Her Story
About Charu
I've been in the nonprofit field doing this work since 2017, but very actively since 2022, and I've been in my current position as program director since 2023. I'm a stage 4 cancer survivor who was given only 3 months to live in 2019, and from hearing that news to this 9-year journey, it has been very beautiful. I'm blessed that I'm helping so many people and influencing so many young youth in the community. Hope for Triumph is a youth-led organization founded by my kids, Siddharth and Adya, in 2023. Through this organization, we do a lot of cancer awareness campaigns and we have 3 chapters nationwide with collaboration with local hospitals, nationwide hospitals, and community partnerships. I handle multiple responsibilities including patient advocacy, where if someone has been newly diagnosed with cancer, I mentor them, make the connection with the hospitals, and guide them through what is needed for their treatment. If they need any resources, I provide them. I've led multi-site cancer awareness and patient support programs across 12 plus schools in San Antonio, managing cross-functional teams and community partnerships. I've mentored health initiatives like health fairs and walkathons, overseeing the logistics, stakeholder communication, and managing volunteer recruitment, training, and retention. Apart from that, I'm a PMP30 Unified Project Program Manager and I work in health institutes and pharmaceutical places. Recently, I collaborated along with my daughter with District 9 city officials, with the NEISD school district where 70,000 kids are enrolled, and with the university, and together we created 500 home care packages with 500 youth involved.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Charu
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to a combination of multiple things, not only one thing. First, the experience I gained through my profession and also through my personal diagnosis of cancer has made me a better person. It has given me a combination of resilience, adaptability, and positive attitude. All the challenges I faced, I believe I turned it into an opportunity to grow. Whether it is my professional life where I manage complex projects, leading cross-functional teams, or navigating high-pressure environments, or supporting the patients in the hospitals, supporting the patients with their mental health and emotional health, and advocating for them. I would attribute my personal experience as well as resilience and adaptability.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I would say the best career advice I have learned is to stay adaptable and never stop learning. Never, ever stop learning. If someone says no to you, that's not a no. You need to trust yourself. When I was given a 3-month time from 3 different doctors' offices, I never took it as a no. So, not only for my personal life, I take this as a professional life as well. Only you can understand your true potential. So, even though if there is some learning chances, be adaptable, learn, and listen to yourself. Believe in yourself.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would give to them that believe in yourself, believe in your abilities. Never underestimate the value of your voice, your advocacy, and your perspective. Every woman, I believe, has leadership skills in themselves as they lead the family, they lead the household, guiding the children, guiding the kids, taking care of the family, so they all have an inbuilt skill of leadership, so use it wisely. Challenges and obstacles will come, but confidence and persistence can open doors to more opportunities. Never give up.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges are that people are not well aware of cancer. Usually, whenever I meet patients, they're scared. Many times, they feel like this is the end of the life, or they are not going to make it, and they're so severe that it overcomes their willpower. So, I believe if we can create more awareness about it and how to navigate the process, how to take help, because there are many resources out there in the community where we can take the help and make people more aware of it. What treatment they need, what specific treatment do they need. There are so many myths versus fact. So people believe in the myth, rather than researching the fact. So I would say awareness, scientific collaboration, those things are the biggest challenge, missing out of these things.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I believe integrity. I believe trust is the foundation of strong leadership. For anything what I do, I believe in integrity.
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