YT33 | This month we are showcasing inspirational women with interesting stories! 

This month we are showcasing inspirational women with interesting stories! Today we have Lakshmi Ramachandran, a remarkable woman, who transitioned from being a biomedical scientist to a leadership coach and speaker, all while balancing life as a mother of two.

Lakshmi shares her lifelong passion for science, sparked by a fascination with life’s microscopic marvels. Born and raised in Kerala, India, before moving to Abu Dhabi, she faced challenges and cultural shifts that shaped her early life. Lakshmi’s academic journey took her to the US for her PhD, focusing on cancer drug discovery. Despite a successful scientific career, Lakshmi faced personal challenges, including infertility, leading her to prioritize motherhood over her profession. This episode delves into Lakshmi’s journey through adversity, her return to the workforce as a coach and speaker, and her belief in the power of respect as a foundational value for her sons.

Discussion Topics: Inspirational women with interesting stories

• Introduction to Lakshmi Ramachandran and her diverse career from biomedical scientist to leadership coach
• How Lakshmi’s early fascination with biology shaped her career in science
• Moving from Kerala, India, to Abu Dhabi: What were the challenges?
• Pursuing a PhD in the US: What were her personal and academic challenges?
• Overcoming infertility: A major turning point in Lakshmi’s life and career, leading to a focus on motherhood
• Why she left her scientific career and the journey towards coaching and speaking
• How is Lakshmi supporting young scientists and leaders?
• Recognizing 40 women over 40
• The value of respect: Lakshmi’s lesson for her sons 
• Wrapping up

Transcript: Inspirational women with interesting stories

Lakshmi: That first decision I made as a 15 year old, convincing my parents that I will leave your nest, go stay with my grandparents in Kerala, I think was my firstowning my life, making my own decisions. And that was the place where I started developing my confidence and changing my inner narratives about myself.

Yana: Welcome to YanaTV. Today with us we have Lakshmi Ramachandran, who is a biomedical scientist turned leadership coach and speaker.

Yana: And she’s a mom of two. When I look at you, I see a gorgeous woman who is also having a wonderful family and a very powerful career already. And I’m just curious when we talk about science, was it something you were always interested in?

Lakshmi: Absolutely, from the age of 15. 

Yana: How did it come out?

Lakshmi: I think I was always fascinated by life. So even as a young child, it was a fascination about life. And when I started learning biology and understanding the workings of our life, right? At the biological level. I think that fascination just started growing, for example, our cells at microscopic levels and other pathogens and organisms that we cannot even see with our eyes. It was like a sheer admiration for things, that we cannot really, see. And only, only through a microscope. So, that really, I think was the beginning for me, um, into getting into the world of biology. 

Yana: Wow which country you were born originally?

Lakshmi: So, I’m born in India Kerala, I was born and brought up in Kerala for the most part. But, the latter part of my life, from around my teens, I was in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi to be specific.

Yana: How was the experience of a young Indian girl living in Abu Dhabi?

Lakshmi: To tell you the truth it was quite an uprooting actually from Kerala to going Abu Dhabi. So though I studied, in Abu Dhabi, in an Indian school, it was still a very different environment, right? Because all these, Indians from different parts of India, for the first time, I felt like I was just seeing like a bigger life. So initially it wasn’t very easy.

For example, mixing with the crowd, adapting, and learning to speak English very fluently because in Kerala we could easily get away with our mother tongue Malayalam. I would also say that exposure was something very precious and it was key to shaping my life. Later on to the way that it is today. 

Yana: I know that your fascination with science, I mean, you have a PhD, right? So where did you get your PhD from?

Lakshmi: So I got my PhD from the US, Roswell Park Cancer Center. So somewhere around like my undergrad master’s transition, I realized that I wanted to be in the space of cancer drug discovery. That is coming up with new, medicines for unmet needs in cancer. So, with that, I was able to find this particular institute in the U.S. wrote my exams and everything, and managed to study with a full scholarship over there.

Yana: And again, I mean, still very young Indian woman going to U. S. to study. How was your experience there? 

Lakshmi: When I look back at that time, right, I mean, all I knew as a, like late teens and my late teens was I wanted to just do my PhD and that too in the U.S. I wasn’t really thinking about being away from my family or being in a different country at all. So I remember this point in my, in that, during that time when And, I was running around doing my, getting everything ready, visa, preparation, documents, documentation and everything. And then I’m on the plane.

And all of a sudden this big realization that I’m going away and this was a time in 2001 when we did not have cell phones. I don’t know if the young generation will ever be able to imagine a time when we did not have cell phones, did not have credit card, right, did not have a laptop. And I’m going to this new country where I don’t even know once I reach, how will I let my parents know that I have reached safely?

And I was the first one from my family and friends circle to go, and then I did not have any prior information as to what to expect, et cetera. And my parents also had that trust in me, sending a, young woman, to a strange land and they trusted in me, they trusted in my belief and my ambition and I think I’m very grateful for that.

Yana: And you went ahead, I mean, you received all your education and then you went, after this with your career. So everything was into science. And like, I know that in your, like, I think early twenties, it was booming, right? I mean, you were doing what you love doing. You were making money with this. You were progressing with the career ladder

Lakshmi: So like I mentioned, going back a little bit, my Abu Dhabi life, right? That was the time that I started shaping myself as an individual, that was the first time probably I had lost a sense of confidence a little bit because, suddenly you’re coming from a small town into a bigger place, and then I knew that I was feeling these, experiences of inadequacy.

Lakshmi: I couldn’t speak English. Well, I had all coconut oil on my head, girl with two plaits going to play badminton. I just didn’t gel with the rest of them at all. And I was always longing for to be included. So, and then I made this decision to go back to Kerala after my 10th, um, because I just felt I would fit in much more from where I belonged, actually.

Lakshmi: But that transition and that decision, the first decision I made as a 15 year old, convincing my parents that I would leave your nest, go stay with my grandparents in Kerala, I think was my first, like, owning my life, making my own decisions. And that was the place where I started developing my, confidence and changing my inner narratives about myself.

Lakshmi: So, that was a time when I decided or thought in my life that you have to really, up your confidence yourself. Nobody’s going to help you with that. You need to have clear goals and vision and you’ll be able to achieve them. So from then on, I was a changed person. I told my parents I wanted to do microbiology.

Lakshmi: I found the place. I left my home. I also got my PhD with a Dean’s award. And by then, now, I would say that I was probably really flying high because I was like, see, I have it in me. So PhD was knowledge, like gaining knowledge. I thought that was the toughest thing to do.

Lakshmi: And then I, I was like, I did it. I was only 26 when I did it, of course, a lot of sacrifices. I was married already. Um, and then living away from my husband, but still, I just felt that you could achieve what you wanted very easily if you had, if you worked hard for it. So this lemon that life threw at me when I was flying high and that had me fall was actually infertility.

Lakshmi: So what happened with me was that or in all the decisions and choices I made, of course, choosing to marry the person, my husband, my husband for the last 21 years, Ashwin, was also a conscious choice. I had met him and had just seen him once in college. And I had this intuition. that we are meant to be together and in two or three meetings, I just told him this intuition and that was it. And it was it. 

Yana: And then you got married. That was 

Lakshmi: Of course after, because he actually went sailing, his profession is in the merchant Navy. He went sailing and, um, and we’ve not really met. So it was like all cooking in long distance and, And at the time, again, back when we didn’t have cell phones or anything, it was all very trust based, intuition based, gut feeling based.

Lakshmi: And at some point, we actually ended up getting married, very hard to explain. There is no scientific evidence for it, but some things from the heart and the gut also

Yana: tells me there is no

Lakshmi: me there’s no scientific evidence.

Yana: why you get married. I love

Lakshmi: reading by David Neary. I love that. Yes. Totally. So when this happened, this infertility thing happened, obviously, it was a time when we were starting to think about family and, and I just realized that this is turning out to be the most difficult thing.

Lakshmi: What I thought was the easiest thing as a scientist, biologically, if you define it, it’s just the easiest thing, but then that was becoming the most difficult thing for me. And to me, to be very honest, initially, I think I was just, I was just annoyed that one another experiment in my life is not working.

Lakshmi: It’s like the COVID test, why isn’t this test, I mean, it was more of that. I did not realize so much about, just wanting, just what that kit turning positive versus my wanting to become a mother.

Lakshmi: Um,

Lakshmi: I think initially I was not ready to really become a mother. I was still thinking about my career.

Lakshmi: Um, I had no clue how that is going to affect everything else.

Lakshmi: and I think this struggle wherein I actually ended up making a conscious choice to leave my scientific career to focus on motherhood was another or major turning point in my life.

Lakshmi: So it was a very hard choice and hard decision to make, but I think it was that point when I started realizing after, I would say almost, almost three to four years of actually trying to become, mother or setting up our family, I made this hard decision because I just felt that everything else in life can wait.

Lakshmi: But again, biology has had not, I mean, it’s not changed, right? Technology has advanced, but we as humans, I think our function, we haven’t,

Yana: very traditional. All of 

Lakshmi: us. Yes,

Lakshmi: That’s a fact. So that realization made me want to like pause and that and really prioritize what I wanted. So, people in my life are not fully, what to say, sure of my decision, mainly because they’re like, you have put in so much of effort in building up a scientific career and now you’re leaving it all.

Lakshmi: Are you going to be happy? Aren’t you going to be depressed at some point? What if you don’t become a mother? What is going to happen to you? So it was a decision I had to really own in my life.

Lakshmi: And what I told myself is, if I don’t focus on this aspect, I might regret later.

Lakshmi: Mm-Hmm, If it doesn’t work, I’m willing to accept that I’ve given my 100 percent and the rest is beyond my control. Right? And then I thought I have, I can always try and get back to building my 

Yana: I know that

Yana: I mean, biologically, you’re not limited with that.

Yana: You can work as long as you want to work.

Yana: Exactly. Wow. It is just such, um,

Yana: So it is just very

Yana: I know that you went also, like, if we can use this word, like a spiritual journey, it is like a journey of self discovery, what you said and understanding transition and transformation and mindset.

Yana: I mean, so here we have a woman who spent quite a bit of time already just being very determined, very focused, like, if you, if you put a, B and C together, this is the result you’re going to get because it’s science, right?

Yana: So you kind of, the outcome based on the ingredients and form all that you use. And so here, then life puts you in a situation which is beyond your

Lakshmi: control.

Yana: And so, um, how did it change you as a person? 

Lakshmi: a person, this whole experience, right?

Lakshmi: Because see, like I was saying about the scientific evidence. So I was someone who used to look for evidence in everything. Like you give me proof, you give me numbers, you give me data, you give me, tell me the experiment is working, I will believe. Right. So I did not have, um, So much of, belief in anything else other than science, actually, until that point in my life.

Lakshmi: So even when I’m talking about my intuition regarding my marriage and all that, right? It is actually a reflection that I was like, wow, we have this kind of a power that I did not know existed at that time. I just had it naturally and I thought it’s all me. It’s all me. but then, when I faced this challenge in my life, it was a very, very difficult phase.

Lakshmi: I went through a lot of, um, physical symptoms as well. Like I had developed like irritable bowel syndrome around that time, which even at that point, I only knew it as, physical manifestation. But later I realized that it is also something to do with your mind, your state of your mind.

Lakshmi: So at that point, I was just tired. I was just tired. I did not know whether I was moving in the right direction or not. So I just decided to just surrender. Surrender in the sense to the higher power, I was like, okay, this is what I want. Now, here I am. I was, I used to be in tears all the time.

Yana: But somehow I feel the moment I surrendered something beyond, I felt that, I felt some kind of a positivity come from. I had faith. I was staying with my husband’s parents, my in laws at that time, like who provided the most ambient, most supportive environment.They were there with me. We used to have very philosophical conversations,What 

Lakshmi: the book is it was, I, I just realized it was almost a thing of, you’d keep trying. And that positivity led me to, of course, conceive our first child.

Lakshmi: Now you have two, 

Lakshmi: Now I have two.

Lakshmi: Yes.

Yana: sweet.

Lakshmi: Yeah. And I also ended up writing a book.

Lakshmi: During that time,

Lakshmi: Okay, 

Yana: what the 

Lakshmi: book is about?

Lakshmi: the book is actually about my life, mine and my co authors, Meghna, my friend Meghna’s life as graduate students in the U. S. So, and it’s, it’s a collection of recipes that we used to cook as Indian students.

Yana: is very sweet.

Yana: and publish the

Lakshmi: And our experience, in fact, that went on to win an award as well. 

Yana: Well, it reminds me, I actually, my mom is a great cook and it’s sort of, I have been thinking now for the last year already, I should really encourage her to put your favorite recipe together, add some stories from her childhood and publish the book. So now I’m going to take it as the confirmation from the life and universe, with your story that this

Lakshmi: is what we

Yana: be doing.

Yana: a 

Lakshmi: Absolutely. 

Yana: you mentioned this at the beginning when you sort of trying I think 27 right? You said when you were trying to conceive and it was not possible at that time. You said also that in your mind you felt you were not ready to be a mother.

Yana: So,

Yana: So what do you think changed specifically in your mind that actually made you ready?

Yana: And what does it mean to be ready?

Lakshmi: Yeah, that’s a very good question, actually. Because when I look back, it was, it was that tipping point, right? That actually made me leave my job.

Lakshmi: I

Lakshmi: think till then, I was not so connected with the, with children.

Lakshmi: when I see compared to my husband, my husband has a natural flair with children, and I see that with my own children, they have that natural flair with Rajat I didn’t have it actually. So I did really did not know what is motherhood. Right. So around that point, I just, um, started feeling like, I think the moment when I surrendered, the connection that I had, with Krishna, I mean, I believe in Krishna, suddenly, I mean, till then, that connection actually made me feel like the, experience motherhood.

Lakshmi: It is not just that I’m a mother.

Lakshmi: I don’t feel the motherly feeling just to my two kids. Now when I see children around, I hear a child’s cry. I feel that motherly feeling, which was never there before.

Yana: right?

Yana: I mean, you’re 

Lakshmi: It’s a beautiful feeling.

Lakshmi: I 

Yana: love how you’re describing that. And, um, so you paused your career. You went on this whole journey of discovery and acceptance and surrender. You now have two children, so your mom and you, you’re bringing them up. And now you’re also back into your career, right?

Lakshmi: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yana: what it is that you’re doing right now professionally?

Lakshmi: So I have, um, I am actually in the space of, um, coaching. Mm-Hmm. and speaking. It is again, a journey that got me into this space, right?

Lakshmi: Which is again, extremely fulfilling for me. So when I got out of the science career track. For a very, very long time, I had no idea where I’m headed. I only knew research. So when I was trying for jobs in research when I, after moving to Singapore, I really felt it was a struggle to get back.

Lakshmi: And then I went through a lot. I mean, it’s a, 10 years.

Lakshmi: So it’s a lot, a lot of soul searching, a lot of like, what am I now meant to do? What am I now meant to do? And through hard experiences and various career transitions within science, I realized this gap that, that exists, which is like within the science community, there is not so much of actual formal coaching or training or, developing effective leaders and all that.

Lakshmi: I really feel there is such a need. Because I have had to figure out my way, and it was very tough. So right now that is the reason why I think I’m heading more towards that. And in my current role, my current, permanent role, I’m also catering to the students, within science, et cetera, to help them develop other, other skills, such as communication skills, leadership skills, um, and even managing your life 

Yana: And if I guess it’s this motherly feeling and motherly attitude also comes out where now you also want to help younger people profession, right? And I know you’re also very passionate, especially to help girls in science and you promote this law that women, should go ahead of this.

Yana: They believe in that. And if I’m correct, you just recently also have been

Yana: included in 40. Is it over 

Yana: 40. 

Lakshmi: So 

Yana: I 

Lakshmi: it’s a beautiful initiative, created by Shirley Tory and Deborah, because they, um, actually just felt that there is, there are initiatives such as Forbes 30 under 30, et cetera. Right. But women over 40. What in her own words, what she said was it takes them a lot to show up, right?

Lakshmi: Because you’re going through so many changes in your body, in your life And then and then you probably have already sacrificed quite a lot of your career life in various other things in looking after others Children, building family, etc. And then comes a point wherein, you are also trying to figure out or try out What is my identity?

Lakshmi: What is my purpose? How can I contribute? And then So it is actually very, very meaningful, right? When women over 40, um, actually show up and they do, they support communities, they become entrepreneurs, they change their careers and still like, move forward. So it is a way of recognizing 40 women over 40 who are, inspiring in that sense.

Yana: I love that. I love that. Well, since we’re talking about it, so being a woman over 40, um, what do you feel is the difference? Let’s say if you look maybe at yourself and you’re in 30s, what is the main maybe difference now being in 

Lakshmi: Yeah. 

Lakshmi: Positives is really finding that identity, that sense of, new identity again, because still then you are, um, whatever, you’re a daughter, you’re a wife, you’re a mother, but then now, there is also.

Lakshmi: Something more, something more about you as a person. And it’s really, I feel it’s really about the potential. And I see most of my, and I talk to my friends also over 40, I see that happening, actually, And the downside of it is that because, we, there’s also a lot of hormonal changes happening, and I don’t think there is so much, so much big talk about it, but it’s so real, like perimenopause and menopause, et cetera, can also be a bit dragging on the energy, energy levels, right?

Lakshmi: of course, women. Everyone has a unique journey, each woman. But I do feel personally that what has changed for me is multiple demands because children are still young. I, there is a job that is you, you have your passion, you want to create an impact, um, you want to take care of yourself because you realize, I mean, I think I’ve realized the hard way after 40 is that health is so important, your physical and your mental well being, right?

Lakshmi: It’s just so important. So amidst all of that, you also, I mean, I personally experienced sometimes energy drains.

Lakshmi: So overcoming those challenges through greater awareness of what is causing that energy drain in you.

Lakshmi: Is it really, something physical, like for example, in my case, there was deficiency of iron and there’s deficiency of vitamin D, et cetera, or is it also mental, mental and emotional and spiritual, like for example, quality of your thoughts. Quality of your emotions, quality of your evolution.

Lakshmi: Are you really able to evolve spiritually the way you want to?

Yana: kids, is it boy or girl?

Yana: the final question for today,

Yana: Yes.

Yana: your sort of our conversation was a lot about being a mom, having children, also identity, career, sort of understanding who you are in

Yana: this

Yana: life and how do you feed, right?

Yana: With everything your kids, is it boy or girl?

Lakshmi: Both boys, two boys,

Yana: Okay. So when you look at your children, right, who are still, you said very little, um,

Yana: what do you feel is one value

Yana: that you really would like to imprint in them that you think is really important for the 

Lakshmi: So one value that is actually personally very important for me.

Lakshmi: is that same value which I would like them to also have. And that is respect.

Lakshmi: I really feel that that actually underlies everything else. For example, respect for oneself. Respect for others. Respect for the environment. Respect for, the larger vision, the world.

Lakshmi: And everything else. Because I think that Once you have it, it is easy to get everything else. For example, love, trust, understanding, all the other values can build on. But I feel respect 

Yana: Raise your hand, please.

Lakshmi: Self respect, starting from self respect onwards.

Yana: Also, tell us what

Yana: I love that. That was Lakshmi Ramachandran on YanaTV with us today. And we would love to hear from you in the comments. Do we have women over 40 here? Raise your hand, please.

Yana: Say hi in the comments and let’s celebrate each other. Also, tell us what you do. If there is something specific, feel free to share the links. We would like to hear from you in the community. And as Special thank you for Mew Studio for hosting YanaTV. We love being here. The most important, remember to subscribe to the YouTube channel and share this episode with friends.

Yana: The conversation always goes deeper when we do that. And I’m going to see you next time.

Yana: who is a

Yana: bioscientist and I forgot.

Lakshmi: Biomedical

Yana: again, bios, biomedical. I’m like, I missed the word there.