Episode 6 — Aparna
The Story of: She Reinvented Herself Five Times. The Last One Opened Into a Lockdown.
Identity, Career Pivots, Purpose
“I was always in search of my identity — and Hastam has given me purpose.”
Key Moments
- ✦CA → law → counselling → Montessori → Hastam school — five lives in one
- ✦Built a Montessori school in 2020 — it opened straight into COVID lockdown
- ✦Made physical learning kits by hand with a drill and chisels
- ✦Her son taught her carpentry — the student became the teacher
- ✦Purpose is not found. It is built.
About This Episode
Aparna has been many things. A Chartered Accountant. A lawyer. A counsellor. A Montessori educator. A carpenter.
Not in parallel. In sequence. Each life complete before the next one began.
In 2020, she built a Montessori school — Hastam — from the ground up. It opened its doors into a global pandemic. When the world locked down, she didn't close. She picked up a drill and a chisel and built physical learning kits by hand. Her son taught her carpentry.
This is a story about not knowing who you are for a long time — and then finding out.
What We Talk About
- Moving through five completely different careers without a map
- Why she kept leaving behind things she was good at
- Building Hastam in 2020 — the timing that felt like failure
- Making learning kits with her hands during lockdown
- The moment her son became her teacher
- What identity actually means when you've reinvented yourself five times
- Finding purpose in the most unexpected place
Full episode timestamps coming soon.