Introduction
Hi there, thanks for visiting! Allow me to introduce myself – my name is Sukhmani. I was given my name after a prayer in my Sikh faith, Sukhmani Sahib. The translation breaks down ‘Sukh’ as meaning peace or comfort, and ‘man’ (pronounced ‘mun’) as heart or mind. This gives my name the meaning of ‘peace of mind’ or ‘comfort to heart’. I tell you all of this, as I believe that one’s name is the first influencer of an individual’s personality and character development. It has also been my own personal promise to myself, since I first learned the meaning of my name, to live my life staying as true to the character assigned by it, as I possibly can.
Now that you know a little bit about my origin story, let me introduce you to who Sukhmani is today – a Jill of many trades! Professionally, I am a leader in Experience Design Strategy by trade, with over 10 years experience. In addition to my daytime professional, I am also a clean ingredient Candlemaker and the owner of Sukh Naal Sangeet – an Indian Sangeet and Punjabi/Sikh Wedding Consulting business. I am recreationally a musician, writer, and social justice advocate – sitting on the boards of both, the Sikh Coalition and Saanjh, as well as the Founder & Director of the YSG Collective.
I believe that the best opportunities in life are not the ones you are presented with, but rather the ones you create and that persistence, faith, and emotional stamina are the keys to surpassing any and all barriers in life.
Scroll on to learn more!
Bio
Sukhmani is a New Yorker by birth, but raised a Californian. Her love for both coasts was only the beginning of her love for traveling and cultural understanding. She was raised with three languages as her first (Punjabi, English & Hindi) with a fourth of Spanish added on not too long after, beginning in kindergarten. She was taught bits of her maternal grandfather’s mother tongue, Urdu, by her mother along the way as her fifth language and added on a sixth of Italian by minoring in the language of the people whose cuisine, culture and speech she found riveting.
By profession, Sukhmani is a Experience Strategist working as a Consulting Manager at Accenture specialized in E2E Consumer & Employee Experience Design, working with clients from many industries across Technology, Energy, Retail, Pharmacy and more. While consulting was the perfect career path to find herself in, she added Small Business Owner to her title when she founded her clean candle company, Scents by Sukhs, during the summer of 2020. Being an asthmatic and a candle lover, she discovered a need in the market for affordable, clean ingredient candles. Her accidental entry into small business ownership realized itself when she found most clean candle offerings to be too expensive to be accessible and sustainable for the average American household. Scents by Sukhs has now expanded to include wax melts, car diffusers and more!
Sukhmani strives to challenge the status quo and thrives on proving the impossible, possible. She applied this philosophy by completing her Bachelor’s of Science in 2 1/4 years from fall 2014 to fall 2016, with a major in Political Science and a double minor in International Business & Italian. These areas of study only fostered her for languages, cultures, and traveling even more! In addition to her formal education, she is a certified and trained Domestic Violence advocate, a trained mobile iOS technical specialist from her time working at Apple, and has also received the State Seal of Biliteracy in California for Spanish.
Outside of work, Sukhmani has a passion for the arts and social justice. She is an Indian classically trained musician specializing in vocals, harmonium and sitar, as well as being a trained dancer in Bhangra, Jazz, Hip Hop and Bollywood. In addition to music, Sukhmani enjoys writing as a medium of expression and has used this interest to further the message on many of her social justice pursuits, as can be found by her published writing.
Sukhmani furthers her passion for social justice through community advocacy, volunteering with the Sikh Family Center and SAVE in the Bay Area. She additionally leads up her own volunteer organization, YSG Collective, aimed at uniting like-minded young professionals in the Bay Area by the means of Seva, or selfless service, to the larger Bay Area community with less access to resources.
Writing
02.04.2021
“There’s no word for it in Punjabi… none in Hindi either – the bounds of the languages based on Sanskrit actually don’t acknowledge its existence,” writes Sukhmani Kaur.
“It’s interesting to discuss a phenomenon that your mother tongue doesn’t actually allow you to articulate. It’s a story that many live through, but no one is supposed to discuss. But it’s also the narrative that everyone loves to tell on your behalf – even without any of the facts. The closest word to articulate it is given to us by Arabic: talaq: divorce.”
Projects
We could say we’re an organization, but we’re really just a group of like-minded people who have come together because of their common love for doing Seva (selfless service). As young professionals, we often lose sight of the activities that feed our souls in the pursuit of feeding our bank.
BAYSG was created as an opportunity to bring together young professionals in an open environment as we also engage in Seva (selfless service) opportunities in the community. We welcome more members to our BAYSG family everyday. Now in 2020, BAYSG has over 50 active members – with three initiatives even in the age of COVID-19. With a little Seva, a little networking, and a lot of soulful gathering, BAYSG has become a family for many young adults in the Bay Area.
As a candle fanatic, an asthmatic, and a woman from humble beginnings, I identified a lacking in the retail market for clean ingredient candles. In my research on candle ingredients, I realized that most commercially sold candles have petroleum byproducts, carcinogenic fragrance oils, and/or many other toxic ingredients in them – polluting the air in which they burn, and therefore, the oxygen that we breathe as a result of it. This made me pivot to a clean ingredient route for my personal usage, which launched into a business when I realized so many of my friends and colleagues had similar concerns, or simply didn’t know what was going into their candles. I use 100% soy wax (free of petroleum byproducts), phthalate & cruelty free fragrance oil and non-toxic dyes, with many candles topped with organic dried herbs and flowers! My goal at Scents by Sukhs is to bring beautifully aesthetic candles to people’s homes and enhancing their daily routines with clean aromatherapy – all at an affordable price point!
Sukhmani Kaur Kocher 