I came to Canada as a newly married graduate student, full of hope and ready to begin my Masters at Queen’s University. Everything around me was new — the culture, the people, even the winter — but I tried my best to adjust. During my program, I became pregnant and later welcomed my beautiful son. Even with the joy of becoming a mother, I constantly felt demotivated, sad, and weighed down, as if something was wrong with me. I kept telling myself, “I need to fix my marriage. It’s my responsibility.”
One day, a counsellor from the Ban Righ Centre at Queen’s noticed that something in me was not okay. She gently suggested that I see a women’s psychologist on campus. I booked the appointment.
When I arrived, the psychologist handed me a questionnaire. Most of my answers were “yes.” She looked at me and asked softly, “Do you know what this means?”
And then came December 26th, 2023 early in the morning.
I still remember the deep snow outside at 3 AM. While everyone else was celebrating the holidays with their families, I was forced to make the hardest decision of my life. I left my marriage with my little son in my arms.
We arrived at a women’s shelter. I felt shattered. Broken. Like a failure.
But my struggle didn’t end there. I had to rebuild everything from the ground up — find a job, earn money, make sure my son had food, and try to be a good mother while surviving my own trauma.
One day, a volunteer gifted me a candle.
She said, “This might help you heal.”
That candle became the start of my self-care journey. Slowly, day by day, healing became possible. I began to understand that I was not broken — I was always enough.
As the years passed, I rebuilt my life. I found a great job, earned my engineering license, bought a condo, and raised my son into a healthy, happy, confident child.
How Iti Saaram Was Born
About 11 years after leaving the shelter, I felt a deep calling to do something meaningful with my healing journey. I wanted to help other women — survivors, mothers, and busy women who struggle to care for themselves.
That is when I started
Iti Saaram — a brand built on healing, mindfulness, and self-care.
Through my candles and content, I help women slow down, breathe, and reconnect with themselves — the same way a single candle helped me during my darkest days.
As my way of giving back, I donate a portion from every purchase to Halton Women’s Place women’s shelter — the kind of shelter that once gave me safety when I had nowhere else to go.
Giving back through Iti Saaram feels like closing a circle and keeping hope alive for someone else.
A New Beginning
And after 13 years of being a single mother, life surprised me in the most beautiful way.
Last year, I married again — to the kindest, most caring man I have ever met.
