Diana awardee Aanya Rao’s Art Connect is brightening up the lives of patients in Singapore
Written by: Amrita Priya
(August 7, 2022) While accompanying her father to health centres during his second kidney transplant in 2018, fourteen-year-old Aanya Rao did not appreciate the dull hues of the space. “They should be bright enough,” to infuse some positivity into the minds and lives of the people already in a sombre mood, she thought.
Struck by the absence of vibrancy, the youngster delved into research on the impact of art in the healing process. It was then that the idea of Art:Connect germinated. “For many patients, special needs children, healthcare workers, and senior citizens hospitals and care centres have almost become like home. It is very important for them to have a vibrant and positive environment,” she tells Global Indian, while connecting from Singapore.
Aanya Rao, founder Art:Connect
From hobby to purpose
Aanya had always been in love with art, learning the nuances of fine arts since the time she was a seven-year-old. It was during the hospital visits with her father that she realised that the hobby can be utilised for a larger purpose. In 2020, she laid the foundation of the student-led body Art:Connect, and since then, the teenager along with 40 plus student volunteers studying in schools and colleges of Singapore, have been working in tandem to put their artistic talent to good use. To eliminate the starkness of the white walls, they coloured them up with murals in health care centres, displayed their handmade creations in exhibitions to raise funds, and organised art workshops and competitions for patients and senior citizens.
A mural by Art:Connect team at Vanguard Healthcare, Singapore
The Art:Connect team also conducts art workshops for mothers and their children suffering from lysosomal storage disorder, and diseases like phenylketonuria, thalassemia and osteogenesis. They have organised exhibitions to spread awareness about organ donation, dementia and mental health, and have been making greeting cards to brighten up the lives in hospitals during festivals. “While we started with brightening up walls, our initiative branched out into other areas connecting art with well-being,” says the teenager.
The team finds immense satisfaction in the fact that their creativity has not only got an audience but has been replacing gloominess with vibrancy. With their slogan, ‘Art can, and will, heal the world’ they have been leveraging the “healing power of art” to brighten lives of not just those who are suffering but also of the healthcare workers and caregivers who work in the emotionally, physically and mentally draining environments.
Art:Connect organised a special workshop in collaboration with Rare Disorders Society Singapore (RDSS)
Future ahead
To keep on adding a healing touch is what Aanya never wants to lose focus of. The 16-year-old, Class XI student of NPS International School Singapore, is working on succession planning and building the next step of leadership as she comes closer to her foray in the world of university education.
The Art:Connect team collaborates with about 500 students across schools of Singapore for special projects. “Moving on from a core team of five, I will play a more advisory role,” informs the teen about her non-profit’s future plan.
Art:Connect’s organ donation awareness exhibition in collaboration with National University Hospital, Singapore
A STEM lover, Aanya plans to pursue either biotechnology or bioengineering in college. A trained Bharatnatyam, Kathak and ballet dancer, she ‘absolutely loves art’, and finds working for Art:Connect a great stress buster.
(January 10, 2022) It was yet another day for the world at large. Not for Bengaluru girl Sia Godika though. She has a special surprise awaiting her - an invitation to London to receive the Diana Legacy Award for her initiative Sole Warriors that provides shoes to the needy. In just two years, the 15-year-old’s initiative has created a global movement - donating 21,000 pairs of shoes to the disadvantaged. “I literally fell off the chair reading the email about winning the Diana Legacy Award. I was so surprised and honoured. I couldn’t believe that I was even eligible,” Sia says to Global Indian in an exclusive. The big news came just five months after she had already got the Diana Award in June 2021 along with 400 other youngsters from across the globe. Being considered one of the highest honours for social action, it has put Sia among the list of future leaders. [caption id="attachment_9438" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Sia Godika receiving Diana Legacy Award in London.[/caption] It was in the fall of 2019 that Sole Warriors took a life of its own after Sia decided to help the needy by collecting used shoes, refurbishing and donating them. “Finding a solution
eg" alt="Teen Social Activist | Diana Legacy Award-Winner" width="480" height="640" /> Sia Godika receiving Diana Legacy Award in London.[/caption]
It was in the fall of 2019 that Sole Warriors took a life of its own after Sia decided to help the needy by collecting used shoes, refurbishing and donating them. “Finding a solution to a problem that affects a larger population is important, and that’s what I did with Sole Warriors,” says Sia.
Putting the right foot forward
How Sole Warriors galvanises its support is also credible. “We have a huge network of volunteers - Robin Hood Army and Indian Ploggers Army - who help us with the process of collection and distribution,” reveals Sia.
The hard, cracked and worn-out feet of construction workers’ children in Sia’s locality stirred this Koramangala girl into action. “It broke my heart to see them running barefoot on the streets. I rushed home to find some pairs of shoes that I could give them. Seeing my shoe rack, it dawned upon me that I had so many pairs stacked up which I wasn’t even wearing anymore,” says the Neev Academy student. It gnawed on her till she had to do something about it. “I started researching, and found that according to WHO stats, 1.5 billion people worldwide don’t have shoes to wear, and around 350 million pairs of shoes are discarded each year,” says Sia, who was left aghast with the numbers.
What began as a dinner table conversation with her parents soon took the form of the Sole Warriors initiative. “My parents asked me to come up with a concrete plan regarding collection and distribution, and research on it. This gave me a sense of purpose,” reveals Sia. Within a month, Sia launched it at a Kormangala apartment, and collected 500 pairs. “It was a huge boost, knowing that I was going in the right direction after a month of making posters to spread the word, and connecting with volunteers on WhatsApp,” she adds.
Soon word spread, and she was added to many groups on WhatsApp and this helped intensify the initiative. With hundreds of shoes collected per week, Godika had to find a solution to refurbish them. Approaching local cobblers was her initial fix, but she soon found sponsors in Pressto Cobblers. “I came across the store, and on a whim, decided to meet the manager who was more than happy to help us. They decided to sponsor us,” chirps an ecstatic Sia.
Slowly, but surely making little feet matter
Still in its nascent stage, Sole Warriors faced some hiccups at the beginning of the lockdown in March 2020. Yet, they flung into action after pushing the pause button for a few weeks. “We continued collecting shoes, sanitising them and (even) quarantining them for a handful of days before sending them for distribution to the needy people,” informs the Diana Legacy Award-winner who also helped create jobs for slum dwellers with her initiative. “Through this, we allowed slum dwellers to become ‘sole’ entrepreneurs wherein they could sell a pair of refurbished shoes for Rs 50, and earn an income,” explains the activist.
Many stepped up to help Sia with the initiative. Though she cannot thank G Nagaraj aka Plog Raj (the founder of Indian Ploggers Army) enough. “From helping me get in touch with volunteers, to identify areas where we could distribute shoes, he helped me immensely,” says the Diana Award winner. After her successful stint in Bengaluru, she opened chapters in Chennai and Mumbai. Sia is now ready to spread her wings to West Africa and the US. “It was during the Diana Award ceremony that I met Abdullah O Bility, a co-winner from Liberia. He got to know about my initiative, and was happy to help me with the distribution in his country,” exclaims Sia, who will soon be sending the first lot of refurbished shoes from the US to Liberia (as sending from India was ridden with snags).
The 15-year-old found support in a family friend in Boston who is busy collecting shoes for Sole Warriors from public schools and communities, and would soon be sending them to Abdullah in Liberia. “I am so happy that the initiative is going international, and more people are joining in,” adds Sia who is hoping to expand to the UK soon.
When shoestrings make a difference
Born in 2006 in North Carolina to engineer parents, Godika moved to Bengaluru as a year-old toddler. “My parents had moved to the US in their youth to study, and worked there for a couple of years. In the late 2000s, they shifted back to Bengaluru to be closer to the family,” says the Class 10 student who found them as the greatest of support systems. “My mom has been quite inspiring in this journey of mine, and always asked me to follow my heart. My dad drove me around collecting and distributing shoes until we had things in place,” she smiles.
When she is not busy with Sole Warriors or school, Sia Godika loves to curl up with a book. A student of Bangalore School of Speech and Drama too, the teenager is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, and passionate about theatre. With two months to her boards, Godika has her eyes set on pursuing finance and economics. “Economics is my favourite subject. That’s what I intend to pursue,” adds the social activist who calls Sole Warriors a necessity in life rather than a profession.
(April 14, 2022) Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty, who was crowned the national hardcourt tennis champion (women’s singles) 2021, was 11 when she first held a tennis racket in her hand. Calling herself an “accidental” tennis player, Shrivalli was introduced to the game at the Lal Bahadur stadium in Hyderabad. "I was just 11 years old and frankly, I only noticed the clothes of the kids who were playing at the stadium," laughs the 20-year-old tennis star during an interview with Global Indian. "I told my father that I wanted to play because I also wanted to wear those clothes," she adds. [caption id="attachment_15000" align="aligncenter" width="584"] Shrivalli Rashmikaa[/caption] However, Shrivalli has come a long way since then. The right-handed tennis star, who is currently doing her degree at St. Francis College for Women, Hyderabad, has won numerous titles. The most recent was the ITF Women's (doubles) $15000 - 2022 held in Gurugram. She was also a semi-finalist at the ITF Women's (singles) $15000 - 2022, Ahmedabad. Making of a champion Born to two sports players - her father being a cricketer and mother a national-level basketball player - Shrivalli was always encouraged to play sports. "I was a very active child, mostly
$15000 - 2022 held in Gurugram. She was also a semi-finalist at the ITF Women's (singles) $15000 - 2022, Ahmedabad.
Making of a champion
Born to two sports players - her father being a cricketer and mother a national-level basketball player - Shrivalli was always encouraged to play sports. "I was a very active child, mostly because my parents were so into outdoor activities. My father especially is a sports freak. He encouraged me to pick up an extra-curricular activity in school," shares the tennis star, who is also a trained classical Carnatic singer.
While she took part in various sports, including swimming and roller skating, tennis was her 'one true love'. And once she started training, it did not take the coaches at the LB stadium much time to realise that Shrivalli was a gifted player.
[caption id="attachment_15017" align="aligncenter" width="579"] Shrivalli after winning a tournament[/caption]
"For the first year, I went to the stadium to just have fun. I was the most talkative kid in the stadium, who loved picking up balls more than hitting them," she laughs, adding, “But one day when my father had come to pick me up, one of the coaches asked him if I would like to take up the sport professionally. After coming home, my father posed the same question. In fact, I remember he warned me that it would be a tough journey. I was about 12 years old and didn't really understand what was so tough about playing tennis. So, I just said yes," the tennis player recalls.
Even as she worked hard to win every tournament, she did not forget to enjoy her childhood. Although she was a good student, she was also a trouble-maker in class. "I was a notorious student. Me and a few friends would bunk classes together. We would never leave the school premises, but we just would not attend the classes some times. Since I was very talkative, the teachers would sometimes even kick me out of the class. But I was a good student, my grades were really good. And I'd win gold in almost every tournament, so my teachers and principal were happy with me," smiles the tennis champ.
When the going gets tough
During her initial years, the tennis player won several medals, including the national title 2014-15, and under-18 petit camp open doubles in Mauritius in 2016. However, like every player she had to face some tough losses as well. While she recognised her potential as a player, Shrivalli learnt a lot from the matches she couldn't win.
[caption id="attachment_15018" align="aligncenter" width="690"] Shrivalli with her parents[/caption]
"I knew right from the beginning that I was able to do something extraordinary, something not everyone could do. As a junior, I wasn't much of a performing kid. So, I would constantly put pressure on myself to perform well. And when I didn't, the losses hit me very hard. Also, the other tennis players my age were performing really well, and I would inadvertently compare myself with them. In almost every tournament, even before the draw was out, I would freak out," shares the young player.
For two years, Shrivalli constantly struggled with these doubts which affected her game. Explaining how important it is to be mentally strong to win the games, the tennis player adds, "I did go to a psychologist subsequently and that helped me a lot. I started concentrating on my game more than the outcomes. So, as I moved towards my under-18s my game improved a lot." Her parents, Shrivalli says, were very supportive through her journey, and never once put pressure on her.
Olympic dreams
One of her biggest victories was defeating Rutuja Bhosale at the ITF $25K Pune R1 – 2021. That instilled a great deal of confidence in her. "I think all players feel nervous before a match. I do too. But I am confident now that I can play against, and defeat, any player," remarks Shrivalli, who is very inspired by Novak Djokovic.
[caption id="attachment_15019" align="aligncenter" width="772"] The tennis champion dreams of representing the country in Olympics[/caption]
Shrivalli dreams of representing India at the Olympics and works at her aspirations without compromise. Her day begins at 4.15 am and training continues for between five and six hours a day. And along the way, she hopes to win as many cups as she can for her country. “I will be participating in several upcoming national and international tournament. But a dream come true will be representing India at the Olympics and winning gold for the country," says the tennis star, who loves cooking or baking in her free time.
(July 06, 2023) At 26, Rajat Bhageria is already well on his way to establishing himself as a socially-conscious serial entrepreneur and an astute investor. Born in India Rajat has lived in four countries, speaks four languages and works, according to his LinkedIn bio, "to build lasting 100-year businesses around 10x solutions to the world's most pressing problems, while simultaneously empowering fellow entrepreneurs to do the same." Currently, he heads Chef Robotics a venture that landed him in the Forbes USA 30 Under 30 list and is the Founder and Managing Partner at Prototype Capital, a distributed $5MM fund investing in 10x comanies around the world. He's also a prolific author, writing his first book soon after high school - What High School Didn't Teach me: A Recent Graduate's Perspective on High Schools are Killing Creativity. His columns have also appeared in TechCrunch, Forbes and HuffPost. The first attempt at entrepreneurship In 2013, Rajat Bhageria founded what he calls his "first ever real startup." CafeMocha was a platform for writers to share their creative work. He was still in high school then, preparing for university. Rajat and his friends had spent their weekend studying for the SATs, memorising terms and
what he calls his "first ever real startup." CafeMocha was a platform for writers to share their creative work. He was still in high school then, preparing for university. Rajat and his friends had spent their weekend studying for the SATs, memorising terms and taking mock exams. It was something they had to do, certainly not something they enjoyed. It got Rajat thinking: "Schools are truly killing creativity. High School basically shuns them from taking risks and rather teaches them to follow a set formula." That made people afraid of their own creative spirit and the few who still expressed it, at least as writers, poets, essayists and researchers, had limited means to share their work.
As a writer himself, he felt the pinch. Blogging was definitely a way but came with a one-in-a-million chance of getting noticed. Tumblr was not academic whatsoever. He decided to create CafeMocha, the "only social-network that is truly aimed at high school students." What LinkedIn is to job seekers, Flickr to photographers and Spotify and Soundcloud to musicians, CafeMocha was to budding teen writers. In just a month after it was founded, the platform had about 30,000 page views and hundreds of unique visitors. "I learned then that one person really can make a difference," he explained.
Life at PennState
The Global Indian headed to Pennsylvania State University as an undergraduate and although he didn’t know then, met two people with whom he would go on to collaborate - Ben Sandler and Joe Cappadona. "I can personally say with a lot of certainty that my classes were by no means worth 60k/year," he wrote, in Huff Post. "But I can also say that the act of simply being in college taught me more than any class ever has." When he first arrived, he was struck with the idea that hundreds of young people had come before him and hundreds more would follow. How could he stand out? Could he leave a mark? It was the start of an "existential crisis" in which he discovered "the real power of college: it forces you to find yourself and ask yourself what you want to accomplish not only in the next four years but also in life."
https://youtu.be/I3biPTHVjeM
A weekend hackathon with Sandler and Cappadona resulted in the team building a prototype to help the visually-impaired recognise objects. They chose the non-invasive method, joining giants like IBM and Apple in those early days of wearable technologies. Rajat Bhageria joined, both fellow computer science undergrads and together, they built the prototype in a weekend hackathon. Their model was a hit and even landed them on the cover of UPenn newspaper.
Challenges
"I had no background building an intuitive product," he writes, in Forbes. And commercialising the product, it turned out, was another story entirely. First, they had to test the market: Was their product worth the effort in the first place? Is it something that the blind actually needed? The team cold-emailed organisations in and around Philadelphia. They received only two responses, out of which only one turned into a viable lead.
It meant reaching out to a wide circle of people, from CEOs to investors to NGOs. "I was able to learn from venture capitalists who had funded Fortune 500 companies, founders who had IPOed their companies, and CEOs leading massive 500+ person companies," he wrote.
It wasn't so much about the advice that he received but the insight it gave him into the minds of extremely successful people. How did they grow? What did they prioritise?
In 2018, having learned the many struggles of entrepreneurship, Rajat Bhageria decided he wanted to empower others like himself. He went on to found Prototype Capital, which is in existence still. According to the company website, Prototype Capital "believes in getting down in the trenches and being there right alongside the most ambitious founders in the world as together, we fund and found lasting 100-year businesses around products that change the status quo by 10x."
Chef Robotics
From wearable technology, Rajat moved on to Robotics and AI. It was a timely start- months before the pandemic struck. This time, he addressed assembly line cooks, "an extremely dull and dangerous job," as the website describes it, "leading to massive turnover rates as people try unsuccessfully to find more fulfilling work." Food companies remained woefully understaffed, in some cases by up to 25 percent.
Rajat's solution: Put robots in assembly lines instead. The idea was also inspire the next generation of founders, engineers and investors to design intelligent robots.
(November 27, 2021) "Don't just do it, do it right," puns the Thaely slogan, taking a dig at an international shoe brand. Rightly so, as Thaely sneakers are 100 percent recycled, and made from plastic trash. In fact, truth be told, CEO and founder of Thaely, an ethically produced ecologically fashioned sneaker brand, Ashay Bhave, is as honest, sceptical and idealistic in life as he is in deed. This, and a talent for art saw him create a niche with his vegan sneakers which he shrugs off – "This is just the beginning of greater things to come." Modest words. Interestingly, his first art installation at the Jameel Art Centre in Dubai, a show he curated too, got government attention, and he was given a UAE Golden Visa. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Thaely (@thaely.inc) Thaely has an ethos of sustainability as the 23-year-old Ashay upcycles plastic bags and bottles to create shoes. Named after the common place plastic bag's Hindi word for it, thaely, the shoes use plastic waste with cutting edge design. "We are the only company that uses plastic bags to make shoes. When you look at their aesthetics and design,
Thaely has an ethos of sustainability as the 23-year-old Ashay upcycles plastic bags and bottles to create shoes. Named after the common place plastic bag's Hindi word for it, thaely, the shoes use plastic waste with cutting edge design. "We are the only company that uses plastic bags to make shoes. When you look at their aesthetics and design, you would never know that they are made from plastic," says the creator. Each sneaker uses ten plastic bags and 12 plastic bottles – an overall whopping 50,000 plastic bags and 35,000 bottles have been used so far.
The sneakers won the PETA's Best Vegan Sneaker Award 2021. Head honcho Anand Mahindra tweeted his interest in funding and buying these ecologically attuned sneakers.
This is awesome!
A startup in India 🇮🇳 is making these sneakers (a $70 billion market) are made of garbage (12 plastic bottles and handful of trash bags). And for $110, they will be shipped anywhere in the world.@Thaely_inc
Today, Thaely sneakers are sold out. Behind the minimalistic and soft leather shoe is a boy with a curly shock of hair forming a whimsical halo around his artistic head, with an endearing schoolboy drawl. He rattles off the science behind the shoes, fabric, and his depth is clear to see. The boy who studied at DY Patil in Navi Mumbai, comes from a Maharashtrian family - his mother Sheetal Bhave is a counsellor, and father Sameer Bhave works in Dubai at an oil company, and he has a younger sister.
The birth of an eco-friendly sneaker
Thaely was initially developed as a design exercise by Ashay using recycled material from waste at the Eureka competition during his final BBA entrepreneurship semester at Amity University (Dubai) in 2019. "I wanted to find a solution to the 100 billion plastic bags used each year that use 12 million barrels of oil which kill 100,000 marine animals annually," quips Ashay, who finished 12th and went to the Big Apple to study accessory design. A year into the course, unhappy with his progress, what work the alumni were doing, job prospects and the cost of the course, he signed up for a BBA in Dubai.
"I was doing a few design projects for fun - one was Thaely. Plastic bags are a huge problem, most marine animals confuse them for jelly fish. I experimented at home with different household appliances - irons and hair straighteners. I got familiarised with some industrial equipment during design school, and tried to replicate the tech used in t-shirt printing to form a texture called ThaelyTex with PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) used for coating, shoe bands, etc while the soles are from discarded tyres," he explains. With a rough idea of the fabric that he developed over two years; a prototype was made at a neighbourhood shoe repair shop. That prototype and design, he pitched along with a business plan at Eureka as proof of concept. Ashay won the competition, was spotted by a judge, Matteo Boffa, a Dubai-based Swiss social entrepreneur, who funded and mentored Ashay who was only 20 at the time. "I definitely needed guidance when it came to business and enterprise," says the designer who has since sold out his inventory.
Quote Unquote
"As soon as I heard Ashay’s pitch about Thaely I fell in love with the concept. Being a serial entrepreneur in the field of sustainability and social impact, I saw a great fit. The idea was great but the person behind was even better! The brand can compete with the giants of the industry. We have a real and concrete positive impact on hundreds of people in India," says Matteo Boffa, Social entrepreneur, Forbes 30under30, and co-founder of Thaely.
Ashay identified Trio Tap Technologies, a waste management plant in Gurgaon for plastic bags. Then, the pandemic hit. All work came to a standstill. Beginning 2021, Bhave again started work and finally launched the recycled sneaker.
"It is difficult to create a sneaker with those specs, so we designed a process that is scalable and efficient. Thaely is a casual sneaker. I took inspiration from the many basketball and skateboarding shoes of the 80s – the design is timeless, minimalistic and easy to style. It looks like a leather sneaker," explains the designer, who started off as a freelance designer creating album art, packaging, animation, toys, etc. A name in Dubai already, he now wants to impress the rest of the world with not just products but also his art.
"The installation show was a pretty important point - it helped me become more established. I got government attention, and was offered a UAE Golden Visa. I had designed a fake toy with a packing and gaming console - it was basically critiquing world leaders acting like children and sort of playing with our lives," says the avant-garde thinker.
With funding, the second prototype was made, and the recycled "kicks" were on their way to make feet accountable and responsible. Thaely sneakers are currently sold at Level One, among the biggest shoe stores in the world at Dubai Mall, and online.
"We were sold out on all the shoes produced – 1,600 pairs with 500 pre-orders – mostly from Europe, some from America and Australia. India is not a very big market right now," says Bhave, who is grateful for the acclaim, and success, "It was my dream to be in design or a CEO of a fashion brand - now that it has come true, I am thrilled," says the eco entrepreneur who wants to diversify, and add more colours too (Thaely sneakers are in white, white-brown and white-blue, and pre orders of all-black).
Like other 20-somethings, sneakers are an appendage and lifeline – his, he says, are comfortable and function like regular shoes. They are different though, "We are 100 percent recycled, completely transparent on production processes, our shoes have a QR code, and we are cheaper than other sustainable sneakers at $99 (others are $150, etc)," adds the Global Indian.
Proud parents, a sister who is a tad intimidated by attention, and impressed friends, Bhave knew they all had "pretty high hopes" (for him), and admits they expect much more now.
Mentor Matteo has been instrumental in giving Ashay a deeper perspective, "He is pretty young – 30, and (is) always inspiring me to stretch my boundaries," says Bhave who loves sci-fi movies, art and fashion.
Not many know that Ashay was a national level rifle shooter from sixth to eleventh grade in Mumbai, and even today loves going to the range in Dubai when he visits his parents. His larger aspiration is to make Thaely a lifestyle brand – clothing, furniture, other accessories – recycled and sustainable. Sneakers done, now it’s back to the drawing board to create more from trash.
(October 18, 2024) In 2015, Karthik Ramu's life changed in a way that few teenagers could have anticipated. His grandfather, living thousands of miles away in Coimbatore, India, suffered a near-fatal heart attack. Karthik, at the time a high school student in North Carolina, found himself helpless, with no real way of staying updated on his grandfather's health. Despite living in a world of smartphones and wearable tech, the Ramu family, like millions of others, had no reliable system in place to track the health of their elderly loved one. This sudden realisation revealed a bigger problem: how can families, separated by distance and busy with their own lives, care for elders in a connected, real-time way? This personal crisis turned into a mission for Karthik Ramu, who at the age of 16, co-founded AmityConnect, a mobile platform designed to give families real-time insights into the health of their elders, no matter the distance. For the Indian-American, this wasn’t just about solving his family’s problem; it was about addressing the universal need for better elder care—particularly in a world where the elderly population is expected to double by 2050. "Seeing my grandfather suffer and not being able to do anything
His journey towards launching AmityConnect began while he was still in high school, enrolled in a STEM-focused entrepreneurship program. This gave him the technical foundation to address a problem that was deeply personal as he firsthand saw how disconnected families can be from their elders’ health. He found that the available medical alert systems were outdated and notified families only after the emergency had occurred. This prompted him to find a solution that was better than the available resources.
Together with his classmate, Kushi, Karthik launched AmityConnect in April 2019. The app pulls data from a range of smart medical devices like Fitbits, Apple Watches, and Hexoskin sensors, and presents it to families in an easy-to-understand format. Through real-time updates on vitals such as heart rate, blood pressure, and activity levels, AmityConnect allows families to monitor their elders' health, regardless of whether they live across the country or across the world.
[caption id="attachment_39909" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Karthik Ramu with co-founder Kushi[/caption]
Building a Global Solution
As Karthik delved deeper into the elder care industry, he realised how urgent the need for solutions like AmityConnect was. The elder population in the US alone faces alarming health trends: 60 percent of seniors have two or more chronic health conditions. And with families increasingly spread across different locations, staying connected to an elder’s health can be incredibly difficult. AmityConnect's vision is to change that by giving families peace of mind and the tools to take proactive action when it comes to elder care.
In the summer of 2020, Karthik Ramu and his team partnered with Fitbit to provide smart medical devices to seniors and ran a successful beta test of AmityConnect with over 70 families and assisted care centers in Northern Virginia. The results were promising, and AmityConnect's user base quickly began to grow.
By 2021, AmityConnect had already reached over 3,000 people across the US, spreading awareness through social media campaigns and local events. The platform garnered attention, and in 2020, it was selected as a winner of the T-Mobile Changemaker Challenge, which recognizes young innovators making a difference in the world. Karthik and his team were named among the top 30 changemakers of the year, a distinction that put AmityConnect on the map as one of the most promising elder care innovations created by youth. Karthik was honoured as a Global Teen Leader by the We Are Family Foundation in 2021, also won the T-Mobile Changemaker Challenge and was recognised as one of the top 30 changemakers.
Rooted in Heritage, Driven by Innovation
The success of AmityConnect for Karthik isn't just about technology but also about his heritage and upbringing. As a first-generation Indian-American, Karthik feels a deep connection to the values of his Tamilian roots, particularly the importance of family and caring for elders. "The concept of respecting and caring for elders is deeply ingrained in our culture, and this definitely shaped how I approached AmityConnect," explained the 21-year-old.
Growing up in a household where both parents worked in the tech industry — his father is an IT consultant, and his mother assists in their family business — Karthik was exposed to technology from a young age. Yet, he was equally influenced by his parents' roots in Coimbatore, India. The duality of his Indian heritage and his American upbringing gave him a unique perspective, allowing him to innovate with a deep sense of responsibility toward family and community.
"I'm as close to my parents' roots in Coimbatore as I am to my Indian-American culture," the Global Indian reflected. His experience of growing up with both Indian and American cultures shaped how he approaches problem-solving. It helped him combine empathy with innovative thinking, blending traditional values with modern solutions.
Growing up in one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities in the US, Karthik is the perfect example of how Indian-American teens are making an impact by combining their rich heritage with modern innovation. For decades, Indian immigrants have made their mark in fields like technology, healthcare, and business, and Karthik, too, has merged his heritage with contemporary ideas, making him a bridge between two worlds.
Larger Perspective
What began as an idea to help stay up to-date with his grandfather's health became a platform for elder care that reached out to more families in the US. However, his goal has been to scale it globally. "There's still so much more we can do to ensure that families feel connected to the health of their elders, no matter where they are," he added. For him, AmityConnect isn’t just a business but a mission to change how families care for their elders in an increasingly disconnected world.
As Karthik continues to redefine elder care, his story is not just an inspiration for Indian-American teens but for changemakers everywhere. In an era where the elder population is growing faster than ever before, Karthik’s work with AmityConnect couldn’t be more timely or necessary. His journey underscores how young people, empowered by their cultural roots and a drive for change, can solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Shrivalli after winning a tournament[/caption]
Shrivalli with her parents[/caption]
The tennis champion dreams of representing the country in Olympics[/caption]
Ashay Bhave[/caption]
Thaely's vegan sneakers[/caption]
Thaely sneakers[/caption]
Karthik Ramu[/caption]
Karthik Ramu with co-founder Kushi[/caption]