The Strength to Choose Yourself with Suha Lingam

Guest: Suha Lingam — Managing Principal of Digi Trunk, former digital marketing leader at Studio McGee, Intermountain Healthcare, Zale Jewellers, and Claire's. MBA from BYU, digital marketing training from Cornell. Survivor of domestic abuse and someone who chose to rebuild life entirely on her own terms. Episode Summary: Suha's story begins long before the boardroom. Born in Sri Lanka, raised between India and the U.S., she grew up carrying the weight of generational trauma, cultural expectations, and a family defined by survival rather than thriving. Her parents escaped war. Safety was the ceiling. Ambition wasn't in the vocabulary. What followed was decades of quiet unlearning — about what strength means, what loyalty actually requires, and what it costs to finally trust yourself. Suha opens up about leaving a domestically abusive marriage, not because she had found herself, but because she became a mother and couldn't unsee what she was seeing. She talks about the compartmentalization that got her through, the vision of a better life that kept her going, and the surprising grief of healing — the relationships, beliefs, and versions of herself she had to leave behind. Today, she's intentionally stepped away from a two-decade corporate career to simply figure out who Suha is. Not the digital marketer. Not the immigrant daughter. Not the wife. Just Suha. This conversation is about what it takes to stop defining yourself by your roles, set real boundaries with the people you love most, and build a life in alignment with who you actually are. Key themes from this conversation: What "strength" meant growing up — and how that definition has completely transformed. The role of intuition as the clearest compass she has. Why healing costs you relationships you never expected to lose. How becoming a mother gave her the courage she couldn't find for herself. The difference between surviving and thriving — and the decades it took to claim the latter. What it means to be "complete on your own" before inviting anyone else in. Why she stopped caring about how her LinkedIn looks — and why that matters. Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Sri Krishna Jewellers — over 50 years of craftsmanship, now serving the Dallas community from Frisco, Texas. Visit srikrishna.com or call 430-231-1111.