Sonali Shivlani is an Internationally Certified Pregnancy, Lactation and Child Nutrition Counselor and has worked with more than 12,000 couples. Sonali heads CAPPA in India which is the largest Birth Professional Training organization in the World and is the Executive Director of the CAPPA International Pregnancy Fitness Educator Program.
Apart from being on the www.BabyChakra.com panel, Sonali is also on the expert panel of Mother and Baby and Babycenter.in: both leading information resources in the mother and child genre. She is the author of 'The Super Moms Recipe Book' which has 50 unique recipes for children.
Sonali has also conceptualized and featured in two DVD's - 'Prenatal Workouts' and 'Post Natal Workouts' - under the banner of Times Music. Sonali is a mom to two kids as well and happily divides her time being a full time Mom and a full time Professional.
Tells us more about yourself.
My biggest introduction is that I am a mom to two kids, Nirvaan, 14 and Mokshaa, 12. I am a certified Pregnancy, Lactation and Child Nutrition Counselor. I also head CAPPA in India which is the World’s largest birth professionals training organisation. Have been in the field for a little over ten years and have had the privilege of working with more than 15000 couples through my program's and workshops.
Writing, CAPPA, kids, consulting – how do you manage to do it all?
Work for me is fun. Many times people ask me if I do not get bored, same questions, same concerns from parents but for me each client is unique and their concerns have to be treated thusly. This ensures that I get to work with a spring in my step. CAPPA has been my dream. It enables me to train professionals to carry on the legacy. It enables me to reach each and every part of India and spread the support for every pregnancy. I believe that pregnancy, birth and parenting are all natural events and with the right support it can be one of the best experiences. All my work is interconnected and hence it becomes easy to juggle all the various hats - writing, CAPPA, kids, consulting etc....
What was the inspiration behind developing the "E-Pregnancy Class"?
Time and travel. Both issues in today's hectic world. Couples cannot find the time to spend with each other and add to that the pains of traveling in all the traffic can be a huge deterrent to attending a prenatal class. Many couples then ask themselves this question, is a prenatal class really necessary and hence end up skipping it. But really the right prenatal class will provide specific, relevant and condensed information. It will provide support and the Counselor is only an email away. To address the time and travel issues but yet keeping the information and support intact was the sole idea behind the e-pregnancy modules. Babychakra seemed to have similar ideals to support women, a similar audience and a strong focus on quality: we just clicked with each other. So it seemed a natural choice to offer the program through their portal.
What is work life balance to you?
Work is life and life is work. It is important to set your priorities. I work from nine to three when my kids are in school and post that am home with them. I use their play time with their friends to take care of emails and computer work. Dinner happens together at eight. If any work is pending then it can get taken care of post their bed time. My better half is also my better half in this venture and he helps me to handle the admin and marketing end of the program leaving the technical stuff to me.
A message to SHEROES out there
As women we are naturally the primary caretakers of home and family because we are born with the nurturing instinct. But that does not mean we cannot achieve and fulfill our dreams and passions. So dare to dream and reach for the stars.