Meet Dr. Anita Sharma, an accomplished Homeopathic physician and educator with a wealth of experience in holistic health and student mentoring.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your family?
I am Dr. Anita Sharma, the eldest daughter of my parents and have a younger sister and brother.
We lived in a joint family in Mumbai, with my paternal uncles and aunts and many people visiting our house all year round, so finding a place to study was a big challenge, which was always secondary to my elders. So, I had to figure it out on my own.
Our family can actually be called a really traditional, orthodox Rajasthani family. But I was determined from my early childhood that I would take up medicine and become a doctor, which eventually I did.
I was lucky to be married to my husband, who was very understanding, caring, and appreciative of my dreams and passion too.
I was married and settled in Kota, where I practiced as a Homeopath and also started counseling and mentoring students. I learned various healing modalities to help students improve their performance and overcome their self-limiting beliefs.
After staying there for almost 16 years, we, along with my son and daughter, shifted back to Mumbai for better prospects. In Mumbai, I started working and collaborating with various educational institutes and also started working as a Career Counselor. I observed that wrong career choices are usually the reason for a lot of psychosomatic disorders and illnesses and stress in professionals, so as a Homeopath, I wanted to treat the root cause here too.
I also worked with some colleges and also with The Times of India - NIE as a wellness consultant. Just before the pandemic, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, and she succumbed to the rigorous chemotherapy sessions in March '22. In April '22, I was diagnosed with this dreaded disease, cancer. My family, husband, and kids stood strongly by my side and never let me feel weak, and I survived it with the blessings and wishes of my family, friends, and my community at Laja. Now, after working in the field of education and holistic health for over 29 years, I have also started working on healing cancer patients. I have learned and excelled in various healing modalities like BMP, NLP, EFT, Hypnosis, etc., and was awarded by the World Mental Health Congress as the Most Prominent Leader in Mental Health.
Have you had any formal training or family business?
I am a qualified Homoeopathic Physician, B.H.M.S. from Mumbai. I have also learned various healing modalities from different institutes.
Tell us about your venture and what inspired you to take this challenge and get started?
As I have been practicing with students all my professional life of over 29 years, I have seen it very closely, working in Kota, the cutthroat competition, the students' struggle, their depression, their suicides, their failures, and their successes too. Hence, I decided and often tell parents and students, "Not every successful person is an IITian, and not every IITian is successful."
I am a very passionate and empathetic person, and I love to transform the lives of troubled teenagers who are struggling with academics, emotions, relationships, etc, and are at the crossroads of life. I facilitate their journey so they can make more informed choices, so their lives become easy, effortless, and enjoyable. I want to be the go-to person for the students, which I never got and always looked out for.
Once in Kota, there was a student who had approached me as he was feeling low, and I couldn't meet him because of some reason; he was late, or I was out of town. But when I came back, I found out that he had committed suicide, and that shook me to the core. I saw parents from Bihar, etc., who would sell or mortgage their land to pay the exorbitant fees of coaching classes and still with no surety because more than 17 lac students appear for the NEET exam, which has not more than 1,2 lac seats across India, and more than 15 lac students appear for not more than 12-14 thousand seats of IIT. The coaching classes teach the subject but no one teaches them the strategies which are needed. Students keep going from college to classes to tuition during their competitive preparation, whereas they should actually do a lot of self-study, problem-solving, and paper solutions, but that is never emphasized. Solutions should be properly studied, analyzed, and mistakes reviewed.
Hence we started our venture Upskillgrad, where we are taking into account all these things with an expert team and mentors. We also give personalized, tailor-made programs for each student based on their uniqueness, strengths, and personality types, etc. Proper handholding, mentoring, counseling, and healing throughout the whole process, even after results until admissions are completed.
What has been your proudest moment?
Actually, I have been blessed to have so many proud moments, like securing top ranks throughout my school years. I topped my school in 1986 and received various awards for my services to the student community in Kota and Mumbai.
But I felt most proud when I was awarded the Most Prominent Leader in Mental Health by the World Mental Health Congress at Taj Lands End.
However, at that time, I didn't have my mother by my side to celebrate the occasion. The next best moment was when I was awarded by the Patel Samaj for my service to the student community, and they also awarded my parents, and I felt so proud of myself. Also, when my daughter was awarded a scholarship and secured the sixth rank in her final year BDS, and my son won the Best Employee award, there are so many cherished moments.
What are some of the biggest challenges you faced as an entrepreneur?
My greatest challenge has always been finances. Somehow, people feel that counseling or healing should always be done pro bono, and they just start sharing their inability, and I just waive off their fees or give discounts.
But I have worked on these issues lately too. The second biggest challenge is reaching out to the students, the people who actually need my mentoring and can benefit from it. There are so many students who are suffering, parents who are feeling helpless, and I can make a difference, but I can't reach them.
What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting out?
My advice is to be honest, committed, and focused, and most importantly, do your stuff guilt-free.
Because usually with women, it usually happens that they start feeling guilty about neglecting the family, neglecting their duties as a wife, mother, daughter, etc., and most of them sacrifice their dreams and then stay unsatisfied, irritated, and frustrated forever.
Instead, do what you love, love, respect, and accept yourself as you are. Once that is sorted, everything falls into place.
Given a chance, would you alter any of your life decisions?
I am today because of all the things that happened in my life and how I responded, and I am fully content and in gratitude for everything. I feel blessed that I could be able to transform and touch so many lives, and I would love to continue to do so.
Find Dr. Anita Sharma on Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-anita-sharma-74b64b101
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dranitasharmawellness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dranita123
Hope you enjoyed reading Dr. Anita Sharma’s story!
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