AUTHOR I SPEAKER I STORYTELLER
FROM #BOSSLADY TO #THATSUBURBIALADY
THAT SUBURBIA LADY
In today’s world of carefully curated feeds, the truth may sound like fiction, a fantasy, or even horror!!
The truth, my truth, my motherhood truth, is scary. It’s ugly.
But raw truth is powerful too.
I wrote my story because it is the only truth I know. And I wrote it to heal myself.
But you know what? Magic happened, and my truth resonated with many, helped many, and healed some too.
Share the truth. Your truth. Unleash it. Raw and powerful. Clear and bold. Share it loudly, proudly, and unapologetically. Share it not as a whisper but as a roar. Because if our truth remains silent, it fades, and so will we.
So, here’s to all who share their real, messy, too-wild-to-be-true stories.
May we be them, may we know them, may we lift them.
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I wasn't born a writer.
I became one because I had a story to tell.
I didn’t write my book to become a best-selling author.
I wrote my book because I couldn’t find my story in any book.
That Suburbia Lady is a motherhood memoir. It’s a collection of 40 short stories from the year I turned 40.
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It’s the story of a #bosslady (me) who and after becoming a full-time mom left her high paid job in the city and moved to Suburbia where she constantly failed to answer the question “so what do you do?"
My readers tell me I was brave to share my story. But the truth is I wasn’t brave at all, I was desperate. And writing my story was my way to validate my reality, and set myself free of the should have’s, must have’s, and could have’s.
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My story isn’t defined by what I lost. It’s defined by who I became when I trusted my voice and I believed in my story.
So, go ahead, ask me “what do you do?” so I tell you: “I’m a mother who found her voice and is using it, loudly, proudly, and unapologetically.”
In 2019 I signed up for a writing workshop at Emirates Literature Festival. I don’t know why I did it. It was during my identity experimenting phase and I was trying out new things.
I wrote the first 100 words of my book during that two-hour workshop. Words started flowing, and my hand started moving.
On that day, Kim A. Page, the instructor, and a published author herself, gave me the confidence to trust my voice, and she encouraged me to continue writing, and my hand didn’t stop moving for 2.5 years.
I wrote for six hours a day, 5 days a week.
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Three years after that day in 2019, I returned to the Emirates Literature Festival, not as a workshop participant, but as a published author with a book in hand and a story to tell.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
ULRIKA, SWEDEN
"Love love love it. So many words' and sentences so wonderfully put together, which makes the book come alive, and have la life of its own. As a therapist it was wonde'ful to read "I wasn't struggling with who I want to be, I was revolting against who I didn'tiwant to be anymore." So many times I have heard the words "I don't want to be the person everyone thinks 1am." It took the quthor strength and courage to go within and search for herself and it takes time to find inner self."
SARA, DUBAI
"I enjoyed reading this book very much. There is a deep sense of self-awareness in the book. Someone who deep dived into themselves and it's there through the funny, witty comments. I think it's brilliant. The descriptions, the metaphors, and the cultural references are all spot on. There were parts in the book where I thought the author was talking about my life. The book is so profound.",
MARIAM, USA
"I read the book in one sitting. The book is not only easy and enjoyable to read, but as a mom myself, I found it very relatable. As a reader, you go through the emotions with Mariana, and you are rooting for her the whole way as the author shows you her vulnerability. The story is about becoming uncomfortable with the comfortably, and Mariana describes the process ! with eloquence and satire, which is not an easy feat. It's clear that the author had to dig deep and understand her pain and turn il into something beautiful!"
