Her Story
About Uzma
My early childhood was spent in the Middle East where I attended a multicultural and multinational school, which gave me exposure to different cultures and practices. I've lived in many different countries, and a lot of my learning comes from observational learning through life experience, not just formal education. I was initially a medical student, then went into education and completed my education degree here in America. While working with students, I decided to explore psychology and spirituality, combining those two fields because I felt something was missing in the field of psychology. This led me to develop my psycho-spiritual program. I've worked 23 years in the community, starting in education with group coaching, then identifying that mental health was a missing piece. I did certifications in positive psychology and well-being and began working as a spiritual counselor. I don't usually stop learning and continuously take advancement courses and certifications.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Uzma
01What do you attribute your success to?
I'm a faithful person, so I would say God, because a lot of times there are obstacles in my path and I feel like I cannot move forward, but there are always opportunities that are provided at the right time or people who came into my life at the right time. That's not a coincidence to me. That seems to me that it's giving me the way to move forward. There's a higher power beside what we can comprehend.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
To be very honest, I felt like you kind of have to struggle and explore on your own what really aligns with your own values. You can get professional advice from others, but I always take it as there's something what they are telling me, but nobody knows who I am, so I need to tap into that and see where do I align with those values and the work that I want to do in the future. I didn't take the advice 100 percent. They give me a direction, and that's what I would feel like they're giving me a direction, and then the rest is specific to me.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
If they are going into education, I would say that it's absolutely a path where it can lead to many different directions, and it's something that they should explore and not limit themselves just to being a teacher in a school or whatever role that they are taking. There are many different ways that they can move forward and progress in it. If they're in the field of psychology, I would highly recommend to look into spiritual psychology, because we are not just mind and body. We are more than that.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is having clients who want to move along and progress. As a counselor, you kind of have to interview them and make that judgment about whether they are the one who can really progress, or are they the ones that are just there to waste your time. As far as opportunities, what I'm seeing right now is that we can take this further and maybe incorporate AI into the work field that I'm doing, and that could be a different direction to take.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Professionally, I feel like helping others to make their life better in itself is a reward for me. I like to see people progress and move further. I feel we are all connected somehow, and if we uplift others, we can uplift our society. If we neglect that and we have a kind of 'I don't care' attitude, then we are not uplifting our surrounding, our society. It's like a cumulative effort, and it's like a collective effort.
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