Author: Jaime Patel

Jaime Patel is a writer, advocate and Silicon Valley investor advising women-led businesses. She is the author of Roots to Rebirth, an upcoming book exploring the experiences of Indian American women as they navigate culture, identity and modern feminism.

Sahaj Kohli Is Helping Immigrant Daughters Break the Silence They Inherited

Seventy-seven percent of Indian Americans ages 25 and older hold a bachelor’s or advanced degree—one of the highest education levels of any group in the country. However, there aren’t many that are civically active in their communities. Few post about controversial issues. Fewer donate. Almost none speak publicly. These are the women who are otherwise bold: executives, founders, fundraisers, moms who command rooms. But when it comes to controversial topics—especially anything that could “stir the pot”—there’s a quiet, familiar retreat.

Therapist and founder of Brown Girl Therapy, Sahaj Kohli has spent years studying this phenomenon. Through a book, a podcast and a mental health community for bicultural and immigrant women, she’s helping these women understand “your voice doesn’t have to be angry or loud in order for it to be brave. It just has to be yours.”

As we celebrate Diwali—a festival that honors light’s triumph over darkness—it’s worth remembering that our voices are part of that light. Choosing to speak, even when it’s uncomfortable, is how we brighten the path for those who come after us.

A Message From the Life of Urvashi Vaid: Do Not Remain Silent

When the 18-minute documentary There Are Things To premiered in Provincetown, Mass., in 2023, it was never meant to be a global statement. It was meant to be a love letter, a short community film about a long legacy. But like the woman it honors— activist Urvashi Vaid—it refused to stay small.

And how could it? We are living through a time when naturalized citizens are being threatened with denaturalization, children are being separated from their parents during immigration raids, people are crossing state lines just to access basic reproductive healthcare, and pregnant women who desperately want children are dying in homes and hospitals or on their way to seek medical care because doctors delay or deny treatment under strict abortion laws. These are not fringe headlines—they are daily realities in one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Against this backdrop, There Are Things to Do (now available for streaming on PBS) arrives like a gentle ambush. Its power is subtle, but the provocation is clear: What if the most radical thing an immigrant could do in America is not assimilate, but organize?

Female Founders Fund’s Anu Duggal Is Betting Big on Women

When Anu Duggal invested in one of her earliest portfolio companies, many in her network hesitated—there were concerns about the founder’s past that few wanted to investigate or understand. But Duggal went the other way, going beyond standard due diligence; she took the time to truly understand what happened and recognized that, under different circumstances, she could have been in the same position herself. 

“If you do that to everyone,” she says, “you’re never going to give anyone a second chance.” She trusted her instincts and leaned into context over spreadsheets. That leap of faith paid off: The company went on to achieve a successful exit, and that founder is already on her way to her second venture.

What Duggal represents isn’t just a woman with a fund—it’s a different operating system for venture. The industry still privileges spin-outs, paper perfection and familiar faces. Duggal’s career shows why that lens is too narrow. Traits often coded as “soft”—intuition, nuance, second chances—can lead to transformative returns—and ripple through the entire ecosystem for women, creating role models, opportunities and capital for the next generation.

(This piece is part of an ongoing series, “Redefining Power: How Indian American Women Are Rewriting the Rules of Leadership, Identity and Care.” The series explores what it means to modernize without losing our roots—through candid conversations with Indian American women reshaping culture, power and possibility.)

How Reshma Saujani Makes the Invisible Work of Motherhood Impossible to Ignore

Most women are taught to make motherhood look effortless. Reshma Saujani wants you to see that we were never supposed to do it alone.

In a country that still treats caregiving as a personal responsibility rather than a public good, Saujani is changing the script. Not by asking for sympathy, but by exposing the architecture of the lie—and building something better in its place.

“I come from a long line of rule-breakers,” she told me. “My parents fled a dictator. They landed in Chicago with nothing. I grew up surrounded by refugees who were just trying to make it work. That kind of survival teaches you two things: one, that struggle is constant—and two, that silence is dangerous.”

She was a rule-breaker long before she was a movement-builder—always challenging authority, always in detention. “I’ve never been good at following the script,” she said. And that’s exactly what makes her effective.

‘Tap Someone In’: Mini Timmaraju on Mentorship, Motherhood and Mobilizing Indian American Women

Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL), doesn’t just rise—she brings others with her. This ethos of tapping in challenges Indian American women to move from individual achievement to collective empowerment.

As my conversation with Timmaraju unfolded, we explored her childhood, her professional journey and the simplest yet most impactful action she believes Indian American women should take right now. It’s clear that Timmaraju’s story is not just about her own path, but about building pathways for others.

“We need to build our own villages—not just for family, but for career and leadership, too,” she said. “We shouldn’t do it alone.”

‘I Don’t Want Thick Skin. I Want to Feel People’s Pain’: Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Truth, Power and Breaking the Rules

Rep. Pramila Jayapal doesn’t believe in growing a thick skin. “I want to feel people’s pain,” she tells me. As chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and founder of the Resistance Lab, she’s building a politics rooted in empathy, resistance, and readiness: “We have to get strike ready.”

From walking out of the State of the Union to confronting power with “moral clarity,” Jayapal is done playing by the old rules: “When you don’t give respect, you don’t get respect.”

Eighty Percent of Pregnancy-Related Complications Are Preventable. The Momnibus Act Could Change That.

Women’s rights and maternal health are under relentless attack. Just one week into Donald Trump’s presidency, the rollback of reproductive rights, threats to healthcare access and emboldened restrictions on bodily autonomy have left women more vulnerable than ever. With abortion bans expanding and maternal health protections at risk, the fear is no longer hypothetical—it is urgent.

But amid this crisis, there are leaders refusing to stand by. One of them is Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), a public health nurse turned member of Congress, who remains steadfast in her belief that real progress is still possible.

“Every mother deserves access to quality care, and every child deserves a healthy start,” Underwood told Ms. “No one can argue with that.”

The Hidden Majority: Indian Americans Support Abortion Rights—So Why Aren’t We Speaking Out?

Indian Americans have built a reputation as one of the most successful and influential immigrant communities in the United States, celebrated for our dedication to education, hard work and family values. Yet, when it comes to reproductive rights, our community has largely remained silent, even as these rights come under increasing attack across the country. This silence, quite frankly, is no longer acceptable.

To my fellow Indian Americans, especially women: this is our moment to step forward. Speak up in your communities, join organizations fighting for reproductive rights, and vote for leaders who prioritize these freedoms.