Alright, alright. I won’t bore you that much. What I do want to do is tell you my story.
I wasn’t born in America. I moved here from South India with my parents when I was 3 years old.
I come from a hard-working immigrant family. My Dad and Mum built our comfortable life from nothing, and I credit them all my success. The biggest thing they taught me? Discipline. You won’t be handed things in life, you have to go get them yourself.
As a kid, I was smart. I graduated Kumon & Mathnasium and ended up teaching at both institutions (full circle Desi kid things), I loved horse-back riding and playing the guitar, was the lead in Choir, always had my head in a book (Percy Jackson, anyone?), and was a stuck-up teacher’s pet. I didn’t really have much of a goal in life. I knew I was book smart, and I went with it. I did things to get into a good college, or to make my parents proud - there was no deeper meaning. School, grades, being a badass Mock Trial lawyer channeling my inner Harvey Specter - those were the priorities.
That all changed in my Freshman year of High School. I dropped out of High School 2x. Odd for the Student Body President taking 7 AP’s in 1 semester, who’d won national awards for her projects to humanitarian service, and had worked with MIT & Yale to start clubs and initiatives at her school.
My Grandfather - who was probably my biggest supporter, and the reason I was pushed to have a career in a conservative South Asian household - was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer that spread to his brain. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, a person whose only life was school - was taken to India, away from everything that mattered. I know the typical Grandparent stories are cliche, but cliche as it is - these trips to India changed my life.
Watching your biggest supporter lose all memory of you, confined to a bed, watching your strong Mother who never lost her happy exterior break down in your arms, trying to protect a little sister from everything - I learned the meaning of family, prayer, and sacrifice. I’ve never had to sacrifice anything before these trips.
Lots of people ask me how I felt during this time, ready to offer me tissues and a warm hug. To be honest, I was fuming. I was mad at Medicine for failing us, for not being enough for our family. With all the innovations and inventions constantly in the news, how were none of them able to save us? This is where my love and interest in Medicine sparked. I wanted to advance this field in any way I could, to make sure families like mine didn’t go through what I did.
So, I did just that. I founded the Grey Matter Society with Yale Medical School at my High School to teach my peers about Neuroscience and Medicine and contribute to these fields and help more people.
My work in technology and engineering became infused with using my skills to help advance healthcare while creating ethical designs, and you can see my work at this intersection of Tech & Healthcare all over my Portfolio.
But yeah, that’s my story so far. I’m not done writing it, however. I have a lot planned for the future, and I can’t wait to help more people in need. Public service is one of my most important goals in life.
