I grew up with ten other family members living in the same house that helped me learn how to deal with disorder. I would witness diverse perspectives of family members about what to eat for meals, what professional careers to choose or even where to invest family money. I recall, I would absorb everyone’s views and became a natural facilitator of family matters. I am profoundly inspired by my father’s journey, where he single-handedly took care of the entire family at the age of twenty-one when my grandfather passed away. His “Impossible is nothing attitude” drive my life choices too. After college, I took a job with Schneider Electric but while working there, I had my epiphany. I realized that I wanted to work towards creating opportunities for others than just seeking for myself. I left my corporate job and decided to travel extensively both in India and in US to learn how communities helped shape businesses, livelihoods and even public policy. I learnt each person has his/her own unique narrative but it’s just as important to respect, appreciate and take the time to understand that. After my travels, I got a fantastic opportunity to lead one of the 23 local chapters in India with Make A Difference (MAD) as a City President. This developed my leadership ability to positively empower people towards a culture of achievement and impact. After I was about to finish with MAD, I wanted to directly dive into driving change in India and around the world. The subsequent opportunities I got with Centre for Civil Society and now with Atlas Network provided me with insights for a completely unserved space that empowers institutions around the world. My international work travels with Atlas and the work I do to help build and scale organizations around the world have strengthened my solution-oriented and entrepreneurial attitude. So far I have been able to travel to 15 countries, build lasting friendships, and appreciate diversity that has helped break my stereotypes about various countries and cultures.
I now want to learn more about how commercialization, market potential and venture capital can together fuel wealth creation for enterprises and communities. I’d like to utilize my experience in India and the global exposure with Atlas to nurture early stage startups and help scale their businesses.
At McDonough, I see myself engaging with fellow Hoyas on issues at the nexus of business and public policy, sharing my experiences during class discussions and making available my global network of policy and business practitioners for those interested in recruiting in this space. During our study group discussions, I see myself absorbing and learning different cultural perspectives and facilitating conversations. Through participation in student clubs such as ABC and EMN, I hope to hone my leadership ability through experiential learning.
I understand that breaking into Venture Capital right after MBA is difficult, however, my conversations with Justin Timlin (MBA’19), learning more about MBA Venture Fellows Program and the StarupHoyas strengthended my conviction that it is not impossible to do so with fellow classmates and alumni support. Continuing the tradition of paying-it-forward so far in my career, I can see my cohort and I volunteering together for MBA Volunteers. For those that are hiking and nature enthusiasts, I see us bonding over my favorite hiking trails through Potomac and exploring the DMV area.
