My Story
From Survival to Sovereignty

If you had told me years ago that I would launch The Runiverse in 2025, a spiritual home for healing, intuition, and transformation, I would have laughed, gone back to drafting another niche gender equality report, and told you life doesn’t work that way. You immigrate, go to school, get a good job, and hope you have enough retirement funds to finally pursue your dreams later in life.

But life had very different plans for me.

Where I Come From

I’ve lived many lives in one lifetime, across countries, careers, identities, and inner worlds.

I was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, in a family of academics, artists, and strong personalities who did the best they could to raise me and my brother with limited financial and emotional resources. My childhood was shaped by adversity, and I scored high on the ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scale. I experienced instability, loss, abuse, and environments marked by unspoken trauma and untreated mental health struggles. We went through periods without electricity, running hot water, or enough money for groceries. At age 5, I lost a loved one who had shielded me from much of that hardship, and with that loss came a deep sense of abandonment.

By the time I was a pre-teen, I already understood fear, hypervigilance, and the loneliness of being unseen. I coped the only way I knew how. Food became my refuge. Sugar became my comfort. Gaining and losing weight was the only thing I felt I could control. An eating disorder took root long before I had language for pain.

And yet, there was also love.

Despite our challenges, my family and I bonded over meals, music, and television. We devoured everything from Old Hollywood movies to Spaghetti Westerns and British series. Already a misfit and rebel at school, I found refuge in storytelling, performance, music, and imagination. In the inner worlds I created, I could escape my harsh reality and find peace. I was mesmerized by the healing power of storytelling and the art of channeling emotion to impact others in a positive manner. I dove into voice lessons and theater plays on one condition from my parents: that these pursuits remain a hobby, not a career. Even then, I knew I was meant to feel deeply, love fiercely, and speak my truth. I knew that one day, I would stand on stages far bigger than the ones I was allowed to dream of, from Broadway to the UN to Oxford University.

But my path wasn’t linear. At all.

In 2011, I left everything I knew and became the first woman in my family to move to the United States. And I did it alone, with barely enough savings to get me through a couple of months. I couldn't afford a new mattress, a laptop, or a winter coat. I had never traveled much before or experienced the kind of winter like the Polar Vortex of 2011.

Yet I survived. And then I thrived.

Thanks to a full scholarship and relentless determination, I completed graduate school in Ohio from 2011 to 2013, then secured a job at a prestigious international organization in Washington, DC. After more plot twists than a Pakistani soap drama, and a miraculously manifested Green Card, I eventually landed in New York City in 2022.

In between those moves, I navigated:

Immigration processes that tested every ounce of grit and faith I had
A marriage in 2015 that taught me about love
A painful divorce in 2020 that taught me about myself
A 20-year career in international development and humanitarian work
A parallel career as an actress, singer, and writer because my soul refused to give up on my dream
Travel to nearly 40 countries in search of meaning (and excellent food)
Leadership roles managing teams, crises, and multimillion-dollar initiatives that shaped me into a woman who can walk into any room and hold her own

From the outside, it looked impressive. On the inside, I was exhausted, spiritually starved, and disconnected from my own desires. I was allowed success, but not rest. Achievement, but not safety. Visibility, but not belonging.

When Success Isn’t Alignment

For over 11 years, I worked inside one of the most powerful global institutions in the world. For many years, I thrived against all odds and challenges. I helped build pioneering work on gender, care systems, disability, and LGBTI inclusion. I led with an entrepreneurial mindset, created many “firsts” in my field, built teams, and delivered results. I received strong performance reviews and global recognition for my impact. I was trusted to take risks, open new doors, and build what hadn’t existed before. My work touched countless lives across the globe.

Then, toward the latter part of my institutional career, something shifted.

As a brown, Muslim, immigrant woman, I found myself working significantly harder to sustain the same level of trust, autonomy, and recognition. I began navigating environments where psychological safety and trust eroded, where contributions were minimized, reputations maligned, roles narrowed, and voices constrained. I was encouraged to take up less space, to soften my visibility, to say "yes" more often, to be more agreeable and malleable. I worked tirelessly to prove myself, until my body and spirit began to collapse under the weight of constant pressure, politics, and survival. Burnout followed. So did illness. And a shock of white hair!

I tried to fix it the “right” way: through dialogue, feedback, mediation, and perseverance. But like many high-performing women (especially women of color), I experienced the cost of speaking up. I learned that success does not always equal protection. Eventually, I had to face a hard truth: sometimes growth requires not fixing a system, but leaving it.

But a part of me was still afraid and unsure. How could I, an immigrant with hardly any safety net, let go of the security that I had worked so hard to build?

2018: the year everything changed!

In August 2018, after another wave of personal loss including my grandfather's death, I made a radical decision: I got sober. No alcohol. No cigarettes. No numbing. No escaping myself or outsourcing my pain. Sobriety cracked me open. Suddenly, I could feel everything! Every emotion, every wound I had pushed away for years. All the grief, intuition, and magic I had silenced came bubbling up to the surface.

I committed myself to my deep healing through meditation, breath work, somatic practices, EMDR, EFT tapping, shadow work, and inner-child healing. I began to understand the source of my patterns, pain, and power and transform it into an authentic, abundant life. I healed my eating disorder and my toxic patterns, which greatly improved my family dynamics.

And then something wild happened.

People started noticing all the changes in me and kept coming to me for advice. They asked me for comfort, clarity, and guidance. They wanted what I had. And they kept saying the same thing: “You should do this full-time.”

At first, I ignored it.

Then it became undeniable.

Then it became destiny.

After decades of people-pleasing and fulfilling other people's expectations, I finally asked myself: “What do I want?”

A voice inside me said, "Build a life of artistry, service, spirituality, truth, and beauty. Help people heal the way you healed so they can live their best lives. Use your intuitive gifts out loud instead of whispering them in private for free. Blend your passions and gain complete freedom so that you never have to prove your worth or dim your light for anyone."

And so in 2025, I chose to leave institutional life and step fully into my purpose as a certified, trauma-informed, transformational life coach, a spiritual guide and tarot reader, and an artist reclaiming my voice and pursuing my passions not as a hobby, but as a true calling. I did so knowing that my worth was never dependent on a title, and that the wisdom I had gained could now be used in a more expansive way.

This is how The Runiverse was born. A fusion of Rudaba and the Universe.

Because my world is finally a reflection of who I truly am. The Runiverse is a space for:

Life and career makeovers
Trauma-informed transformations
Reconnecting with your spiritual and creative passions
Rebuilding self trust and intuition
Finding your voice again
Stepping into purpose-driven leadership
Taking aligned action and manifesting the life, love, and career of your dreams
The messy, beautiful, human journey toward becoming who you really are

Today, as I coach and act, I live a grounded, high-vibrational, and intentional life. I meditate daily. I nourish my mind, body, and soul, which allows me to pour into my relationships and creativity. I practice Hoʻoponopono, yes, even on those who challenged me, because every experience pushed me out of my comfort zone and into the limelight of my purpose.

I would be honored to work with you.

I’ve packed up my life in two 23-kg suitcases and rebuilt everything from the ground up multiple times. I’ve reinvented myself across countries, cities, careers, and identities. I’ve healed, failed, risen, collapsed, risen again, loved hard, lost deeply, and kept going. And now I’m here, finally, fully sharing my gifts with the world. Being the kind of coach to others that I wish I had when I was going through all that I went through.

I am no longer interested in contorting myself to fit systems that require silence or self-abandonment. I am interested in helping people build lives that feel authentic and filled with passion and purpose.

My story is not one of bitterness, but of integration.
Not of burnout, but of rebirth.
Not of loss, but of choosing sovereignty.

If you’re standing at a threshold, unsure whether to stay, leave, pivot, or begin again. you’re not alone. I’ve been there. And I’d be honored to walk with you.

Everything I’ve lived has prepared me for this work. Everything you’ve lived has prepared you for your transformation.

Welcome to The Runiverse.

Let’s elevate your life.