That's Total Mom Sense

Annika Sharma is a jack of all trades and master of...some of them. From healthcare to romcom authorship to podcasting for South Asians to new motherhood, this episode tackles chasing passions, taking risks, and learning lessons along the way.

Meet My Guest:

• WEBSITE: AnnikaSharma.com
• INSTAGRAM: @annikasharma
• FACEBOOK: /AnnikaSharmaWrites

Press:

• FORBES: Five Asian American Podcasts That Are Busting The Model Minority Myth

Kanika interviews Mom 2.0 husband and wife duo John and Carrie Pacini on the genesis of the annual summit and community. During her live podcast with author, educator, and advocate Jen Hatmaker, they discuss her opening keynote which had everyone in the room feeling seen and understood as well as her podcast, For the Love, and cookbook, Feed These People. She also chatted with attendees Frenchi Ferenczi and Tosha Schore on building their thriving coaching businesses catering to women in business and parents raising mindful children.

Priti Tanna is a creative strategist and author of I Married a Coconut. In this interview, she shares how future generations of the South Asian diaspora can find ways to honor their age old traditions while assimilating with western cultures. She and Kanika talk about values from immigrant parents, growing up in the 80s and 90s, and encouraging children to embrace their cultural roots.

Meet My Guest:

• AMAZON: I Married a Coconut: Stories of an Indian girl growing up in America

After 10 years in social, digital and brand strategy for female-focused companies, I launched Mother Untitled as a community to empower the ambitious woman during a career pause or shift for family life. Mother Untitled is a digital media platform committed to empowering women pausing or shifting career to focus on family life.

Meet My Guest:

• WEBSITE: MotherUnited.com
• INSTAGRAM: @motheruntitled

Matthew “Dr. Matt” Zakreski, PsyD is a high energy, creative clinical psychologist who utilizes an eclectic approach to meet the specific needs of his neurodivergent clients. He is proud to serve the Gifted community as a consultant, a professor, an author, and a researcher. He has spoken over 300 times all over the world about supporting neurodivergent kids. Dr. Zakreski graduated from Widener University’s Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology (IGCP) in 2016. He is the co-founder of The Neurodiversity Collective.

Meet My Guest:

• WEBSITE: TheNeuroDiversityCollective.com
• FACEBOOK: /drmattzakreski

Are you a frenzied parent who’s craving structure, fulfillment, and harmony at home? Enter Kaitlin Soule, licensed marriage and family therapist, women’s mental health specialist and author of A Little Less of A Hot Mess. We discuss pragmatic tactics and daily routines to manage your sanity and your household.

Meet My Guest:

• WEBSITE: WellNotesForHer.org
• INSTAGRAM: @kaitlin.soule
• AMAZON: A Little Less of a Hot Mess: The Modern Mom's Guide to Growth & Evolution

We all know and love M. Night Shyamalan as a world renowned director, producer and actor who was labeled “the next Spielberg” by Newsweek in 2002. His films have grossed over $3 billion globally with cult classics like The Sixth Sense which received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, Signs, The Last Airbender, and The Unbreakable Series.

We may also be fans of Saleka, his daughter who is a singer songwriter and wrote an original song for his recent release, Old, with a voice smooth as silk reminiscent of old school R&B.

But today, I’m honored to interview M. Night’s wife, Bhavna Vaswani Shyamalan, who is the silent strength of the family and is the glue who is keeping it all together.

For more than 15 years, Bhavna Shyamalan, PhD, has served in her role as co-founder and vice-president of the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation. The foundation focuses on discovering and supporting grassroots leaders around the world who are moving depressed communities out of poverty and oppression. These global leaders are empowering their communities by supporting social justice, equality, and access to basic needs such as food, water, and education.

A deep belief in human-dignity and freedom as a birthright, as well as in our joint responsibility to become participants in the fight for social equity and justice, have been Dr. Shyamalan’s driving force in creating and steering the efforts of the foundation. With an international upbringing and global perspective, Dr. Shyamalan has developed a keen awareness of the power of poverty to determine the life course of individuals, families, and communities by severely limiting opportunity and choice. The foundation leaders work to eliminate those barriers. More recently, Dr. Shyamalan has focused her foundation on helping the most disenfranchised communities; the forgotten and “disposable’ people entrapped and exploited by modern day slavery and human trafficking.

Although born in India, Bhavna was raised in Hong Kong before her family moved to the U.S. An immigrant herself, Dr. Shyamalan is keenly aware of the challenges posed to immigrants in any new country. Having travelled widely, however, her exposure to different people and cultures has not only reinforced her belief in the gift diversity brings, but also deepened her commitment to valuing each individual life.

Dr. Shyamalan oversees the foundation’s international grants, the implementation of its vision and mission, strategic growth, fundraising, and overall operations.
Additionally, DR. B (as she is known in the fitness world) is co-owner at Vibe Vault Fit, a boutique fitness & wellness studio in PA, and has been teaching Dance Fitness classes since 2011.

Dr.B’s believes working out can be inspired, and should address health and fitness in all aspects, including body, mind, spirit. In addition to teaching dance fitness classes, Dr. B also manages the “mind” and “spirit” side of Vibe Vault Fit, running workshops, and talking about how to uplift our lives through the Vibe Vault Fit podcasts and blogs. Her vision for Vibe Vault Fit is to promote a warm community, that will walk together toward a healthier, more fulfilling, and extraordinary life. Dr. B sees wellness, like happiness, as a mindset. Her goal is to help you make your own wellness a priority and claim the life that is waiting for you.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Shyamalan worked as a therapist in the counseling centers of Swarthmore College and St. Joseph’s University. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Developmental Psychology from Bryn Mawr College and her B.A. in psychology from New York University.

Meet My Guest:

• WEBSITE: MNSFoundation.org
• WEBSITE: VibeVaultFit.com
• FACEBOOK: /DrB.DanceFitness

Martial arts is a metaphor for life. Did you ever think about that? It requires a fine balance of the body, mind, and spirit - a keen understanding of people and their intentions, skill, flexibility, wisdom, focus, anticipation, practice, and after you are hit to the ground with this challenge or that level of adversity, you muster up the courage and willpower to stand up and fight again. That is what living is all about.

Today, I am joined by a woman who lives by this philosophy more than anyone I know. She is Shannon Emery Lee.

She’s famously known as Bruce Lee’s daughter but she is SO much more than that and is carving her path and place in this world in such an authentic way. Across the globe, billions revere her father who made his mark as an incredibly talented martial artist, filmmaker, actor, and philosopher. But to her, he was simply Dad. To say she had big shoes to fill is an understatement, and to think her father’s shoes were never worn again when he died at the age of 32 and little Shannon was just 4 years old.

Shannon has been a keen martial artist throughout life in her own way. She’s also an American singer, actress, producer and entrepreneur. After her father’s death, her mother Linda Lee Cadwell left Hong Kong and raised her in California along with her brother Brandon Lee, who also died far too young during an accident while shooting for a film.

People tried to tell her that acting was not good for the family but Shannon decided to maintain the legacy of her father and learned martial arts from his students. She then made her debut into film and TV with movies like Enter the Eagles and Martial Law. She endeavours to preserve and promote her father’s legacy as the president of the Bruce Lee Foundation and Bruce Lee Enterprises.

Her book Be Water, My Friend pays homage to her father’s life and teachings, and her most important role is being a dedicated mother to her daughter Wren.

Welcome to the show, Shannon!

Let’s bow in ceremoniously to this interview so that we are both aware and present.

Meet My Guest:

• INSTAGRAM: @therealshannonlee