We recently connected with Godhuli Chatterjee Gupta and have shared our conversation below.
Godhuli Chatterjee, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
In a beautiful way, becoming a mother helped me find my way back to my true purpose of writing, sharing untold stories, and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities. Prior to motherhood, I was stuck in the corporate grind seeking endless validation in meaningless (to me) measures like promotions, raises, and glowing performance evaluations. After giving birth to my two children in fairly close succession and grappling with the ups and downs of early motherhood, I was forced to focus on something other than my own ego. Motherhood forced me to slow down, take a deliberate pause, and to evaluate how I truly wanted to spend my days with my limited time and energy. It’s an immense privilege to take this pause, one that I must acknowledge and be incredibly grateful for, since so many mothers are not able to do so.
Once I started letting go of society and my own pre-determined expectations of how I should be living my life as a mother, a beautiful thing happened. I started writing again as a therapeutic outlet – I wrote personal essays and journal entries, which eventually turned into poetry I felt brave enough to share with the world. I couldn’t believe the impact my words had on other like-minded writers, artists and mothers, an impact that felt so much more creatively and personally fulfilling than any other career role I’d previously had. Today, I have a self-published poetry collection under my belt and another one on the way in April 2026. Both books explore motherhood, the immigrant experience, cultural duality and reclaiming one’s heritage and cultural identity.
Motherhood offered the clarity I needed to truly find myself again and rediscover my true purpose.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Today, I’m thrilled to own my new post-motherhood identity as a creative being – an independently published poet, writer, and creative entrepreneur. It’s taken me a while to truly own this new title since my early days of sharing poetry on social media, but I’m proud of the journey and where I am today.
My work explores the trials of motherhood, the South Asian immigrant experience, cultural duality, and the process of reclaiming identity. As a former “third culture kid” who grew up in six countries and speaks a few different languages, I’m proud to bring a rich, global perspective to my writing. I self-published my Amazon bestselling debut poetry book “Desert Marigold’ in May 2023, a collection that takes you on an emotional journey through the various stages of womanhood – from the self-doubt and crippling anxieties of adolescence to the raw gripping realities of motherhood and ultimately reclaiming your identity.
I am currently working on my next collection, an ode to South Asian immigrant women. This is a project I’m deeply passionate about – a collection of poems that honor their pain, their grief, their power & their joy. I can’t wait to share this work with the world. My greatest joy and purpose in writing is helping tell the stories of marginalized voices and amplifying our community as a whole. Our stories matter.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
In a creative, non-traditional and artistic field like poetry, the three qualities that were most impactful in my journey were trusting my intuition, vulnerability, and discipline. It’s imperative to be in touch with yourself and your true emotions as a writer, while giving yourself the permission and courage to be as authentic and vulnerable with your readers as possible. Sharing my work on social media & through my poetry collection has taught me so much about the power of vulnerability in building connections and community. We are truly more alike than different, and what a beautiful thing it is to truly experience and understand this basic human truth.
At the same time, discipline plays an important role in merging art & business. You can have all the emotions, creativity, and vulnerability in the world, but it’s important to establish some sort of discipline in your writing routine and publishing structure in order to get those words out there in the world. As a creative entrepreneur, I have also sold my own poetry-based products and commissioned projects – all of these things require discipline, focus and structure.
My advice to other artists and writers is to be patient with yourself and establish practices that help you become more in tune with yourself and purpose. This could be meditation, journaling, and exploring different creative forms and expressions. Once you establish what you want to focus on, commit, and be fearless and delusional in your artistic ambitions. That’s easier said than done, but just put your head down and believe that your work/voice/words need to be seen by the world. I also tend to focus more on the process versus the outcome, and that mindset really helps me feel more personally gratified and fulfilled.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
My parents reign from the cultural capital of India, the city of Calcutta, and the most impactful thing they did for me was to infuse my childhood with art, theater, film, poetry, and culture. Creativity was woven into every aspect of my life as a young child and was treated with a high regard of respect. They never looked at the arts as frivolous or a waste of time, and that certainly shaped me deeply as the writer I am today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wordsbygodhuli.com/
- Instagram: @wordsby.godhuli
Image Credits
Charming Studios
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