Lessons From the Dojo: How Martial Arts Helped Khushi Sharma Become a Leader
Khushi Sharma’s intense, 14-hour second degree black belt test began at 10 a.m. with conditioning, running in the cold November weather through fields, trails, and mountains.
Afterward, Sharma engaged in a variety of fighting styles, sparring against her classmates and black belts –- sometimes fighting alone against two people –- engaging in close combat, weapons sparring and a style similar to wrestling.
“It’s more of a mental game than a physical game because if you give up mentally, your body is automatically going to give up,” Sharma said.
Finally at midnight, Sharma passed the test, a grueling endeavor that left her physically and emotionally tired.
After twelve years of training in her dojo, Sharma was officially a second degree black belt.
“Getting that achievement before I went to college felt like the perfect way to end that chapter for me,” Sharma said.
While Sharma does not actively train while she is completing her business administration degree, concentrating in information systems, martial arts taught her to get out of her shell, and now she holds several leadership roles .
“This was something that really drew me out and really taught me that I am someone who enjoys community and working with people and I just needed the right atmosphere to kind of foster those skills within me,” Sharma said
A shy child, Sharma’s parents enrolled her in martial arts to get her out of her comfort zone. Sharma spent her childhood up through high school training in a street fighting style, branching out from a Hawaiian mixed martial arts style.
Sharma’s contribution to the dojo –- including boxing and fighting with sticks –- landed her a spot as an instructor when she was 14, and at the beginning of her senior year, she earned her second degree black belt.
“I think it was a really fun experience,” Sharma said. “It really shaped who I was as a person, taught me a lot of things about discipline, how important community is and just patience.”
Sharma embraces community in college and has held many leadership roles in business organizations, such as Women in Business(WIB) and her business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi, and became a public face within the Orfalea College of Business through her role as an ambassador for the college.
Drawing back on her experience in her black belt test, where she had to challenge herself mentally to complete a hard task, she applies the same mindset to her business career.
“It is corny when people are like, ‘Oh, put your mind to it, you’ll be able to do it,' but it truly does matter,” Sharma said. “Being a business major, having to put myself out there so much when it comes to internships, getting jobs or being involved on campus, I think that I just learned a lot about really knowing that as long as I tell myself I can do it mentally, physically what I have to do will just follow after that.”
Sharma helped teach the Women in Business Leadership Academy, a four-credit version of the BUS 206 class. Sharma and her team worked closely with Amy Carter, assistant dean for student success, to bring in guest speakers, teach students the important fundamentals in business and provide them with a network.
Carter said it was a pleasure working with Sharma and that there is something special about this section of BUS 206.
“It really shaped who I was as a person, taught me a lot of things about discipline, how important community is and just patience.”
Khushi Sharma, on her martial arts experience
“This experience is an incredible leadership development opportunity for the students involved in WBLA, and Khushi fully embraced it,” Carter said. “She demonstrated strong organization, initiative and teamwork throughout the process. More importantly, she brought empathy, positivity, and a genuine passion for giving back and building community -- qualities that made her an outstanding role model for her peers.”
During her internship as a sales development representative, she pitched Doordash to local businesses, earning a commission if she landed a meeting with potential clients.
The communication skills she picked up as a martial arts instructor would prove vital in her role, where talking with local businesses sometimes led to rejection.
“I think sales really shows you the nitty gritty aspects of business and how the business works at every level,” Sharma said. “You get a lot of no’s before you get a yes, so I think it teaches you grit and how to keep going and push through those no’s before you get a yes.”
After a summer internship with Frito-Lay in Los Angeles, she is currently studying abroad in Italy for her fall quarter, which has included travel across Europe, including going to Munich for Oktoberfest.
Sharma said being abroad has been a life-changing experience, and she has been exposed to many cultures and traditions through her travels in Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
“It’s definitely widened my view on the world and made me way more accepting of other cultures and how other parts of the world work,” Sharma said. “Being abroad has just made me a way more curious person.”
Sharma also has a love for music, stemming from her dance experience in hip hop. She has been dancing since she was four and was on the varsity hip hop team at her high school.
“Dance is a really fun way to express yourself,” Sharma said. “I feel like dance has been such a big part of my identity growing up as well, so doing it competitively all throughout middle school and high school was a really great experience.”
In the future, Sharma hopes to move to a fast-paced urban area, like New York City, to work at a tech company in a project management role.
“My social battery is charged being around other people and so within a big city, I think it would fill my cup really big,” Sharma said.
