Multi-Award-Winning Author | Award-Winning Gender-Based Violence Activist
International Speaker | Mental Health Lived Experience Expert
Co-Founder of Change Her Story - Focusing on Emancipating Single Working Mothers
Tivania Moodley’s life story is a testament to resilience and the indomitable spirit of survival, captured best by the words of S.A. Sachs: “Hope rises like a phoenix from the ashes of shattered dreams.” Tivania embodies this—rising, time and again, from trials that might have broken anyone else. She describes herself as “a phoenix rising from the ashes,” a woman who has watched herself “burst into flames” more times than she can count, only to emerge stronger each time. Her journey, however, was never straightforward. Growing up as a brown girl in South Africa, Tivania never had an Indian woman role model who openly defied societal expectations. She longed to break free from convention but had no one to guide her. Tivania felt different—a girl passionate about art, music, and writing in a world that valued only academic achievements. This loneliness was compounded by life experiences that tested her resilience to its core. At 19, Tivania survived rape, followed by marriage at 20, becoming a single mother at 21, losing her father to cancer, enduring three miscarriages in her second marriage, and facing yet another separation. “I was done with life,” Tivania recalls, as the weight of each heartbreak threatened to break her spirit. In 2014, Tivania found herself at rock bottom. After meticulously planning her suicide, she went out to a dark highway on a freezing night, prepared to end her life by driving off a bridge. “By what I can only describe as divine providence,” she says, “my car felt like it was lifted off the ground and placed back in front of my driveway without me knowing how I got there.” That miraculous moment marked a turning point, and for the first time, she recognized that her life had a purpose. “I survived that intention for a reason. My life was made for more,” Tivania reflects. Her so-called crises, instead of breaking her, had shaped her into the woman she was meant to become.
Despite everyone else giving up on her, Tivania found herself refusing to give up. She learned that “even if we think we are not worthy, grace constantly sends us invitations to rise up.” Her invitation arrived on June 3, 2014, and she finally accepted it after 20 years of saying no. Embracing this new chapter, Tivania set out to create her own prototype, a version of herself that defied labels and societal expectations. In this journey, she “found herself, the REAL me,” realizing that trying to conform and fit into the mold of a “good Indian girl” had nearly suffocated her. It was only when she stepped away from convention that she truly began to live.
This transformation didn’t come without a cost. “Living authentically comes at a price,” Tivania acknowledges. Friendships ended, relationships broke down, but the price she had once paid for stifling her true self was far higher. “My inner peace is unquantifiable,” she shares. She faced job losses, struggled financially, and weathered the storm of yet another failed relationship, convinced that she was destined to fail. But life had a different plan. The stories she once felt ashamed of became her greatest assets, and what she saw as her weakest moments transformed into the messages that would offer hope to others.
“I never imagined I could be empowered,” Tivania marvels, reflecting on her journey to becoming a published author and a sought-after speaker on mental health and gender-based violence. Six years ago, she fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a writer, and that step opened doors she never anticipated. Her story, she says, serves as a reminder that “your current situation is not your final destination.” No matter where you find yourself or how insurmountable your struggles seem, Tivania’s life shows that even rock bottom can be a foundation for rebuilding.
Now an award-winning author, gender-based violence activist, and mental health advocate, Tivania uses her experiences to shine a light on the topics society too often keeps in the shadows. Her work as the co-founder of Change Her Story—an initiative dedicated to empowering single working mothers—reflects her commitment to creating change for others, especially those who feel unseen and unheard. Tivania’s story is a beacon for others, encouraging them to be unapologetically true to themselves, to rise even when the world tries to hold them down, and to find strength in their scars.
Today, Tivania stands not only as a survivor but as an emblem of hope and courage, inviting others to believe that their “so-called crises” can indeed shape them into who they are meant to be. She lives by her own rules, inspiring women everywhere to “create their own prototype” and live life according to their ideals. Tivania Moodley’s life is proof that each of us holds the power to rewrite our story, to transform pain into purpose, and to rise, like a phoenix, from the ashes.
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