Mallika Chopra, Still Down to Earth.

By Laura Medina

Mallika Chopra, yes...Deepak Chopra's daughter & founder of intent.com

Mallika Chopra used the chance of receiving the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce's Owlie Award to discuss her new, down-to-earth tome, "Living with Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace, and Joy; and she's honored to be awarded at the award's breakfast.

She grew up being surrounded by great leaders and thinkers, "I was very fortunate but honestly, I never thought that would be my world.  I never thought about continuing (her dad's) his work actually.  But in the last ten years or so, through my business and becoming a mom, I started thinking who I am and what do I want; how could I serve the world.  I think that's where my father's influence impacted me.  That being said, I hope I'm doing it in an unique way which I think is a very feminine way.  I'm driven by being a mom."

"I grew up learning the power of intent.  That's been my driving force through-out my entire life.  I actually have a media company called "Intent" and a website called "Intent.com where people can state what they want and get support, creating a community of people, living around the world with a sense of purpose.  Then, I've spent the last two years working on my book which brings together my life lessons." 

"Before I became a mom, I really didn't think about that space so much.  It was really when I became a mother, that's when I started asking myself questions, "Where do I came from? What do I really want to teach my daughters? So, me becoming a mom is my journey of self-development and kind of the world my dad lives in.  Also, in that process, I also became more empowered in using my own voice.  Whereas before, I wasn't really comfortable.  Because it comes from a place of authenticity and sharing my stories,  I feel more authentic in doing that.  I mean, I never want to do something because my dad was famous." 

"There is no questions I had incredible opportunities because of my father of other things most people cannot dream of, but I think for me, it comes with responsibilities.  So, if I have these opportunities, I would like to take advantage of them that would help others in an authentic way.  So absolutely, I do ride the coattails of my father.  It would be silly and not true to say that it gave me the opportunity and the platform.  I think.  I hope that I'm using it for a good cause."

While interviewing Mallika, this scribe jokingly quipped that her brother filmed their dad taking a nap, instead of mediating.

She laughed. "You know there's often a different perception of someone and the reality of someone; and with my father, so many people think of him as a guru or a great teacher and all of which, he has incredible knowledge that he can share with people.  But at the end of the day, he's our dad; and he's a real person.   So, in the end, in the documentary, my brother was trying to show that our dad has great ideas and insights that he's trying to share but at the end of the day, he is still our dad." 

Through the clouds of lofty inspirational advice and quotes, at the end of the day, Mallika Chopra is a mom who stays grounded and not afraid to tell the world that Deepak Chopra is still dad.