168 | Leave the Expected Path. Find Yourself. Build the Dream. (Ft. Suji Sanjeevan)

What if the path everyone celebrates isn't actually the path for you? Suji Sanjeevan had done everything she was supposed to do. Growing up as the eldest daughter of Sri Lankan parents in London, she learnt early to be the good girl, make the sensible choices and follow the respected path. She trained as a doctor, moved into clinical research and policy, built a solid career and made her family proud. But underneath it all, something didn't feel right. Then motherhood changed the way she saw her life. Suji made the brave decision to step away from the path she knew and start creating one of her own. And somewhere in the process of building businesses, raising three boys, making mistakes, finding her voice and doing things that once terrified her, she found herself. Today, Suji is the founder of Light & Glow and Brand Scent, a mentor to emerging entrepreneurs and startups, a small-business advocate, former Shark Tank Australia contestant and a woman who has spent more than a decade building businesses and a life on her own terms. This conversation is SO Dream Makers. We talk about what it takes to leave an expected path, people pleasing and finding your voice, motherhood and ambition, confidence and visibility, failure, burnout, money, self-respect, freedom and what building the dream actually looks like behind the scenes. And Suji doesn't give us the polished version. She talks about starting Light & Glow with $237. Kids sleeping on air mattresses in the warehouse. Businesses being hit hard by COVID. Making mistakes after more than a decade in business. Crying when it all gets too much. Walking onto stages terrified. And completely blanking in the middle of her Shark Tank pitch on national television. One of my favourite moments in this entire conversation is Suji's reframe of FAIL: First Attempt In Learning. Because maybe finding yourself isn't something that happens before you build the dream. Maybe you find yourself because you were brave enough to leave the path that wasn't yours, start moving towards the one that was, and allow yourself to become someone new along the way. Leave the expected path. Find yourself. Build the dream. xx CB Connect with Suji here: https://www.lightandglodesigns.com.au/ on IG here @lightandglofragrances and on TikTok here @lightandglofragrances  GET YOUR COPY HERE. Let Your Vision Be Bigger Than Your Bullsh*t. Get brave, stop doubting, make the dream real. GET STARTED TODAY Seven days DREAM to DONE. On-demand. Self-paced. Seven days of powerful recordings and worksheets to help you lay down the fear, resistance and overthinking - and start building your dream in just 7 days.