Empowering Women with Priyanka Khandalkar

What if the life you built—the one that looks successful from the outside—is quietly disconnecting you from who you really are? The title, the achievements, the “you’ve made it” moments… 

And yet—there’s that voice that won’t go away: this isn’t all of me. Today’s guest didn’t ignore that voice—she followed it.  Priyanka Khandalkar started as an engineer, trained to think logically, build systems, and succeed by the rules. But she chose something bolder—walking away from the predictable to create impact, scale businesses with intention, and help women lead from a place that’s not just smart… but deeply aligned. In this episode, we’re talking about empowering women in a way that goes beyond strategy—into identity, courage, and the willingness to redefine success on your own terms.  So if something in your life looks “fine” … but doesn’t feel fully you anymore… 

Then Call IT in with us!” Call IT in With Dar!” 

Free Gift - https://scale.synrgee.net/sop-workbook

Transcript

What if the life you built—the one that looks successful from the outside—is quietly disconnecting you from who you really are? The title, the achievements, the “you’ve made it” moments… 

And yet—there’s that voice that won’t go away: this isn’t all of me. Today’s guest didn’t ignore that voice—she followed it.  Priyanka Khandalkar started as an engineer, trained to think logically, build systems, and succeed by the rules. But she chose something bolder—walking away from the predictable to create impact, scale businesses with intention, and help women lead from a place that’s not just smart… but deeply aligned. In this episode, we’re talking about empowering women in a way that goes beyond strategy—into identity, courage, and the willingness to redefine success on your own terms.  So if something in your life looks “fine” … but doesn’t feel fully you anymore…Then Call IT in with us!” Call IT in With Dar!” 

Speaker Dar 

Welcome to Priyanka. I'm so excited to have you with us today, and I can't wait to get into this exciting topic. But first, will you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got to this point of helping women. 

Speaker Priyanka  

Thank you, Darla, for having me on this show today. I am absolutely excited to talk to everyone today. So thank you all for this opportunity. And yeah, so let's go back. Wow. It has been quite a journey, Darla, as I was telling you before, but how it all started. So I remember like I have always been this kid. When I was growing up back in India, I came to us in 2008 to do my Masters in Engineering in Michigan. But when I was child, I used to be always so curious how things move, how things run. If I'm like, in a car, I will be looking outside, like, how is that train even moving? So I have always been this very creative, very curious kind of a kid. So that's why, probably the reason why I went into engineering. So I did my bachelor's in engineering back in India, in electronics engineering. Then I came to us to do my master's in Michigan. And I got a dual master, like industrial engineering. And then I also did engineering management. So those are the two degrees. So after I got my degree, I have always been, like working, like internship or working, but I worked for fortune 500 companies like John Deere, Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, basically all kinds of manufacturing companies. Because of my curiosity, I wanted to know, how is that furniture made? So I worked in Steelcase. How is that car made? So I worked in all this automotive, how the truck or the combines are made, those, those harvesting machines. So I joined John Deere. So yeah, I have been this girl with a hard hat on and, like, greasy hand, getting into things, fixing things. So I did that for like, let's say, 17 years. 

But during that time, I knew that there's so much more into me, so I went through back in Wow, the timelines 2015 I got fired from my role. I was let go, and that was the time I was like, Okay, now I need to have something else like this. Can't be the only way to do life. And that's when my entrepreneurship journey started. And it started with actually selling baby products and rustic furniture on Amazon, and also creating an app for student retention in the universe engineering university. So I did all of that, and eventually in so I did that with my full time job as an engineer, but back, but then covid hit, and I was like, I need a change, because I was asked to like travel during covid high time. I was asked to like to travel to Kentucky, to different plans with all the restriction, and I had a three year old at home, so I was little worried as a parent, as a mom, like, I have to go to this, all this manufacturing companies where every day there are covid cases happening. I have to come back to my little baby, she might get it. And that was my turning point. I was like, Okay, this is the time I need to let go of this safety, which I get from nine to five, and I need to start my own adventure. So I left corporate in 2020, 2021, and one of the things I had already done, like during, like just before leaving, I got the certification as director of operation for small businesses. So after I left the corporate, it just took me 30 days to find my first client, and I was her director of operation, Tanya, and she's still my client, but in a different capacity, with my different business, but she was the one who gave me the first opportunity to work with her, and since then, I have worked with, like, more than 1200 businesses to help them grow and scale. I also got the opportunity to work with Tony Robbins team, like, first I was their student, and then I joined their team. And through that, also, I have so many beautiful souls to get their expertise, like their businesses out there, with their expertise. I also, I'm trying to remember all the timeline Darla, but I also just started my podcast back in 2020, and it also became the top one person global podcast. Show up with Priyanka, and then. And, yeah, it has been quite a journey. And then I got many different awards and recognition for all the impact all of these things have been creating. And recently, back in let's say 20, like 232, years back or one year, no, two years back, I started my own marketing and operations agency. My whole team is in the Philippines, and I was always looking for a different way of doing, like, not being like one on one on one attached to my business, but to have that pauses and the spaces. So that's why I started my agency. So I do the strategy with the CEOs, or they could just directly work with my team. And my team does everything from marketing, operations, technical, tech funnel, websites, everything so and all our clients are very spiritual clients, like very soul led, heart centered clients, which are, which are, which is so beautiful because we are in this energy of attracting our beautiful soul clients who are meant to work with us and and it, and the company, the agency, did not just like I did. Not even had to go out and hire it. All just came together. I was just in that energy and frequency. In the last two, three years, going through my own spiritual awakening has started attracting souls. I've started attracting conversations like this, which is here to help others to find their path. And now I'm stepping into like this is my new adventure I'm going into. But my whole spiritual awakening led me to start my own spiritual life coaching like that's what I will be doing and stepping into now I have been, I also opened a place here in Cannon Beach. It's a, it's a, it's a healing center. It's supposed to be a center point where other souls come in to find their life purpose and life path. And yeah, that's where I am. It went long here, Darla and everyone. 

Speaker Dar 

That's okay, because we learned so much about you and how you came to this point. And that was my question. She mentioned you, mentioned that you had several awards. I saw that you, one of your awards, is a top woman influencer, and that you've worked with, you know, millions of lives. So that is terrific credibility. And as we listen to your whole story, I'm sure some of the mothers can identify with the time of covid where you certainly didn't want to bring covid back into your home with a two-year-old and that spurred on a whole other transition in your life. Yeah, that's true, Darla, you are definitely the person to talk to about empowerment and not hustling, you stress that in a couple of your statements. So let's dive into some of the basics of empowering women from a life coach perspective. 

Speaker Priyanka  

Yeah, I have found Darla from my own experience going through a whole different life transition, and I just recently also got divorced, so that's a different kind of life transition you go through, because I was with this person for 17 years. So what I have found is like I was looking for my self worth, right? I was looking for that self worth from outside validation, and that validation could be from my dad, from my husband, from other male when I was working in the nine to five. So for me, it was like truly finding my own self worth in this journey, and like truly knowing that all the answers lie within me, I don't have to go out for approval. I don't have to dim my light or go pleasing people, because I'm very empathic. I'm a very much giver, and I can go into that, and I was doing that for so many years, where I was just like taking care of others, giving, giving, giving, but at the end, I was exhausted, and that was a hard lesson for me to learn. That was a hard lesson for me to face my dark shadows, like what is happening and looking myself into the mirror. So I would say like that was one message to find that self worth within, the validation within, and not finding that approval from outside. And also I talk about hustle like. I do come from a very masculine engineering background where you are like 24/7 you have to be working hard and like 24/7 you are like, your schedule should be all packed. You should be working. But what I have found is that when we are hustling, or we are just like, doing, doing, doing, we forget our being like and when we forget our being, then we feel out of our body. We feel so burned out. We have overthinking. We have anxiety. Why is that happening? Because we are not in our body. We are not aligned with our body, mind, soul, and it's not like that. I don't have those moments. I might have those moments once in a while, but I can get out of it quickly. And I know, like, Okay, this is what is happening. I need to shut this off right now, whatever I'm working on. And I need to go, get out there, go for a walk, hug a tree, walk barefoot on the land, connect with the Earth, Mother Earth, like, get back into my body, mind, soul, in whichever way, right? And so for me, like having those pauses during the day, is very important to integrate and integrate with myself, who I am, what is my truth, and am I living from that truth every moment? Yes. 

Speaker Dar 

What beautiful examples. And I like that you say that you were looking for outside validation, because that is such a common thing with women looking outside of themselves, sometimes being the primary caregiver, doing it all, doing people pleasing, besides, and so realizing those powers that you can pause and you can go within for a lot of your answers. So thank you for including that. Let's talk about some client transformation stories so we can just make this real for our listeners.

Speaker Priyanka 

Yeah, so I would, I would say, like, so when you said that, like, I have worked with so many different clients, and then I'm like, okay, like, whom should I talk about? I remember working with this one client, Tanya, and she's still my client in a different capacity. But when Tanya came in to work with me, she had already gone through different issues with trust, like, because betrayal is real, Darla, right? And that betrayal could be anyway. It could be from your spouse. It could be from your boss at the work, or it could be from, like, someone you buy something from, right? Someone selling you and betraying you and lying and like, like having this false mask. So for me, like those, like, we all come from those different forms of betrayal and that causes different forms of trauma inside our body, and that gets actually stored in our body in different ways. And one of my work, like, of course, I'm like a business coach, but I feel like when I'm business coaching, I'm also doing life coaching, because whether it's different things that you work in your business, or whether it's like they are all connected to your life, like how you think, how you see things, right? I remember when Tanya came in, Tanya, I started working with her. She had a trust issue to trust, like, okay, like, there's someone who is like, totally going to help me out, or totally trust, like, who is here to support me, and not only for like, their own motives kind of a thing. So I think for with her, it was more of like letting go of holding on to those betrayers and opening up to receive, because what happened in my own journey and some of my clients journey, we are Empath, we are giver, but then we block of receiving The gifts that is coming from divine. And the divine will send you gifts, whether those gifts are testing time or it's supposed to be the abundance coming to you in different forms. So with Tanya, it was more about really helping her, to letting go, helping me to be that partner with her, to help her to, like, scale and grow her business and like also to build that trust and credibility within the whole team and getting that team culture set up. So that would be one client transformation, I would say, Darla. Another one would be a lot of my. Clients I work with, I work on money mindset, because even if I'm doing life coaching, business coaching, whether it's your growth cycle, whether you have to go and ask for that raise, or whether it's in your business thinking bigger and thinking like, understanding, pricing stuff or from the value that you give, right? Because all these experiences we accumulate like this, the reason why those are there, like, the value comes from all your experiences, your skills, but also what you're doing to bring that transformation to others, right? And some transformations are hard. Those are intangibles, right? Sometimes it's hard to measure. So change, helping my clients to change their money mindset and to look at it from the lens of it's the energy it's the energy exchange. So you have to value ourselves, and it also comes back to your self worth. So it all connects back to there. So helping them to find their self worth connecting to their womb, if I'm working with the woman or even men, like our Sacral Chakra, or our sexual energy, is also connected to mindset. So it's very important to channel those energies and to really take a, take like, to understand those, to like, bring those abundance in our life in different forms, kind of a thing. So hope I did say a lot of things there, Darla, 

Speaker Dar 

Yes, you did, and I'm sure our audience is enjoying all of those aspects. Now let's have our audience get involved with a reboot activity that you can lead them through. 

Speaker Priyanka 

Yeah, I love this one, so I would love to ask you, Darla, like, what would have been the last hardest thing or hardest, hardest conversation you had? Can you give me an example, and then maybe I will take that example and I will, like, share, 

Speaker Dar 

well, I would say, based on what you just talked about, it would be being open to receive, being open to receive, not just like money and value, but, you know, sometimes it's hard to receive compliments. I know that sounds simple, yeah, but I would say one of the most recent things was probably the value of raising prices and receiving money, and then even as simple as receiving a compliment. 

Speaker Priyanka  

Oh, I love that. Thank you for bringing that example. So the way I do this and this and this framework, everyone are you, I have been using it since I was, like, probably 19, 18,19, years. And whether I was working in corporate or whether I was doing my interview, like, because, like, we, like Darla and us, that we did not start like this, like we are such a great conversation. Like, I am able to have this amazing conversation. Like, there was a time when we both were, like, shivering. We were like, Oh no, we can do this podcast thing. Like those were the hard times. Like, every time you do something new, it's going to be hard at the start, and then it eventually becomes like part of us. So this technique could be used in anything like that. It can be also used in having hard conversations with your family member, hard conversation with your boss, hard conversation, any kind of hard things. So with the scenario, which Darla just mentioned about, open to receive or open to receive the compliment, or open to receive the money that is supposed to come so that you can contribute to the other person, first thing, I normally do this, and if to bring it into practice, I will actually write it down. Okay, like I will, because I used to do this. Writing is very powerful. It's a very powerful way of manifesting. Of course, you can think, you can dream, but before, like, you get into practice of doing it by thinking like I write it down. I 

love to write it down, because then it becomes clear. My words are more clear. So what I will do, I will sit down, and if someone is like, now, complimenting is at that point, like it's happening. At that point you can't, like, write it down right away. But if I met Darla, and I said to Darla, like. 

Let's say Darla. I'm Darla, and she said to me, Priyanka, oh, my god, your smile is so beautiful. Or I love the work you're doing, the way I should feel at that moment, I will think about that intention that person is having. So the first one is to write down the intention, right? My intention from my side, is to connect with this beautiful soul who just complimented this is an opportunity for me to receive the love, because we are love like if I call like Darla, you and me like we are individual souls walking in this 3d world, but we are vibration, and the vibration of the love is the highest. So this is also a divine way of giving you a compliment to feel loved. It's like through the divine, through this human, the Divine is telling them to give this gift to my child, right? So if we receive it like that, if we feel that love, because love is contagious, like if you feel loved, you will give love, right? So if I think like that as an intention, the intention is I am here to receive this. This is a gift from God through this human and I am receiving it and accepting it and saying thank you. So that would be the intention. I will write about that intention. Next thing is my presence at this moment when I'm receiving that gift. I don't want to be thinking about whom I want to call next or what is on my to-do list, I want to be present here whole with this person who is giving me the compliment, so I can receive it fully 100% because so many times we are not present with the human or the situation. We are either on the phone or distracted or like, just thinking something else rather than just being there, because so many relationships, so many like this trust factor and all these different thing like it can be resolved if we are fully present and listening and hearing to that human so I will write down What kind of presence I want to bring, and my presence at this point with Darla, I want to be here fully present on what she's saying in this podcast, so I can fully give to everyone listening, and to also give to Darla, who gave me this opportunity to come here. And it's just so the presence is very important. So the first one was intention. What is my intention? Write it in a way that is going to make you feel empowered, but also is very positive, right? And then the second was, in presence. Am I 100% present? 100 people present? If I am not 100% present? Okay, write that down why you are not 100% present from one to 10, let's say I'm five, then okay, why I'm not 10 at this point? Okay, because I need to take care of this bill right now. I need to pay this bill. Today is the due date. So what I will do, I will take a sticky note and I will write it down so that I get fully present now, right? So you make that shift, and then also say why you want to be present. And then the last one is energy, okay, what kind of energy do I want to bring right now? So if I receive a compliment, my energy should be happy or I should feel thankful, right? So that is the energy I want to bring. So I will write that down like that is the framework in which you write down your intention, the presence, and then the energy. I'm going to give another scenario. Let's say I'm going to have a conversation with someone. It's going to be a very hard conversation. I just went to divorce, right? So I had all those settlement conversations that were super hard for me, and I wanted to make it a very positive experience for both of us, so that we have this beautiful, conscious parenting thing partnership going on for our little one. So before that conversation, even before stepping into that room. Because I know I'm a very emotional being, I can start crying right away if I feel hurt. So I wanted to make sure I feel empowered before even stepping into that room with this person who can get into some different ways to hurt me. So what I did to feel empowered before even stepping into that conversation, I sat down and I wrote down what is my intention? Okay. My intention is to have a very positive settlement where we both feel valued, where we both feel like, okay, this was the event out, or it was the best way to do it. That is the intent. The biggest goal, right? And then move on with our life or in our next chapter. And then I wrote down, okay, what is my presence needs to be? I said, okay, my presence needs to be 100. Present, present with my ex, and then sitting there and really listening to all his concern and making a note, not being reactive, being more of like listening, pausing and then speaking. So I wrote that kind of a presence and like being 100% with them. And then I wrote down what my energy is going to be? So before even stepping into that room, I wrote about my energy. I want my energy to be powerful. I want my energy to be a goddess. The energy she is walking. She knows her truth, she knows her boundaries. She knows and fully understands what is allowed and what is not allowed in her space. So just writing those three things down helps me to feel empowered before even having that conversation, right? So, yeah, use this framework in your day to day, and then it will be so powerful for you. I love this when I'm working or whenever, like, I use it all the time. 

Speaker Dar   

What a priceless share. Thank you so much. Everybody can use these three simple steps. And as you mentioned, when you write things down, it becomes so much more powerful. So when you said that, that really resonated with me for sure. Before we close, I would love to ask you if there's anything else that you want to leave our women with that are listening today, and I, I believe you have a free gift that you would like to provide them with as well. 

Speaker Priyanka  

Yeah, I have this special gift everyone, for you all, and regardless of whether you are a business owner, because I work with business owners right to help them like to take care of their business and bring ease in their life. If you have a business, this is going to help you. If you are just like working from nine to five, I would say that word was wrong. Sorry there. I would not. I should never say just if you are working on your life purpose where it's helping someone to build their business, which could be like working in a nine to five, because we all are entrepreneurs in different ways. I think the word is intrapreneur. When you work for someone nine to five, you are still an entrepreneur. So regardless of what is happening in your life, this tool will actually help you. It's actually helped to make you more likeable, bring more space, more freedom, more white space in your life, so you can work on your creativity, freedom. Right now I'm learning knitting, and it's also making my inner child happy. So every time I'm also, like, always doing something, but my busyness is, like, replaced with working on my creative projects, or cooking meals or like going on a walk. I'm doing everything my soul loves to do, right? So that's what I 

want you to do. I want you to sit down with this tool. It's a workbook. It's called an automate and delegate workbook. Sit down do step by step what it says there, which is like, audit your life, like do a time shift audit of where you're spending your time and day in the two weeks, and then figure out, what are the things, which are noise or distraction that that takes you away from living your soulful, happy and joyful life, A peaceful life, what are those things? Right? And then write down, what are the different noises, and then decide from that framework, okay, what are the ones which can be deleted? Because sometimes, like for me, like having some kind of a subscription is a delete, because I'm not even using it right. So that would be a delete, like auditing your life in that terms. Because that is like also keeping your space in your mind about your money, right? Oh, I'm spending money on this. Like that is also like taking you away from your goals, right? So writing everything down where you're spending time and where you're not spending time, and then understanding what you can delete, what you can delegate? Because sometimes we can use the help of others, right? We can ask for help where we can delegate things. In my business, I have an assistant, so I take her help all the time for different things. I have a team of 10 people, so they all do different things. They're helping some clients, but they're also helping me. So I delegate all the noises so I can spend like 10 to 20 hours per week working on my stuff, right? I don't have to be working 4050 hours per week. So I delegate those things. Another one is delete, delegate. The third one is automated. Automate would be, if you are a business owner, it would be. Like, okay, like, there's this repetitive process I build my client every month. How can I make it automated? Or I have to send this contract after the invoice is paid. How can I make it automated so I don't have to manually do it right? Or I need to post this social media content every week. How can I automate it so it works like a machine? I don't have to be tied to it, because life happens. Things happen, so we don't want things to fall off or break. So that's why anything that is repeatable in your business, in your life. How can you automate that? I was telling Darla, it could also be paying your credit card bill right now, rather than doing manually or paying for your trash, like, pick up those companies that come in. So like, those could be the ways to automate. And the last one is like, you delegate, delete, delegate, delete, automate, and then you have all this rest of the task left. And those are the ones you are supposed to do, whether it's having those sales calls in your business, or having a podcast conversation here with beautiful souls, right? And connecting with the ones which are here, like, I'm doing what I love here, like, right now I'm doing what I'm loving here, right? I'm not going to delegate this conversation or automate this conversation. I love what I'm doing here, having this conversation. This is where my zone of genius is. So I will keep those things. So that will be the last list, and it will be a couple of things. So that helps to create that white space in your life where you can be creative, you can start your own business, or even, like, have time for yourself, right? We don't have to have busy lives all day, right? Solitude. Solitude is beautiful. And I say there are three things. Whenever I'm deciding, making a decision, does it bring peace to me? Is it profitable and does it have a purpose? All those three have to be there. And yeah, so I, I shared a lot there, Darla, but hopefully everyone will find this tool helpful, and you can go togetyoursop.com. and you can give this too by yourself. 

Speaker Dar 

Thank you. That is so generous of you, because it's an entire workbook that you're giving to our guests. So thank you so much. Before we come to a close, is there anything else that you're being just called to tell our audience, 

Speaker Priyanka  

yeah, I always say this thing, Darla, what is coming to me is our soul has a purpose. Each of our souls, we came to this world, we all have a purpose. Now, that purpose could be different things, right? The purpose could be building a big empire and building these opportunities for others, right, like bringing that change in the culture with your work, or it could be just like creating a beautiful, loving family. So purpose could be a very different thing for everyone, but we each come from a purpose. But our purpose for it to sustain and it to flourish, it needs structure. So structure brings actually, more alignment for our sole purpose. So I would say, what is that structure? What is that system, and that's why that workbook is going to help you with that system and structure, so that you can live your purpose with happiness, 

Speaker Dar    

love that, love that. Thanks so much for being with us today on “Call IT In”  I'm just oh, your conversation still has such deep insight that it'll take everybody just a little bit of time to process. And I want to thank you for that. 

Speaker Priyanka 

Thank you so much, Darla for having me. Thank you everyone. Bye. 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai