Neelam is a dream guest for Who Is Your Momma, and let me tell you why! Neelam raised 4 children, her children are unbelievably successful, giving and doing big things.
Nagina Abdullah, her first daughter started MasalaBody, which is a health and wellness brand helping women get healthy. Her 2nd child Rachita Reddy is a double board-certified nephrologist & internist with three kids. Her son Rameet Sethi went to Standford, is a New York Times best selling author, and a brilliant entrepreneur. Neelam’s other son Maneesh also went to Standford and is the Founder and CEO of Pavlok, he has written 4 books, and one of them when he was just 14 years old.
On top of all of that, Neelam herself writes about raising her incredible kids, and her website RaiseTopKids.com has some of Neelam’s wisdom. Neelam has a master’s degree in education and taught for 30 years.
During our interview Neelam discussed how important education was for her children. Yes, she meant in the classroom, but she also meant well beyond the walls of a school. Neelam and Prab Sethi, traveled with their children, they had spelling contests on road trips, they learned about other cultures and they fostered an environment that celebrated knowledge.
Another brilliant decision by Neelam was to be ever-present at her children’s school. Being an Indian child in the US, there were many questions and sometimes hard situations for the Sethi children. Neelam dealt with that by educating their community and schools about their culture. I found this approach to be so acute because it served so many purposes. Neelam, gave her community and chance to truly understand their family and culture. It also, meant that her children saw Neelam as a supportive and present figure at school. Possibly most importantly, it helped the community and other children understand the Sethi family and their culture which meant they were more understood and welcomed.
Neelam maintained her Indian culture while raising her children in the US and that structure and her customs were a powerful and wonderful tool for shaping her children today. Mrs. Sethi had so much to share that we have two episodes covering not only the Sethi family, but part 2 also covers more general parenting circumstances.
Neelam Sethi is a legendary momma and has so much wisdom to share!
Listen to Neelam on Who Is Your Momma Now Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4