Owning when you have a bad day owning up when you’re itching when you’re having pain when whatever it might be for you and it’s not only about chronic illness. That’s a lot of what I talk about. But I’ve also been through a lot of other things that have nothing to do with my health, so it can be when you’re just, not having an easy time and really feeling down…
Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Nitika Chopra.
Today we will have the pleasure of speaking with Nitika Chopra, the visionary behind Chronicon, a media and events conglomerate empowering individuals with chronic illnesses. Diagnosed with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, Nitika turned her health journey into change. Since 2010, she’s achieved milestones, including hosting the ‘Naturally Beautiful’ talk show and organizing over 40 transformative events. A respected influencer, Nitika collaborates with hundreds of wellness brands and advocates for those with chronic illnesses. In 2019, she introduced Chronicon, now an online community, app, and ‘Thriving Together’ podcast, offering inspiration for the global chronic illness community.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Yeah, I mean you touched on it a little bit in the bio. But basically I got diagnosed with a chronic illness when I was 10 years old. I got psoriasis and then ended up getting psoriatic arthritis at 19 and just been through a lot of Health stuff my whole life and I guess somewhere along the way I was like there has to be a purpose behind this there has to be a reason at least that’s what I want to believe. I know that’s not always empowering for everyone people have different relationships to that kind of a conversation but it got so dark at times. it really helped me to believe that there was something bigger than just my suffering going on here, and so that led me to start my career as an entrepreneur and in the wellness industry and about 14 years ago now so yeah, and I’ve been doing that ever since and founded chronicon just
All while ago, I guess almost four years ago now.
That’s amazing. Love that you changed something that people could see as a negative into a positive, helping so many people, just beautiful. I love it. So, can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
Wow, the most interesting story. I mean, there’s so many stories. I think one that just popped into my mind was actually how I got my job on QVC. It was with this amazing skincare brand called Fresh and I had been a fan of fresh my whole life, just loved their products and I guess before, it became popular for Brands to be on Instagram. We didn’t even have Instagram back then really I think it had just started. It was a while ago and before it became popular for all these brand stories to be online and all that kind of stuff. I didn’t really ever think about who the founder of fresh was. I just loved the products. And it turned out that the founder ended up getting booked to be a guest on my talk show.
And my talksham actually beautiful at the time and I was like, you’re the founder of fresh this is so wild. I’ve Loved this brand I am your biggest fan you spend way too much money on there on your products.
And we became good friends actually like genuine good friends, and we would see each other. It was very very busy. Plasman is his name and his partner Alina is also the co-founder but I met love and we would hang out every once in a while and always find time for dinner and things like that and one night we were hanging out and he was just telling me how much goes into doing a job like being on QVC and how much the brand has to do and it’s a wonderful opportunity which she also obviously said, but he was just saying with everything else he’s got going on there’s so much that goes into it and they were looking for a really great on camera person to represent the brand and do this as to do their QVC spots.
And I just looked at him and was like, you should just hire me to do it. and I always think about that because I feel like there was a certain level of confidence that I had at that age that I kind of Marvel at now and at my confidence is different now, it’s not like I don’t have any confidence but it’s just different, and at that age, I just feel like I was constantly putting myself out there. I was constantly declaring what I wanted going for it just kind of not stopping to think a lot of times which sometimes wasn’t a good thing. But in this case it was and he ended up hiring me within the next month. I think it was to be his spokesperson for QVC and it was really the thing I’ve learned from that.
Is that I was standing right in front of him and he loved me and he loved what I did on TV and he had nothing but wonderful things to say about my work but it just didn’t click for him. So sometimes you have to say it out loud and you have to remind people no that’s actually something I would love to do. And yeah, and so I think about that a lot because I feel like it can be really uncomfortable to say it out loud and to be like I would do that or why don’t you hire me to do that? because you could get rejected which is also happened many times. But yeah that time it worked out. It was really great.
That is such a fantastic story. I mean how many people would think to blurt out what they would like to do and sometimes you don’t say it and you lose that opportunity. You said it out loud. I love that story. Wow, Nitika. I’m sure a lot of people are going to build up some confidence with that story you just told.
I hope so.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Yeah, my gosh, I’ve made so many mistakes and even hearing the word mistake. It’s funny. I don’t even know that I really Relate to the things I’m thinking about a mistake, I think. There have been The first thing that comes to mind is there was this friend that Would invite me out to a lot of different industry parties and she had a great Network. This was many years ago. This was maybe 14 years ago, when I was starting out. And she was very very well connected and a lot of Industry connections and she would have all these parties and all these different things and I was Unapologetic about what I wanted and my God, I wanted to have my own talk show and I didn’t have one yet and all these things. So I was constantly pushing for that and putting that out there.
I didn’t have the best boundaries with it, at times it was like there’s that line right when it comes that line between I’m gonna really own what I’m here to do and I’m gonna really honor that I’m here to do something really beautiful and that matters and that I love at least and hope other people resonate. but I don’t have to force it, and so I would go to all the perfect and all of her parties and I would just be aggressive with connecting with people and my God, I think this and it sounds so like you’re using people manipulative or something. That’s not at all how I felt about it. I was just so new to the game. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t understand the power of grace and the power of waiting and giving things time now so many years later I can see. my there’s so many things. where I will see somebody at an event or I’ll connect with someone and I will be like my God. I wish I could just get into it that person and tell them everything I’m doing and I want them to know and I want them to hire me for this thing or I want them to sponsor chronic on or whatever. It might be and I have to just remember that I can’t force it. Not only can you not lose. What is meant for you? you hear so often which I also really think you cannot force things that are not meant for you. And if you try it will be a disaster is what I’ve really learned. And so I wouldn’t say it’s a mistake but it’s like a lesson I had to learn and she totally called me out on it too. By the That’s how I learned the lesson. She was like, what are you doing? I was like what this is weird. I didn’t know and it’s very weird cut it out. And the good thing is I learn when people do only things I want to know what I’m being weirdo. so, I learned from it but
Yeah, that was a lesson for sure.
I’m still laughing here. But you are so right about mistakes being lessons. That’s what mistakes are, lessons, so we can’t be afraid of making a mistake. Then you realize maybe I should change my approach and let things flow naturally, and they did because look at you now, right?
I’m still pretty awkward but not for the same reasons when I meet people.
You are awesome. So let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
I mean when I started chronic on I guess it’s been earlier. I said almost four years ago, but I guess it’s been over four years. I really set out on a mission around showing people that they have the opportunity to thrive while living with a chronic condition and I actually think we’ve achieved that in so many ways. I think we So much more work that I’m excited to do but we’ve definitely achieved a large amount of that in terms of what we’ve been trying to show people. so I mean, where was the question? How is the work been impactful? I’m sorry. I lost my train of thought you don’t have to cut that out.
How is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
Yeah, so I think what I learned growing up with all of these different chronic conditions is that I was sort of shown to Avenues that you can take. This was my experience that you either are really in your suffering around what you’re going through which I definitely was I got my first chronic illness and I was 10 years old it became my entire identity. It was debilitating and it was also extremely physical. So I was covered of my head to the tip of my foot with large scaly itchy red flaky patches of psoriasis that would shed it was Aggressive and it was undeniable in every moment and even when I was sleeping because I was scratch so much that I would wake up with blood on my sheets because of how much I would scratch I wouldn’t be able to stop it during the night.
So it was what I knew about myself for a very long time. All I knew was that I was someone who was sick. I didn’t know anything else about myself and then I discovered self-help. I discovered, manifestation talking about, I’ve always been very spiritual. I’ve always been very connected to God and my own personal way and not uncertily religious ways but beyond that I didn’t know about this whole self-help world.
And so when I learned about self-help, I was like, that’s the other way, so you kind of make sure everything’s positive all the time. You can’t think anything negative. You just have to be sure that everything’s straight and narrow and if you just do that, you’ll be happy and apparently your disease will go away and everything’s gonna be fine. And that was a different kind of Hell to be honest with you because it was not sustainable and it was not realistic So I’ve been setting out to show people that there’s this way of
Owning when you have a bad day owning up when you’re itching when you’re having pain when whatever it might be for you and it’s not only about chronic illness. That’s a lot of what I talk about. But I’ve also been through a lot of other things that have nothing to do with my health, so it can be when you’re just, not having an easy time and really feeling def.
Head and own that but then knowing that you have this next moment to choose a higher thought choose to focus on something that you love about yourself or if you can’t think of anything think of your best friend and think of one thing you love about that person, so I kind of want to talk to people about that third door and I do think that that is helping people create this sense of self-empowerment, doing it for themselves, right and showing themselves that they have that strength within them and I’ve seen so many lives transform because of it which has been rewarding.
Wow, very empowering. I love that. Can you share your top 5 “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing?
Sure, Okay. Let’s see if I can come up with five on the top of head. the first thing I will say is something I shared this morning on my Instagram which is how I start my day. I do think that really matters. It’s so cliche and I know we’ve heard it so many times before probably but not only does it matter, but I also think it’s important to allow for that to evolve over time. And that was something I was kind of trying to get at when I shared this on Instagram. I’ve always cared how I wake up in the morning. I’ve always felt like it’s the time to sort of check in with my body and do so many things for myself. But my morning has really changed over the years even just in this last year. I’ve spent a lot of time carving out like the sacredness of the morning for me and I just have different requirements for my morning that I didn’t really have before. So I think taking the time to figure out what those requirements are for you if you could create it anyway and you didn’t have to worry one of the things I ended up doing was I said, I don’t want people to call me before 10 am and I have this one friend who one of the only times we ever talk, is that 8:30 in the morning because she’s taking her son to school and whatever and I was really afraid to tell her that this is what I really feel. and it’s it’s totally fine. Sometimes I compromise because I have extra energy or I don’t have any meetings right after so I can kind of readjust my day, but for the most part we just don’t talk before 10 AM which has been great. so that’s one thing I would say. I also do think that making self learning a part of your daily experience is I think more important than people realize there’s a lot of this therapy is so great if you can afford it. I highly recommend it all those things. But there again going back to the self, what are you doing for yourself in every moment I’ve been going through so much with my health, I’ve been really trying to organize, what I want for my life and really wanting to follow my dreams and all these things so I have to then get to work on that right and One part is the actual thing that I want, but the other part is who am I?
In the process of creating this for myself and my life and I have really gotten into the habit of listening to a lot of spiritual books listening to a lot of podcasts or teachings where I’m like, okay, this is even if it’s only for a few minutes in the morning. it’s getting me into that mindset of remembering why I’m really here in this work and on this planet, it’s getting me out of my ego of comparing and looking around. It’s just really repositioning the way I’m thinking about things and I don’t think enough people do that. I think a lot of people do that when they’re in crisis. But I think it’s important just to have that be a daily thing that you do. I also think that finding things that you love to do outside of work, especially if you’re in work.
That is more service oriented where you’re really giving your heart and soul to the work that you’re doing. And obviously that’s how I feel about my work. I love what I do. I could just genuinely work all day every day and I would never get tired of it. And at the same time in the last year or so, I’ve had to have an honest conversation with myself about the type of woman. I want to be and what I would tell a friend if they were just working non-stop to the ground, and burning themselves out. It’s not sustainable and it’s not actually very kind to yourself. And then inherently it will not be kind to the people that you’re trying to support either. She’ll start to resent it. I never got to that place. Thank goodness, but I could see how that would happen, if you wear yourself out that much so
I had to find Hobbies. I love to It’s like a new hobby of mine and I’ve been really enjoying it and it’s like a thing that I think about throughout the week and I’ll invite a friend over to bake something with me and I got a cake decorating kit and I’m trying all these things, it’s so silly. No one cares and a lot of the stuff I make is good and a lot of the stuff is not so it’s just for fun. but it gets me until a different mindset.
And then I would say of course Community I think is just the Cornerstone for everything. We have a beautiful Community globally through our app at chronicon, which I’m so proud of and to be honest. It’s been a huge support for me because when I was going through I went through a lot of Health stuff in 2020 to 2023 and when I was going through all of that they were sort of the first people that I really told about it outside of my immediate circle. They were they were the people that really got what I was going through on a level. it was really important for me. So I think finding those communities that are going to get you on in a way that takes away the burden of having to explain yourself. I think is just huge and of course the more people you can have like that in real life in your inner circle the better.
And that I think the fifth one, what was the exact question that I want to make sure I’m answering it right it was five things for.
Yes, 5 “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing?
I feel like I have one more.
I just wanted to make sure it made sense. but I would say the fifth one for me. This is gonna sound so silly but I really think skincare is the key to All Things. Holy I just think it is just and listen not everybody has to be so into skincare. especially not for physical change perspective. that’s not what I’m saying. I just really feel even if it’s like a lotion that you really like or a body oil or to be honest even like a spray that smells really good. But for me, I’ve really found a really extensive skincare routine and lotions and creams and all that kind of stuff just to be so healing and I know I have psoriasis so for so long, I just felt like I wasn’t invited to the skincare conversation and I think a lot of people even if they don’t have a skin disease feel that way for different reasons, and so I just think it can be very healing because it allows us to connect with our bodies in a way that can feel safe. It doesn’t have to be about what other people think it’s really just about that moment that you’re putting on something that feels good. Okay, I think that’s five things.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of Wellness to the most amount of people. What would that be? I think you already started.
Yeah, I was gonna say I think I started that yeah, I mean what I’m doing with chronicon is definitely the answer to that, almost half the population of the United States is chronically ill and that is a huge number. It’s over 133 million Americans and that’s the number that we know of that’s not even since the pandemic they’ve not updated that number so it’s grown extrainate extraordinary amount since then, and I think that if we can liberate people who are dealing with Their bodies in that way it can change the world right? Because is that many people like it’s not a small amount of human beings. yeah. So what I’m doing with chronicon, I think would be the answer.
Okay, we’re letting the number five today. Let me see. Okay, I’ll try to make these answers shorter. I think the thing about Grace, just like giving things time we hear it. So often now that what is meant for you will not pass you, but I think I really didn’t get that growing up and when I first started my business
I think understanding that. Not everyone’s gonna like Is really humbling and I think but I think it’s important, I do and I think it’s something that so many of us can shy away from because at least I can speak for myself. I just really wanted people to like me and it’s a normal thing. I think but it’s actually been kind of liberating to own that I’m not gonna be for everybody and then I can just move on and spend time with the people that are gonna be for me. I also think focusing on your side of the street has been a huge thing for me. It’s so easy to feel victimized or feel like this person should have done this or why didn’t they say that or whatever it is and it’s just Okay, maybe that’s true. And I think as I’ve gotten older just even in the last recent years. I’ve tried to spend more time being okay, I get that you’re hurt. But what was your part in all of that to me? and it’s actually been really helpful to do that because It stops it takes you out of the victim place, right? It takes you to that place of okay, I didn’t do that on purpose. I wish I wouldn’t have done that now that I can kind of see that. This was a weird pattern that I had or something. I don’t love. But okay I can do something with that. Next time. I meet somebody I can say. I’m not gonna do that same thing.
So I also think. Something around moving my body more, I think would have been really helpful to learn. At an earlier age. I now find movement to be really just very healing and supportive. But because I grew up with so many challenges physically. It just was the last thing that I thought about or wanted anything to do with and yeah, I think it’s like a skill that’s important to incorporate whatever that means for you some days. It means it looks totally different than other days, and I think harnessing what that can mean for you is really important and helps with every area of life. I think that was four or five.
Great, that’s wonderful. Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
It’s sustainability, and veganism mental health and environmental changes yeah, I mean, I think they’re all. Importance in terms of the one that kind of stands out the most to me. As resonating is around mental health, I think it’s something that affects way more people than we realize I think even for me I’ve never been diagnosed with the mental health condition, but I’ve had a therapist for a long time where we sort of know what my Baseline is what when I’m dipping and then usually why is it that I’m dipping and that I’m getting into a different territory and that’s been really helpful for me because I kind of track that and keep on top of it.
But those out there who are struggling with, real mental health challenges severe anxiety depression even things like OCD, there’s so much bipolar that is now coming out with people. I think I might know people who are bipolar that are undiagnosed like there’s just so much happening with folks that their mental health and there’s a lot of stigma that has been just carried down from generation to generation to generation that I think we’re breaking a lot more. I we’ve gotten so far.
But we still have a long way to go, and I’d love for therapy to be free. It should be covered for everyone. you should not only be able to go to therapy if you are rich and can afford and I’m not rich and I found out therapist a sliding scale but that’s a rare thing. to find so I think if we could get to the mental health aspect of folks, I think we could actually heal a lot of these other issues.
I agree a hundred percent with you, mental health is so important and I wish there were more free treatments available. This is one of the movements I would love to start as well. So what is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Sure, you can go to my Instagram which is at Nitika Chopra and also at chronicon official and you can follow me there. I’m updating my website. So soon nitika chopra.com will be a good Hub and also follow my podcast thriving together on Spotify or apple where we listen to podcasts.
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
