Unfinished: A Memoir

by Priyanka Chopra Jonas

“Why isn’t my name on the nameplate, too? Don’t I live in this house?” Without missing a beat, my father answered, “So what would your name read?” I took a few seconds to think. “Priyanka Mimi Chopra, Upper Kindergarten.” Which was added to the nameplate as Miss Priyanka Mimi Chopra, Upper KG. I tell this story because it’s such a perfect example of how my parents raised me: with a sense of individuality and as a person who had rights, even at a very young age. When I questioned Dad further about it that day, he told me that I was correct to point out the omission. “You live in this house, too,” he’d said. “Your name should be on it.” Many parents wouldn’t have taken a complaint like mine seriously, but he and my mother did. The lasting effect was that I was not shamed for my feelings, my wish to be included, my keen sense of what’s fair and not fair. I was taught self-worth. I was given a voice.

When we act with care and kindness, we lift up ourselves and others. By working hard to create the circumstances that allow us to flourish, we help pave the way for those who travel alongside us and those who come after us, too.