Vaishali Somasundaram is a Canadian citizen, born and raised in India and has lived and worked in several countries in North America, South East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Vaishali is a published author of three books that fall under the genre of self-help and self-care. She writes under the pen name, Aatmanika Ram. Her most recent book, Ancient Chants for Modern Living, published by Westland Publications, was chosen as one of the best sellers on Amazon. The exposure to varied cultures, her strong family-centred values and her innate curiosity have driven her to explore and write about her life experiences in Shells on the Beach, an anthology. Her artistic taste and the desire to bring out the essence of good human values has found expression in the poetic fiction, The Rose Petal Trail: A Sutra for Timeless Love.

She has over 20 years of professional experience in Information Development/ Knowledge Management/ Project Management with IT companies including IBM and Infosys. This international experience has honed her innate editing and writing skills, to be factual, recognize inconsistencies, and adapt quickly to the established and prescribed style of writing in any organization. She is adept at balancing the desire for perfection with the necessity to adhere to deadlines.

Vaishali has a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics and has won the Best Thesis Award from the University of Madras, for her work with Cerebral Palsied Children. She strongly believes that Education is a continual learning process and to that end has qualified herself further in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, as well as in spoken French.

Her creativity extends from the literary world to the physical one: vegetable gardening, interior decoration, vegetarian cooking and food curation. She is also an avid eco warrior. She embraces zero waste by composting the family’s food waste to nourish their vegetable garden. Vaishali also creates her own line of cosmetic products and home cleaning solutions for personal use. She is certified from the PVA Ayurvedic Multi-speciality Institute in Kerala.

Vaishali values her relationships far more than the awards and accolades that she has ever received. She strongly believes that her role as a daughter, wife, mother and friend have taught her far more life lessons than any education in the world. She finds great joy in pursuing any experience that would serve as a tool to recalibrate herself when needed.