S3E156: Weight Wars, Wit, and the Woman in the Boardroom | Rrashima Swaarup Verma on Writing, Power, and Finding Your Voice
In the Season 3 finale of The AboutHer Show, Sangeeta sits down with Rrashima Swaarup Verma—a senior director at a leading US-based consulting organisation, the author of five books, and a widely published columnist whose short fiction won the Orange Flower Award 2023.
Together, they talk about her latest novel, Weight Wars, the role humour plays in telling difficult truths, and what it takes to nurture a creative life alongside a demanding corporate career.
This episode explores Voice and Visibility, Power and Leadership, and Care and Choices.
The AboutHer Show is ranked among the top Indian women's leadership podcasts by Feedspot 2026.
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Chapters:
🎬 (0:00) Welcome to the Conversation
Sangeeta introduces Rrashima Swaarup Verma, author, corporate leader, and literary voice.
📖 (1:56) The Book That Started It All
Rrashima on Weight Wars and what drove her to write it.
😂 (3:52) Why She Chose Laughter
On using humour to tell a story about body image and midlife reckoning.
✍️ (6:47) The Poet in the Boardroom
What poetry gives her that prose cannot.
🌍 (8:52) From Delhi to California
On being published across leading national and international platforms.
🪞 (11:31) Radhika and the Woman Behind Her
The contradiction at the heart of Weight Wars, confident in public, at war in private.
💼 (14:14) What It Takes to Hold Space
On being a senior director and what women still have to fight for.
🎓 (17:00) Teaching the Next Generation
What she sees in young women when she runs workshops across institutions.
⚖️ (20:16) Brutal Honesty About the Body
Weight Wars as a mirror for every woman who has made peace and then unmade it.
🌀 (23:16) Holding Humour and Heartbreak Together
The craft behind blending self-discovery with comedy.
🎭 (25:35) The Many Roles She Plays
On navigating multiple identities and what she has had to let go.
📚 (27:36) Five Books and Counting
On the economics of a creative life and literary representation.
🎤 (29:09) What Would You Tell Radhika?
If her own protagonist sat across the table, what would she say?
⚡ (29:36) The Rapid Fire Round
Quick questions, candid answers with Rrashima Swaarup Verma.
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