Going Back to Move Forward 🎙️

What happens when you leave home at seven, grow up between countries, and spend years figuring out what "home" actually means?

In the first episode of Voices Across Borders — The Podcast, I sit down with Prenaka Ram — a Fijian-born, Indian-descended Canadian entrepreneur, and a true "queen of many trades."

Prenaka's journey takes us from Fiji to Toronto, California, and eventually Alberta. She arrived in Canada as a child after the 1987 military coup, discovered her Fijian-Indian identity as a teenager in California, and has been adapting — and thriving — ever since.

We talk about:

- Belonging without choosing a single label

- Why Toronto still feels like home decades later

- Building wellness businesses without investors or a business degree

- Motherhood, health, adversity, and cultural traditions

- Writing her chapter for Voices Across Borders: Becoming Here – Volume I

- Her definition of success? It's not about revenue. It's about lives changed, communities supported, and people walking away feeling better than when they arrived.

One line stayed with me long after we finished recording:

"In order to go ahead, we have to go back."

This is a conversation about remembering where we came from, making peace with the versions of ourselves along the way, and becoming who we're meant to be.

🎧 Listen now and share your thoughts — what does "home" mean to you?

Guest: Prenaka Ram

Host: Preethi Balasubramanian

Series: Voices Across Borders — The Podcast

📖 Voices Across Borders: Becoming Here brings together stories of immigrant women building lives, families, identities, and communities across Canada and the U.S.

If this mission resonates with you, we'd be grateful for your support. Your contribution helps fund editing, book design, publishing, and video production for the anthology and podcast.

Donate here: https://gofund.me/cf6917c4c