About Me

Here's a little about me and my journey in life. I wanted to share the moments and people who have made me who I am today. There are four significant  anchors in my life. 

Second anchor in my life changed my course was when I was in my grade 7 and learned about Kalpana Chawla, the female Indian astronaut! The shine in my eyes filled with inspiration and my inner voice said, "Oh! I could also pursue something called engineering and travel to outer space. I don't have to end up working in the kitchen like my mom." This moment onwards I studied and studied with the motivation to have bigger dreams and life outside of kitchen.

In my hometown, there were no colleges for Bachelor's or Master's degree. In fact, my school grew with me every year (when I was in grade 8, grade 9 was just starting to build in that school). Additionally, in my family for fear of safety, daughters were never sent to nearby cities to study further (while sons were sent). With all my big dreams and uncertainties, I went to my eldest uncle with a handwritten letter for him to promise me in writing that he will send me to a college in the nearby city for higher studies. 

Fast forward, my dad finally took a stand for me in the big joint family and we moved to a metropolitan city, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh (North India). Later, I trained for engineering entrance exams and scored to be amongst 1% of all candidates and pursued engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Punjab. This constant struggle of finding opportunities amongst family uncertainties has further increased my hunger for knowledge and opportunities.

Post my internship on an innovative research project on using Electronic Textiles for the prevention of physical assault, I joined a startup to learn product design and launch skills in a Wearable Electronics company, Dhama Innovations. 

The opportunities here not only put me in on driving seat for engineering innovation, but also digital software and product design as well as business intelligence, product strategy and cross-functional team management.

This dense learning experience inspired me to explore a career at the intersection of engineering, design and business and MITidm happened to me then! Integrated Design & Management program is a different kind of Master's program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology! 

MITidm = Human-centered Innovation + Entrepreneurship + Leadership at MIT & beyond. 

This experience gave me confidence on my skills, introduced me to one of the most creative, social impact driven, and a smart cohort, and exposed me to a formal training on product innovation process, maker skills and skills to lead a creative crossfunctional team with empathy. Here's a bit from there