ARRIVAL LOUNGE
A Prescription for success
Dr Atreyi Mukherji is doing medicine differently. She focuses on integrative medicine, which means not just prescribing pills, but also including nutrition and mental health in a patient’s wellness plan.
In 2015, she started a two-year fellowship through the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.
“This allowed me to get professional training in blending evidence-based self-care strategies with patient treatment plans,” she explained. “I was frustrated that my existing medical training boxed me into just prescribing medications for everything. I didn’t go into medicine just to prescribe pills. Integrative medicine allows me to offer patients all available and appropriate tools.”
With no background in business or financing, Dr Mukherji took a leap of faith in herself and her approach to healing and opened her clinic – Elm Medicine – in Hamilton, Ontario, in March this year.
“I decided to open my own practice because it was time to follow my intuition and face the fear of doing it,” she says. It’s been a learning curve in the number of skills needed to be an entrepreneur.
“I am still learning them, but simply putting a business plan together... I’d never done that. Or even how to do payroll.”
Dr Mukherji credits her upbringing and love of learning as a child for her ability to move into entrepreneurship.
She came to Canada in 1980 as a child from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Her family lived in Wallaceburg, Ontario, for a month and then moved to Saint John, New Brunswick.
“Canadians are generally friendly. My father got a job there. We spoke English, but had to get used to a whole new way of life,” she recalls. “Weather, school – in New Brunswick at that time, there was not much cultural integration and kids and others would stare at me as I looked different.”
She remembers feeling isolated, but “free public schooling in Canada is a gift” and she always enjoyed school. “That allowed me to excel in education and be where I am at today. I grew up in a home where because of my parents mainly being in survival mode, I had to be very creative in terms of survival.”
As a self-described introvert, Dr Mukherji understands the hesitation some may have about becoming an entrepreneur and putting yourself out there.
Her advice:
“Be prepared. Take the time to think about your particular mission because that then helps us, say for example, when we are presenting in some public arena or selling our idea. And then speak from your heart... and speak your truth.”
Dr Mukherji’s experience resonated with Emily Mills, founder of How She Hustles and executive producer of the Startup and Slay digital series.
Sponsored by CIBC, Futurpreneur and Ryerson University, it highlights six successful diverse Canadian businesses. The series, featuring all the entrepreneurs, is available for viewing at www.howshehustles.com.
• If you’d like to share the story of your arrival in Canada, please write to desinews@rogers.com or call 416-695-4357.