Archana Mayekar was sent to boarding school at four. She remembers wondering if she’d done something wrong. Years later, she built a life in Dubai filled with travel, parties and a marriage that seemed right. She still couldn’t explain why she felt so alone.

In this episode of ⁠⁠Unfiltered With Sapna⁠⁠, Archana shares how therapy helped her revisit her childhood, see what she’d been looking for in her relationships, and find the courage to leave her marriage and start over in Mumbai.

What happens when the life you worked so hard to build no longer feels like yours?

Usha Singh-Das grew up with severe eczema, facing bullying and rejection when she needed acceptance most. But some of her deepest wounds came from within her own family.

After losing her father, experiencing pregnancy loss, and facing a nine-year legal battle over the family home, Usha reached a point where protecting her peace meant walking away.In this episode of ⁠⁠Unfiltered With Sapna⁠, Usha shares the story behind her book, Breaking Free. We talk about family control, emotional guilt, going no contact, and the courage it takes to build a life beyond the expectations you grew up with.

Through her marriage, motherhood, and writing, she began creating a life on her own terms—and telling the story she once kept to herself.

What happens when choosing yourself means leaving behind the people you were taught never to leave?

Content note: Bullying, emotional abuse, bereavement, pregnancy loss, and depression.

Maureen van Huvelingen shares what it was like growing up neurodivergent in a world that kept expecting her to be “normal.”

As a child, she struggled with dyslexia, autism traits, and ADHD, moving through special school, masking, and years of learning how to adapt to a world that did not always understand how her brain worked. But with the support of her family, she slowly learned that being different did not mean being broken.In this episode of ⁠Unfiltered With Sapna, we explore neurodivergence, labels, childhood, masking, self-acceptance, and what it means to be seen for who you are beyond a diagnosis.

Diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis as a child, Trupti Sagar spent years living with chronic pain, limited mobility and eventually a wheelchair.

But behind the physical battle was another story — growing up as a girl in a conservative family, feeling overlooked, navigating disability, body image, relationships and a world that often saw her condition before it saw her.

In my first Gujarati conversation on ⁠Unfiltered With Sapna⁠⁠, Trupti opens up about the darkest moments of her childhood, undergoing two hip replacements, learning to walk again, becoming independent, pursuing her education, and stepping into modeling and social media.

Today, she has built a community of over 90,000 followers — and she still has one big dream: to see herself on a billboard on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road.

Trupti doesn’t want her story to be told through pity. She wants to be seen for everything she has become.

Dr. Sakshi Batla was a successful dental surgeon with a loving family and a life filled with dreams. But behind the doors of her marriage, she endured emotional abuse, humiliation and relentless mental torture—until she reached a point where she almost lost her life.

Leaving the marriage was only the beginning of her healing. She later faced depression, health challenges and the devastating loss of both her parents. Yet each time life brought her down, she found another reason to rise—through her work, painting, yoga and, eventually, skating.

At the age of 51, Dr. Sakshi put on a pair of skates for the first time. What began as a way to save herself became an extraordinary new chapter that led her to become a Guinness World Record holder.

In this deeply personal episode of ⁠Unfiltered With Sapna⁠, Dr. Sakshi shares her journey from an abusive marriage to rebuilding her identity, choosing herself and proving that it is never too late to begin again.

Because sometimes, nobody comes to save you. You have to become the hero of your own life.

What happens when a relationship looks peaceful from the outside — no fights, no complaints, no harsh words — but something inside you still tells you it isn’t right?

In this episode of Unfiltered With Sapna, Valentina Avdeeva opens up about the expectations she inherited about what it means to be a “good” woman, wife and mother — and how those beliefs shaped the choices she made.

She shares the reality of a relationship where her partner seemed like an “angel,” yet she came to experience the absence of conflict as something that kept her stuck. Behind a life that looked good from the outside, Valentina found herself asking a painful question: Why am I not happy?

From losing her sense of identity as a housewife in Dubai and experiencing panic attacks, to exploring her family patterns, finding the courage to leave her marriage and rebuilding her independence, Valentina shares the journey that eventually led her back to herself.

Today, she brings together her background in psychology and art through art therapy — helping others explore what may be difficult to put into words.

A conversation about conflict avoidance, boundaries, inherited patterns, motherhood, identity, relationships and what it takes to finally listen to yourself.

What happens when trauma meets schizophrenia?In this episode of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Unfiltered With Sapna⁠⁠⁠⁠, Lavina D’Souza opens up about childhood sexual abuse, growing up surrounded by domestic violence and death threats, and her experience of living with schizophrenia.

After years of carrying her story, Lavina is finally speaking — not only for herself, but for others who may still be suffering in silence.

One ordinary day, Jyoti Belani was getting ready for a party when she felt a lump that would change her life forever.In this episode of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Unfiltered With Sapna⁠⁠⁠, Jyoti shares the moment she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the fear of telling her family, the emotional reality of chemotherapy, losing her hair, and finding the strength to keep going for her husband and two young children.

But this episode is about more than cancer. It’s about resilience, motherhood, healing, and learning to let go of stress, guilt, and the pressure to be everything for everyone.

Today, Jyoti is cancer-free, and she’s using her journey to encourage others to listen to their bodies, prioritize their health, and never lose hope.

This is a conversation about courage, survival, and choosing life—one day at a time.