live again!! Now the struggle was to live in a different country. It felt like you are learning basic survival skills again. Right from getting a subway sandwich which was so intimidating when you don’t know the names of most of the ingredients. It was difficult to understand what people are saying in the beginning because of the different accents. Chicago winters-Well, I had my Indian woolen sweaters and shoes to protect me which barely worked. But, my first coffee at star bucks, a donut at Dunkin Donuts and a taco at taco bells- They were an absolute delight. Well first time to a night club was not bad either!!
But above all, working as a physician in a different country was extremely nerve-wracking. I got into the Internal Medicine Residency at Cook County Hospital Chicago. During my third year of the Residency, I was approached by my program director. She offered me a leadership position to be the Chief Medical Resident which is an extra year after completing residency. It is full of leadership responsibilities. I was surprised because I did not see myself as a leader. I thought I do not know how to be one. I said I would probably just continue to be a doctor which I am good at. But she did not give up. She said I want you to take this position. I finally agreed. The committee selected me to be the chief medical resident without going through any interview process. I did not realize that time that this opportunity will help me with my own leadership discoveries. Sometimes, people around you, your mentors/friends see the qualities in you that you do not. And I was fortunate to have such people around me. I got married to one such wonderful person. I am blessed to have him by my side.
Chief year gave me the foundation I needed. I got the opportunity to mentor 150 residents. These residents came from all parts of the world. I found myself wanting to empower everyone with the new skills that I was developing. They probably came from similar situations or were facing similar hardships that I had faced. Now I had the opportunity to help these residents which was extremely rewarding.
I finished my Chief year and I was finally graduating. A few weeks before that, my brother called me to inform that my mom is not well and her clinical condition is undiagnosed even after multiple medical testing. She is hardly able to get out of bed and is extremely weak. My mom is one of the strongest person I knew and this sudden change in her life left her bedridden. My family did not tell me earlier because they thought I am far away and will get worried. After careful history and investigations, my mother was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome which is an autoimmune syndrome and can be life-threatening because it can make your respiratory muscles weak. We started her on treatment which was already delayed by a few months. But she slowly started to improve.
It was tough. I realized why my parents did not tell me earlier. My mom was not diagnosed for months. There were so many reasons behind that. I understood their mindset but I could not convince myself that I won’t be there always to help them or many more in the same situation. They don’t have access to medical facilities as they should have.
After graduation, I finally started practicing independently. Awesome, I thought. Now I can breathe and be more independent and travel etc. But, most of the holidays I still find myself running in the hospital admitting patients from the Emergency room. These patients are really sick! No one likes to come to the Emergency room unless they are really suffering from serious medical issues. The holiday season is one of the busiest time in the hospitals.
The conversations with the patients are usually like this.
1. Good morning Doctor. At least we are not alone in the hospital, you are here with us.
2. Someone said, “I do not care I want to get discharged right away as I have Holiday plans” You let me go or I will call my lawyer.”
3. In other patient interactions, I was asked, “Don’t you have a family to go back to? How do they allow you to work during the holidays?
4. Doctor, your hands are cold. Is it because of using hand sanitizer like 100 times a day? But you know Cold hands, Warm Heart!! Here, take it and wear my mittens. (My favorite conversation)
I smile, I laugh and sometimes my entire career flashes in front of my eyes. I realize my entire life has been more or less like this. I do not remember attending most of the New Year parties, birthdays, friends and family marriages, important family events because I was either preparing for medicine exams, was adjusting to a new life in a new country, was at training, residency and ultimately became a Physician. And this journey took around 20 years of my life.
In between a few conversations with the patients which goes like, Doctor Thank you for taking care of me. Would you be here tomorrow too? I would like you to take care of me, I trust you with my life. And I get all my answers. I belong here. This is my happy place. I am not forced to work in the hospital or during holiday season. IT’S A CHOICE I MADE REPEATEDLY!! It is who I am and it makes me happy. It makes me get connected to my roots, my purpose and my values.
People said you are a doctor in America now, you have achieved what you wanted. But, deep down I knew this is just the beginning to start working toward my purpose. Only after a year and a half of finishing my residency I decided to join Kellogg school. I wanted to gain all the skillsets to start my healthcare startup in India and other developing nations. I graduated from Kellogg in Dec 2018.
I started working on my healthcare startup alongside. I started working on my healthcare platform with the vision to bring a change in how personalized preventive medicine is practiced. And then COVID-19 started. I was three months postpartum at the time. The doctor’s duties and mommy duties both were equally important. I first had saw the gaps in postpartum support for new moms.
It was the time when PrevLyfe emerged. I am building PrevLyfe and launched its first phase for new moms/first-time moms/first-time parents. Its vision is to demystify the flakiness around pregnancy and postpartum and enable women to continue to thrive without compromising on her passion, career or health.
I am following the same mantra in my own life being a first-time mum. I am a content physician, Mrs. India 2022 finalist and model. And a winner mum and partner. This is the most exciting time of my life and I am truly thankful for everything.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Those who say life is a smooth road, they have in fact not experienced or enjoyed it fully yet. I am a doctor and a first-time mum. My boy was born three months old before the COVID pandemic hit. It was the hardest phase of my life being a front-line doctor and a new mum at the same time. But I am a warrior. During this process, I figured out what’s the best way for a new mum to be happy and peaceful in the midst of chaos. What brings her back to her real self so that she can be a loving mum and an individual she desires to be. How to take control of her own life!
That created my platform PrevLyfe health who is striving each day to bring out a new mom from the deep dark hole to her real world.
And speaking on behalf of all the healthcare professionals
My recent holiday experience in the hospital and how we overcome it.
HOLIDAYS IN HOSPITAL …. READY LISTEN TREAT REPEAT!!
I am running in the hospital admitting patients from the Emergency room during the Holiday season. These patients are really sick! No one likes to come to the Emergency room unless they are really suffering from serious medical issues. The holiday season is one of the busiest times in the hospitals.
Examining and Treating patients one by one.
The conversations went somewhat like this-
1. Happy Thanksgiving Doctor. At least we are not alone in the hospital, you are here with us.
2. Someone said, “I don’t care, I want to get discharged right away as I have Holiday plans” You let me go or I will call my lawyer.”
3. In another patient interaction, I was asked, “Don’t you have a family to go back to? How do they allow you to be away working during the holidays?
4. Doctor, Your hand is so cold. Is it because of using hand sanitizer like 100 times a day? But you know Cold hands, Warm Heart!! Here, take it and wear my mittens. (My favorite conversation)
I smiled, I laughed and I stopped. Time for reflection!!
I sat down and my entire career flashed in front of my eyes. I realized my entire life has been more or less like this. I do not remember attending most of the New Year parties, birthdays, friends and family marriages, or important family events because I was either preparing for medicine exams, was at training, residency and ultimately became a Physician. And this journey took a solid 15 years of my life.
Thoughts and emotions were playing hide and seek and My pager beeped!!
I got up and went to see the patients.
This patient said,” Doctor, Thank you for taking care of me. Would you be here tomorrow too? I would like you to take care of me, I trust you with my life.
I instantly had all the answers. I belong here. This is my happy place. I am not forced to work in the hospital or during the holiday season. IT’S A CHOICE I MADE REPEATEDLY!! It is who I am and it makes me happy.
This is the story of all the Physicians across the world.
Salute to everyone who is out at work during the Holiday season!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
PrevLyfe health is striving to help new moms during pregnancy and postpartum so that they do not have to sacrifice their health, career or passion by preventing postpartum depression. There are 4 million new moms in USA every year. Teen pregnancies and single mothers are at higher risk. OBGYN is one of the most burnt out specialties.
Payers are losing billions of dollars because of untreated postpartum depression and it has multigenerational consequences.
Companies loose workforce when women are not returned to the workforce with same mental health.
I am a women health expert around pregnancy and postpartum. The value and vision is not only make this personalized to women but to the family unit as this phase affects mental health of everyone- the women, her partner and the newborn.
I like to analyze it this way- It is a marathon and not a sprint. If we can prepare for months for a marathon why can’t we prepare for pregnancy and postpartum phase!
A marathon requires both physical and mental fitness and so does the pregnancy!
If you jump in without strength in both areas- you are set up for a failure, you will run through somehow but it would not be an enjoyable journey or can end up with an injury. Same goes with the postpartum phase.
PrevLyfe is unique because we have made it personalized for every woman based on her social situation, her beliefs and her family dynamics.
I would like the readers to know that.
PrevLyfe is a step-by-step process any mom can use to beat postpartum depression, connect with her baby and reconnect with her spouse even if she’s tried different strategies that did not work.
Why going to therapy or joining mom’s community is NOT the best way to beat postpartum depression.
We will equip you with the ways to shatter postpartum depression and how new moms can enjoy motherhood without feeling guilty about not being a good enough mother.
And how we do all of this by prioritizing new moms as an individual first. After all they are the ones who are dealing with a major life change.
Also, if they would like they can watch my webinar here. (no cost)
prevlyfe.com/webinar
A link to know more about their journey to help them better.
prevlyfe.com/application
And if they would like they can schedule a breakthrough session with me here: (no cost)
prevlyfe.com/apply
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I was born and raised in a joint family (24 people) in a small village of central India. We were 12 kids under the same roof. As it happens in every household, we always had fights over small things. The biggest battle was claiming the television and the front seat early morning on weekends so that we can enjoy our favorite cartoon- Duck Tales!! The whole ordeal of getting up early on the weekend, running from your room to the living room after battling 100 to-dos from your parents and claiming that front seat in front of the family TV is still so vivid in front of my eyes.
It taught me so many things and gave me so many wonderful memories. When you are raised in a joint family, you become so resilient and cherish a million beautiful memories that’s indescribable.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.prevlyfe.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/dr.sonamchouksey/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/heydontpreachnewmums
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@prevlyfe9244
