Folsom woman releases emotional debut memoir on cultural obligations, pressures women face

A Folsom woman who is a speaker and executive coach is releasing her emotional debut memoir on Monday, June 2. Chanchal Garg wrote "Unearthed: The Lies We Carry and the Truths They Bury" with the intention of offering a personal journey for readers, exploring the process of transformation and unearthing difficult truths beneath cultural obligation, spiritual trauma, and the silence expected of women. Garg describes herself as a dutiful Indian daughter who was raised in the Midwest; she devoted herself to her religion and culture, and the idea of one day becoming a good wife. But the book tells the story of how she inadvertently became the victim of spiritual and sexual abuse, which eventually radically changed the path of her life. In the book, Garg describes that it was during a yoga class, while she was pregnant with her daughter, that a truth she could no longer ignore surfaced, launching her on a painful yet ultimately liberating journey. "For many women, especially within South Asian communities, obedience, self-sacrifice, and silence are woven into our understanding of what it means to be good — good daughters, good wives, good mothers," Garg writes. "Choosing to question those expectations, to trust your inner knowing, and to move in alignment with your truth is not just a personal act of healing. … It's sacred work." Garg is the founder of Real Space, a coaching business, and has spent more than seven years facilitating a course at Stanford Graduate School of Business on interpersonal dynamics. She has been featured on stages like Lululemon's International Women's Day and on podcasts such as "She Has the Mic" and "I Don't Give a Should." Garg said her story urges readers to break generational cycles and live life on their own terms. "Unearthed: The Lies We Carry and the Truths They Bury" is now available on Amazon.