“We can be anybody we want to be. We can be strong and courageous, gentle and empathetic, creative and practical, understanding and stubborn, and sexy and shy all at once. Now isn’t that multifaceted! There is nothing that says, ’ One size fits all’.” This past year, many of us have contemplated “reinventing ourselves”. Today’s woman dreamer, Nirmala Garimella, shares her personal journey. From her role in nonprofit leadership, as co-founder of Circle of Hope among many other amazing nonprofit roles, to motherhood, and her upcoming cookbook, Nirmala reminds us that the modern woman can be multi-faceted, and enjoy it!

1. You have an interest in "reinventing yourself" and how that applies to women specifically. Tell us more about your journey with this. Covid has been an interesting time for reinvention. What is your advice to women also working on this? 

There is a word in Sanskrit that we use in India called ‘Avatar’ which translated loosely means descent and changing form. The beauty of this word is it allows you to honor all that you did earlier, learn from it, experience it while looking forward to future possibilities.

Similarly, when I look back, I realized that I have realigned and reinvented my life many times depending on my priorities. When I first graduated from college, I had a degree in mass communication and journalism and a masters in political science. My desire was to write on politics. I freelanced a bit but I eventually landed up with a job in public relations. I found that I enjoyed relationship building and had a genuine interest in the lives of people I met, a core strength that I discovered within me.

When I came to the US, 26 years ago, I was a mother of two, with no work visa and an entirely new culture to adapt here. I left my professional career to become a full time mother, a choice I made consciously so I can devote the time for my children. For almost 10 to 12 years, I did what any parent would, drive my kids to classes and extracurricular activities, take care of the home and family and get involved in the PTA and other parent volunteer activities. Once they were older, I channeled my energy to the community when we co-founded Lokvani. While doing that, a personal tragedy of losing a close friend led me to look for service and meaning and I joined the non- profit world with AIF and Circle of Hope. So I am constantly reinventing and when I look back, each of these have only enriched me. 

When it comes to COVID, what this global pandemic has done is given us time to reflect. In today’s world, especially now, women everywhere are reinventing out of choice or otherwise. We must accept these changes and realize that it is unique to each one of us. So realigning your life with what is important at that given moment and finding peace in it is the right thing to do. I rediscovered many of my interests and given myself pause to focus on my priorities on ‘what next’

2.You also talked about the importance of women being multi-faceted, and living a multi-faceted life. Tell us more about that. 

Look at all the women you interviewed who are so multifaceted. It is the cyclical nature of our lives, we change, transform, adapt, adjust and evolve to play our multiple roles at home, in our communities and at work. We now live in an era where women are increasing empowered. This movement is growing and the message is clear. We are here to stay! Women want equal opportunities, equal pay and work, defying societal roles that limit our multifaceted potential.

I find this in my work where girls and women from the most marginalized society aspire to do better for themselves, to get out of their comfort zone and aim for a better life. We can be anybody we want to be. We can be strong and courageous, gentle and empathetic, creative and practical, understanding and stubborn and sexy and shy all at once. Now isn’t that multifaceted! There is nothing that says to us,’ One size fits all’.

I want to share a quote of Ismat Chugtai, the famous writer and poet, an icon of women’s empowerment in an era where she was considered a rebel and far before her times. The words are simple but powerful. ‘Fold the future back and you are here’.

3.You have worked with Circle of Hope, AIF, and some amazing nonprofits. A true role-model in this space. What is your advice to those looking to join nonprofits, or start a non-profit? 

The world of philanthropy is unlimited and fulfilling if you can inspire and instill the power of service in others the same way that you feel. Growing up, my mother always instilled in me that ‘service to humanity is service to God’. Our household had no place for caste, class, rank, bigotry or hierarchy. My parents made sure we treated everyone who entered our home or anyone we met with respect and dignity irrespective of their place in society. No exceptions! That it how my values were shaped. 

I hold that value as very dear to me and believe in it passionately. I often struggle to understand why others see differences in people where as I can see many similarities on who we are as human beings.  It is very deep rooted in me and brings back to the root cause of why I like to work in the non –profit space whether it is social justice, inclusion, diversity and access and opportunity to all.  I have volunteered in many non -profits in Lexington, MA and in Cambridge when I live now. I also work for AIF, a mission driven organization that looks to solving the problem of poverty with a holistic approach. My friend Farida Kathawalla and I co-founded AIF’s  Circle of Hope, a women’s giving circle for, by and of women. I find it very fulfilling and rewarding.

My advice for joining a non- profit or starting one will be based on what I call CARE.

Conviction - that you need to make something right and fair that is drastically wrong in society and find totally unacceptable. Ability - to put the cause that you believe in front, with you in the back seat. Resilience and a tenacity to look at it long term and finally Empathy to articulate the purpose that will guide your work.

4. You also mentioned an upcoming cookbook, inspired by your family's recipes. Feel free to tell us more about that. 

My earliest memories of cooking were when my mother would introduce me to traditional tools that we used in the kitchen for cooking. She would call me to help and put me to work. I remember using a mortar and pestle to grind the chutneys and powders (there were no blenders then) and shaping out dough with my hands for making a rice flour snack called Chegodi. Some of your readers can relate to it. My mother was an amazing cook and she made sure my brother and I equally learnt the art. When we were in our teen years, we were given the responsibility of cooking the evening meals twice a week with her supervision of course. As I grew older, I imbibed a love of cooking and started noting down her recipes while I watched her cook. My daughter urged me to start documenting them so it will remain as her legacy. So we both started the project the year she passed away, testing and trying each one of her Andhra recipes. It is still in the works!

In the meantime, last year with COVID in our lives, my friend Anu Chitrapu and I started a cookbook focusing on just pickles and powders from Andhra Pradesh, since we both come from that region. It was pretty organic the way we started by making a tomato chutney in our kitchens and were so pleased with the collaboration that we decided to write a book. We hope to bring it out this year, fingers crossed!

5. As a platform for women dreamers, what is your next big dream? 

Ah ah! I have many, not one! The next one which may be a while is to travel and live in many different countries for 3 months at a time so I can totally absorb the culture and the way of life. I think it will be interesting to understand and adapt to new experiences. Maybe that will lead to travel writing, who knows! And yes, one lifelong dream I have is to bring out a book/blog/ compendium on traditional cooking tools used in India over the ages. I think it will be pretty fascinating!

Thank You Nirmala for sharing your story with us! We are excited to have you in our empowered women’s network!

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Bio: A strong believer in community engagement and meaningful charitable work combined with a passion for cooking and travel, Nirmala believes that these are enough for her to thrive and be alive! She is particularly interested in gender issues and girl’s education. Her interest in this area led her to co-found Circle of Hope under the AIF umbrella, a giving circle of women philanthropists in New England.  She is also the co-founder of the community website Lokvani that covers local Indian Americans news in Boston. She has served on the Board of the Indian Americans of Lexington and the Lexington Education Foundation and has served as its town meeting member. She was one of the key members involved in the subcommittee of Demographic change in Lexington which was recognized as a 2015 Harvard Ash Center Bright Idea in Government. Nirmala has a Core Certification degree in Non Profit Leadership and Management from Boston University and is an avid traveler and an enthusiastic cook.

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