Former Bollywood actress and activist Somy Ali is known today not just for her brief stint in Indian cinema during the ’90s, but for her powerful transformation into a humanitarian who has impacted over 50,000 lives through her U.S.-based non-profit organization, No More Tears. In a heartfelt reflection, Somy opens up about the choices she made as a teenager, the lessons she learned, and how a childhood dream led her to create real change in the world. “If I could go back to 1990,” she says, “I would tell myself to focus on education, complete my master’s, and then start my nonprofit. I would have pursued degrees in documentary filmmaking too, because I prefer them over fiction.” While it may sound like a regret, Somy emphasizes that every detour in her life had a purpose. She candidly shares how she dropped out of school in the 9th grade to chase what she now calls a fantasy — the dream of marrying a film star. “And that too, one I didn’t know from Adam,” she adds. But life, as she points out, had other plans. Her experiences in the film industry, both personal and observational, opened her eyes to a world filled with suffering and exploitation — a world she couldn’t ignore. “Had I not dropped out, left for India, and been exposed to those atrocities, I wouldn’t have returned to the U.S. with the fire in me to get all those degrees and eventually found No More Tears,” she shares. Founded in 2006, the nonprofit has rescued and supported survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, offering them a new lease on life. For Somy, everything circles back to a divine or universal calling. “The higher power or the universe wanted me to see those horrific things to understand the world and dedicate myself to changing it,” she says. “One has to find a silver lining in life. Otherwise, it can get redundantly depressing — given we haven’t built a time machine yet.”