Leaders Creating Rukus

Women live longer than men but they spend 25% more of their lives in poor health. This realization made Vasanta launch a movement. In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus we welcome Vasanta Pundarika, CEO & Founder of Lotuspring. She is one of healthcare's most distinctive voices working at the messy intersection of women's health, behavioral health, and business strategy. With nearly two de...

What if building your career meant amplifying who you already are instead of starting over from scratch? In this episode, we’re revisiting one of our favorite conversations on Leaders Creating Rukus with keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and LinkedIn authority Sheikh C. Ali. A former medical student who pivoted away from a traditional path, Sheikh is now the Founder and CEO of SC Medical Media, where...

He had the dream job. The music industry. Celebrity clients. VIP events. Success by every traditional measure. Then at 31, while tying his shoes on a Monday morning, Matthew Emerzian thought he was having a heart attack. It wasn't a heart attack. It was the beginning of a battle with severe anxiety, depression, and a life-changing realization: everything he thought mattered didn't. In this episode...

She built an HR company that leads with compassion instead of corporate scripts. Traveled the country alone during the pandemic to rebuild her life from the inside out. And turned her own healing journey into a mission to create workplaces that are both human and impactful. In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus Aashi sits down with LeiLani Quiray, founder and CEO of be the change HR, social en...

Ashar Ahmed has spent more than two decades navigating high-stakes litigation, business disputes, and complex legal battles, but behind the courtroom success is a story built on grit, reinvention, and relentless growth. Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Ashar came to the U.S. in 1991 to study engineering at Purdue University. After realizing engineering was not his path, he pivoted to business...

Michael Trust spent more than 35 years navigating the realities of workplace leadership before becoming a California employment attorney. Today, he brings both worlds together, helping businesses and employees solve complex workplace challenges with a rare blend of legal expertise and real world HR insight. In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus Aashi sits down with Michael Trust, Esq., employm...

He trained at Princeton University, earned his M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College, and built a decades-long career as a leading vascular surgeon. But behind the titles, accolades, and leadership roles is a story shaped by loss, reinvention, and an evolving definition of purpose. In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus Aashi sits down with Dr. Arun Chervu, surgeon, systems thinker, and now a...

She left a fast-paced corporate career. Moved cities with a newborn. Started multiple businesses that didn’t work before finding the one that did. And somewhere in the middle of all that, Mridu Parikh realized… being busy all day doesn’t mean you’re actually productive. If you missed Sunday’s Leaders Creating Rukus, go find this one. It is practical, honest, and surprisingly freeing. Five things t...

She moved across continents as a teenager, alone, uncertain, and determined to choose her own path. She walked away from expectations, questioned success, and rebuilt her career more than once to find alignment. And through it all, Veena Murthy kept returning to one powerful question: Why? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus Aashi sits down with Veena Murthy, healthcare leader, strategist, a...

Shayla Higginbotham has spent 20+ years navigating the complexity of healthcare, building, advising, and challenging systems from the inside out. Raised in a small town in West Virginia, she learned early what it meant to be different and that success requires more than hard work. It takes thinking differently. A minority woman in male-dominated spaces, Shayla did not just find her voice. She crea...

She grew up the daughter of immigrant physicians in Ohio, expected to follow a traditional path. She didn’t. She tried finance. Pivoted to law. Fell in love with healthcare policy. And along the way, she kept asking one question: How do we actually make healthcare work better for women? This Sunday at 4 PM PST, Leaders Creating Rukus sits down with Priya Bathija, founder and CEO of Nyoo Health, he...

He nearly lost his life to a sudden, devastating illness. He came back with a deeper understanding of what it truly means to lead, with humanity, not just expertise. In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus Aashi sits down with Dr. Bijal Patel, board-certified nephrologist, healthcare leader, and a voice for redefining leadership through service, connection, and compassion. An executive leader wi...

She was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer at 31. She had a newborn. And she still found her way back to leading with purpose. In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus, Aashi sits down with Parul Somani — speaker, author, and mindset coach who turned a career crisis into a roadmap for resilient leadership. MIT and Harvard Business School grad. Bain alum. Silicon Valley executive. And someone...

What if the reason you’re not getting promoted isn’t your performance but how your leadership is being interpreted? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus, Aashi Arora sits down with Maddy Viswanath, career coach and former HR leader. With 20+ years in HR, Maddy shares how she went from being overlooked and underpaid to increasing her compensation by over 110 percent simply by changing how she...

What if protecting your reputation in a crisis meant telling the truth faster, clearer, and louder than the chaos around you? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus host Aashi Arora sits down with crisis communications expert Dave Oates, founder of PR Security Service, whose career spans more than three decades of navigating some of the most high-stakes reputational challenges organizations can...

What if hiring felt less like a black hole and more like a human conversation powered by intelligence? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus, Aashi Arora sits down with brothers, founders, and AI innovators Raihan Dadabhoy and Azam Dadabhoy, co-founders of Sensiply, a fast-growing AI-powered hiring platform transforming how employers and candidates connect. Born and raised in Southern Californ...

What if the most powerful pivot in your life wasn’t about doing more but about finally surrendering and listening? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus we sit down with Dr. Katie W. Chu, optometrist, author, speaker, and founder of Chu On What Matters, for one of our most heartfelt and transformational conversations yet. For nearly 30 years, Dr. Chu has served four and a half generations of f...

What if the friction in your organization isn’t a people problem but a design problem? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus as we sit down with organizational efficiency engineer and founder of Belleview Consulting, Belle Walker. Belle takes companies from friction to function, helping leaders rethink how their teams are structured, how work flows, and how strategy actually gets executed. Wit...

What if growing your business didn’t mean chasing every trend, but scaling with intention instead? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus we sit down with product and marketing strategist Anika Sharma, founder of Crescera Consulting. With over 15 years of experience in product marketing and portfolio strategy, Anika has led high-impact initiatives across education technology, healthcare, and co...

In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus we sit down with California licensed attorney, legal educator, and academic success expert Aparna Agnihotri, J.D. Founder of Academic Advantage JD and creator of LawBubu, Aparna is redefining how law students learn, think, and succeed. Her journey was not easy. Law school and the bar exam pushed her to the brink, testing her confidence, resilience, and sen...

What if building your career meant amplifying who you already are instead of starting over from scratch? In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus we welcome back keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and LinkedIn authority Sheikh C. Ali. A former medical student who pivoted away from a traditional path, Sheikh is now the Founder and CEO of SC Medical Media, where he helps clinicians and healthcare execu...

What if true leadership wasn’t about becoming more—but becoming more of your authentic self? In this episode of Leaders Creating Ruckus, Aashi Arora sits down with Nidhi Kathuria—social entrepreneur, senior executive, and impact-driven leader—for a powerful and deeply human conversation on courage, reinvention, and purpose-led success. With over 20 years of experience across fintech, blockchain, h...

Some career shifts start not with dissatisfaction, but with a deeper awareness of what constant pressure is doing inside. On this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus, we’re joined by Dr. Sahana Sharan, a nervous system–based leadership strategist who helps high-performing leaders expand their internal capacity so they can lead with calm, clarity, and impact in high-pressure environments. A former ph...

This week on Leaders Creating Rukus, we’re joined by Sweta Patel, founder of Sadhna Legal Nurse Consulting. Sweta is an OB-trained nurse with more than 16 years of experience spanning Labor & Delivery, NICU, infusion therapy, infectious disease, medical device integration, and travel nursing. Her work today lives at a rarely seen crossroads. After years at the bedside and in clinical leadershi...

In this episode of Leaders Creating Rukus Aashi Arora sits down with Kim Jones, an executive coach, former Divisional CIO, and educator who has spent twenty-five years helping leaders rise to their full potential. Kim’s career began inside Fortune 250 companies, where she moved through finance, risk, operations, and IT before stepping into a senior role at Farmers Insurance Company. Although she s...