Indian-origin ex-Deloitte partner says she worked 100-hour weeks, quit after body 'broke down'

An Indian-origin senior executive in New York, who made a partner at Deloitte when she was 34, left the firm after a 21-year career when a severe health crisis forced her to rethink success. Deepa Purushothaman joined Deloitte in 1999 as a senior consultant after graduating from Harvard Kennedy School, planning to stay briefly before moving into policy. Instead, she rose rapidly and became a partner.

Purushothaman told Business Insider that her ascent was fueled by long hours and intense dedication. “My superpower wasn’t being smarter than anyone else; it was that I could outwork almost anyone,” she said. After relocating to San Francisco in 2014, her schedule intensified to 100-hour weeks, often leaving home at 4 am and returning near 1 am for months at a stretch.

Health collapse and Lyme diagnosis
The strain triggered cascading health issues: headaches, infections, adrenal fatigue, and repeated shingles. After consulting 15 doctors, she was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease, likely dormant since childhood but activated by stress. By 2019, she took a leave of absence and spent eight months bedridden, suffering neuropathy and losing sensation from elbows to knees. “If success doesn’t include health, is it really success?” she reflected.

A new chapter beyond Deloitte
Purushothaman officially exited Deloitte in May 2020. Six weeks later, she sold her book The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America to HarperCollins. She interviewed 500 senior women of color, launched nFormation—a membership community—and spoke on hundreds of corporate stages. But the pace mirrored her consulting years, leading to recurring illness and another reset.