About Sharell
A Short Introduction
Some people need a crisis to propel them in the direction they’re supposed to go in. I was one of them.
It was December 2005. I was on long service leave from my uninspiring government accounting job in Melbourne, Australia, and doing community work in Kolkata. My life as I’d known it had disintegrated. I’d come to India to take my mind off it, push myself out of my comfort zone, and help people less fortunate than me. I’d visited India twice before as a tourist, and I knew it was a country that would challenge me. I didn’t know it would completely change the course of my life though. My future husband was a Indian DJ, with a residency at one of Kolkata’s biggest nightclubs. Fate drew us together one night, and transformed my life into something unrecognizable.
Now, we live in Mumbai.
I write about India travel for Tripsavvy, a DotDash.com brand based in New York. DotDash (formerly About.com) was named Digiday’s Publisher of the Year in March 2018. This followed a successful reorganization of About.com, by parent company IAC, into six distinct new vertical brands under the Dotdash umbrella. Tripsavvy is the travel brand.
I’ve also authored a transformational memoir, which was published by a major Australian and Indian publisher, and I was named as one of the Top 10 Global Stories of Reinvention for 2013 by American Reinvention Expert Steve Olsher. In 2017, I confronted my fear of public speaking head-on by giving a TEDx talk about what happened when I threw myself into the chaos.
For the first time in my life, I’m doing work that motivates me and that I love. My life may lack many of the material things I used to have, but I feel so much more fulfilled and free. I’ve learned to take chances, be courageous, adapt, and appreciate the little things in life that bring a smile to my face. The path that my life has taken isn’t always easy. There are days that I feel frustrated with how India functions, uncomfortable, and homesick. But most days, I feel incredibly inspired. And, every day, I feel blessed to be living this adventurous and unconventional life.
I believe that life, and everything we do, provides foundations for spiritual transformation. I’m a keen observer. I travel to learn — to uncover the deeper principals and philosophy of the places I visit — and awaken myself. And, I write to share what I’ve learned with the world.