Global Indianstory Global Indian ExclusiveIndia shines in the 2022 Rhodes Scholars’ list

Global Indian Exclusive

India shines in the 2022 Rhodes Scholars’ list

Written by: Darshana Ramdev

(May 28, 2022) One of the world’s most prestigious academic programmes, The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students, giving them a chance to study at the University of Oxford. Established in 1903, it is the oldest postgraduate award and its scholars have made their mark around the world, becoming politicians, academics, scientists, authors and entrepreneurs. Famous Indian-origin Rhodes Scholars include Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, economist Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, physician and Pulitzer-Prize winning author Siddharth Mukherjee, former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Kannada playwright Girish Karnad.

The 2022 scholars are a diverse and versatile lot, including doctors, scientists, researchers and innovators. Global Indian takes a look at some of the Indian and Indian-origin scholars who will head off to Oxford this year.

Ritika Mukherjee

Ritika Mukherji

Ritika was 19 when she was selected a Rhodes Scholar 2022, making her the youngest Indian to win the prestigious scholarship. She is one of the five winners from India. “I am interested in sleep physiology and the metabolic level studies of sleep patterns and related states,” she told Rediff.com

She’s currently working on a project that “studies sleep patterns of Northern elephant seals who come to breed on the beaches of California.” The project is in collaboration with a team at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Encouraged by her teachers at Miranda House, along with a host of mentors and seniors, Ritika learned her academics and a set of professional work ethics, too. She is also the founder of InVoIMEnt (Internships, Volunteering, Mentorship, Entrepreneurship), to create opportunities for Indian undergraduates to be exposed to quality work experience. The young researcher intends to return to India and continue her study of interspecies sleep differences and hopefully, make a positive impact on animal conservation efforts.

Follow Ritika on Twitter

Varad Puntambekar

Varad Puntambekar

Varad joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 2015, with an all-India rank of 15 in the entrance exam. After completing his MBBS, Dr Varad Puntambekar chose to work with community healthcare, becoming a public health fellow at SEARCH, instead of the tried and tested route through private hospitals.

He became part of NIRMAN, a programme under Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health and arrived in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra for the first time. It was his chance to work at the grassroots and better his understanding of solving issues at the community level.

As a public health fellow, Varad has been part of preparing community guidelines for Covid-19, improving vaccine coverage in rural areas, providing clinical services in OPD and IPD, helping improve the quality of mental healthcare and training community health awareness on de-addiction in villages. He believes that working at the grassroot level is crucial for every doctor, in order to explore healthcare challenges in remote locations.

Varad has developed an innovative device to help screen congenital heart defects and hopes to pursue research on interventions for maternal and infant well-being at Oxford.

Follow Varad on LinkedIn and Twitter

Maya Burhanpurkar

(Featured in the banner photo. Picture courtesy: Maya Burhanpurkar / Popular Science )

In November 2015, 400 PPM, a documentary on climate change, saw a quiet-ish online release. The narrator, Maya Burhanpurkar, then still in her teens, stands beside an ice fjord in the Arctic, capturing it melt on camera. The film also featured prominent Canadians like author Margaret Atwood, former astronaut Colonel Christopher Hadfield, the explorer Wade and Nobel Laureate Dr Brad Bass. The documentary was awarded the international Gloria Barron Prize and has been seen by over two million students around the world.

Today, at 23, Maya Burhanpurkar will head off to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar this fall. The news came in late 2021, along with a congratulatory call from the prize committee, which included Donna Strickland, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Maya graduated summa cum laude with highest honours, a Technology and Innovation Fellow at Harvard Business School. She has also worked in investing, from early-stage VCs to public global macro and her academic background includes machine learning, autonomous technology, theoretical physics and fair AI.

Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Maya was ten when she built a microbiology lab in her family basement, where she would conduct her scientific experiments. In 2012, as she entered her teens, Maya’s project on Alzheimer’s disease won her the platinum award at a student-level science fair in Canada.

At Oxford, Maya plans on doing two master’s degrees, one in Advanced Computer Science and the other in Philosophy of Physics.

Follow Maya on LinkedIn

Adrija Ghosh

Adrija Ghosh

A student of National Law University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, Adrija Ghosh works as a research consultant on projects related to the death penalty at Project 39A, part of the National Law University Delhi. Her areas of interest include equality law and human rights law. Her research has involved the constitutionality of the marital rape exemption and the culture-based justifications for its retention. She also worked on citizenship rights issues, focussing on the Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam.

Adrija always knew she was academically inclined, she says in an interview. ( https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2021/12/20/in-conversation-with-adrija-ghosh-on-winning-rhodes-scholarship/ ). At law school, she enjoyed research and writing, engaging logic and reason to build arguments.

She hopes to build on the research she has undertaken in India and on her skills as a lawyer, to use as tools to protect the rights of individuals and minorities.

Follow Adrija on LinkedIn

Aditi Sriram

Aditi Sriram

Growing up in North York, Ontario, in what Aditi has described as “a racialised community in Toronto,” she would see the disparities between the schools in her neighbourhood compared with others. As a child of immigrants, it was plain to her that their community fell short in terms of amenities. It stoked her interest in financial regulation and economic policy. This October, the Indian-origin scholar will head to Oxford University, one of 11 Canadians selected for the Rhodes scholarship. There, Sriram is looking at a masters of Public Policy and a master’s of science in public policy research at Oxford.

Currently an analyst at Good & Well, an impact investing firm, Aditi graduated from the University of British Columbia’s Global Resource Systems Programme in 2016 as a Scace Loran Scholar. During her time at UBC, Sriram helped implement a mental health programme on campus, worked with non-profits in Africa and the UK, engaging with sex workers and injection drug users. She also travelled to France to study French and attended the International Students Summit on Food, Agriculture and Environment.

“I was initially interested in our education and social welfare systems and why those systems were failing our most vulnerable,” she told the Loran Scholars Foundation. “The realisation that there is a strong profit motive for inequality to persist is my motivation to study public policy.”

Sriram hopes to use her knowledge of economics and public policy to streamline the distribution of financial benefits across socioeconomic classes both locally and internationally.

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Published on 28, May 2022

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Indrani Das: Indian-American STEM girl pioneers new treatment for brain damage

(December 15, 2022) A rebellion put Indian American Indrani Das on the path to research brain injuries, something that led her to win a quarter-million-dollar at the Regeneron Science Talent Search award as a 17-year-old. While most Indian parents coax their children to become doctors when they grow up, Indrani's parents weren't the same. With their roots in Kolkata, the banker couple had warned their daughter against opting for science. They even told her to not be a doctor. "Don’t become a doctor, it’s long and expensive. So, I decided I wanted to be a doctor,” she said. This passion led the Harvard University graduate to a medical-oriented project that focuses on her new approach to neurological damage. Always fascinated with brain injuries after learning about their irrevocable and devastating effects, she decided to learn more with her full-fledged project. As a senior at the Academy for Medical Science Technology in New Jersey, she explored how brain damage occurs and examined ‘astrogliosis’, a process that can lead to the excess production of a toxin that can damage neurons. She was keen to understand the nuances of how brain damage occurs and if she could figure out a way to slow

re out a way to slow or reverse the process. "My work centers on repairing the behaviour of supporting cells to prevent neuron injury and death. It was really that shock of what it can do to a person that pushed me to work," she explained.

[caption id="attachment_25387" align="aligncenter" width="683"] Indrani Das is an Indian-American young scientist[/caption]

This very work led her to win $250,000 at the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search, which is nicknamed the Junior Nobel Prize. "These diseases are so prevalent, so debilitating, it matters to me that I continue to work on this," she added. Her purpose is to treat traumatic brain injury which can lead to stroke, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases. "In all these injuries, there is an insult to brain tissue which on the one hand causes neurons to die, but on the other hand causes supporting cells to calm these neurons. In my model, I found one of the problems which contributing to the disease condition, and then I also helped to treat it," she added.

The New Jersey resident was only three when she heard about the Regeneron Science Talent Search, as her love for science began blossoming at a young age. Seeing her fascination for dinosaurs and discovery at a young age, her parents suggested she submit her fossil findings to the competition. Years later, she not just applied but also took home the top prize for promoting neuron repair. But it wasn't a cakewalk for the Indian American who went through a process of reading scientific literature and running small experiments over many years to finally work on the subject.

[caption id="attachment_25388" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Indrani Das won the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search[/caption]

It was at the beginning of her high school as a 14-year-old that she began working on the project with only a rudimentary understanding of biology. The lack of in-depth experience with molecular biology and neuroscience was one of the biggest challenges for Indrani, which was exacerbated by the absence of "any one source for basic information." "What set the tone for my work was the learning curve I went through in the following months and years. I spent hours each day reading research journals to come to an understanding of the problems in a brain injury that I wanted to study, and used my growing knowledge base to help me conduct more and more refined experiments," the Global Indian said in an interview.

Being educated at the Bergen County Academy for Medical Science Technology, one of New Jersey's top public schools, she would often push her limits by conducting her research projects. That's when she wanted to focus on the brain. "Neurodegenerative diseases ruin a person's quality of life, they take away from (a person's) basic humanity. It was that impact I wanted to understand and to study and to try and repair,” she told CNN. With the help of mentor-cum-biology teacher Donna Leonardi, she embarked on her research journey, and began learning how cells lived and died by growing and manipulating cell cultures. She's also a member of the Stevens Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, where she works on synaptic pruning, a critical process in brain development.

[caption id="attachment_25389" align="aligncenter" width="601"] Indrani Das with her parents[/caption]

Indrani, who aspires to be a physician-scientist, is grateful to her parents for letting her follow her passion. "I’ll never forget my parents’ stories of how they worked full-time day jobs while securing additional degrees by night, and saved religiously for over a decade before my birth to provide me with the most comfortable life possible. I wouldn’t say that I’ve chosen a different path from my family, but that my choices reflect the evolution of theirs. We’re living the American dream," she added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVRNZzQZezQ

Indrani, who has plans of wrapping up her Ph.D. program in the next 10 years, advises youngsters to not be limited by their circumstances and to break bigger goals into small steps. "At the end of the day, it’s not who you know, how much you know, or what you have that determines whether you achieve your goals – it's how much you are willing to go through. If you aren’t losing your drive to excel, you’re winning the game."

Reading Time: 4 min

Young innovator Bhavya Sri Suravajhala is helping tackle the teen mental health crisis

(August 30, 2024) As a high school student, Bhavya Sri Suravajhala was witness to the increasing pressures faced by her peers, leading to anxiety, stress, and other teen mental health issues. Unlike many her age who would only wish they could do something about it and leave it at that, Bhavya swung into action. The result was Adolescencesio — a platform that provides educational resources, mentorship, and mental health support to adolescents. “Adolescencesio was born out of a deep concern for the mental well-being of adolescents. It combines modern mental health practices with holistic and Ayurvedic approaches, ensuring a comprehensive support system for young individuals,” says Bhavya, founder and CEO of Adolescencesio, in a chat with Global Indian. The young innovator is a Grade XII student at Amrita Vidyalayam, Puthiyakavu, Kerala. [caption id="attachment_39034" align="aligncenter" width="395"] Bhavya Sri Suravajhala[/caption] Adolescencesio At Adolescencesio, Bhavya leads a dedicated team of over 20 members, who share her passion for supporting adolescent mental health. “Daily operations involve coordinating with the team, overseeing content creation, managing outreach programs, and ensuring the platform's growth and sustainability,” informs the 17 year old, who also organizing workshops, awareness programs, besides providing resources to those in need. She feels the mental health

o share her passion for supporting adolescent mental health. “Daily operations involve coordinating with the team, overseeing content creation, managing outreach programs, and ensuring the platform's growth and sustainability,” informs the 17 year old, who also organizing workshops, awareness programs, besides providing resources to those in need.

She feels the mental health crisis among youngsters in India is a pressing issue. “With the increasing academic pressure, social expectations, and the impact of social media, many adolescents struggle to cope with these challenges,” points out the youngster, who launched Adolescencesio in 2022, with a vision to create a safe, supportive, and inclusive platform.

The journey has not been without its challenges— ranging from technical difficulties to addressing the stigma surrounding teen mental health. “However, resilience, adaptability, and the continuous support from mentors have helped me navigate these hurdles,” says Bhavya, for whom managing Adolescencesio alongside her academic responsibilities has been a challenging yet rewarding experience.

She even received letters of appreciation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi twice, in 2023 and 2024. “It was a recognition of my efforts and contributions towards adolescent mental health, which further motivated me to continue my work with even greater zeal,” smiles the teenager.

Denmark born

Born in Denmark in 2007, Bhavya’s mother Renuka Suravajhala is an Assistant Professor/Research scientist at Amrita University while father Dr Prashanth Suravajhala is a Principal Scientist, Systems Genomics at Amrita School of Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

Bhavya had her primary education at Absalons skole, Roskilde (Denmark) after which the Suravajhala family moved back to India. Both Renuka and Dr Prashanth went to Denmark to do their PhDs (2004 to 2008) and subsequently postdoc that Dr Prashanth did until 2016. Bhavya has a sibling named Nirmala, who is 11.

Science researcher, COO & more

But Adolescencesio is just one part of Bhavya’s introduction. She is a science researcher, social volunteer, a passionate explorer and the Chief Operating Officer at TeenVisor, which provides a platform for teenagers to interact with industry experts and get timely guidance/mentorship.

As a science researcher, the teenager is currently working on a study that explores how the composition of tears is affected by emotions. “This research delves into the physiological and psychological connections in human behavior, a topic that fascinates me and aligns with my passion for psychology and behavioral sciences,” she informs.

In addition to her research, Bhavya is an active social volunteer, who organises workshops, awareness programmes and providing resources to those in need, through various initiatives.

As a passionate explorer, Bhavya is someone who is always eager to learn and discover new things, whether through travel, reading, or engaging in creative endeavours. “My curiosity drives me to explore different cultures, perspectives, and ideas, enriching my understanding of the world around me,” says Bhavya, who was honoured with the Little Shakespeare Award by the Biofootprints Foundation for excellence in literature, in 2021.

Atal Innovation Mission

With a vision to ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) established Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across India.

Bhavya was selected among the Top 100 in the ATL (Atal Tinkering Laboratories) Tinkerpreneur 2022 Program and later among the Top 21 in the Atal Catalyst Program, which was a testament to the innovative ideas she brought to the table.

Through workshops, boot camps, and continuous support from experienced mentors, she learned business planning, product development, and market strategies. “These programs provided me with invaluable mentorship and resources, allowing me to refine my vision for Adolescencesio.”

Her journey with AIM started with a simple idea — to create a safe, supportive, and inclusive platform for adolescents to talk about their mental health. “I wanted Adolescencesio to be a place where teenagers could share their thoughts anonymously, get support from peers and professionals, and access holistic mental health resources. The idea was clear, but making it happen was not. The breakthrough came when I learned about AIM,” she says.

AIM’s mission to foster innovation and entrepreneurship among young Indians resonated with Bhavya’s goals for Adolescencesio. The initiative was designed to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in students.

One of the most impactful parts of the AIM experience was the mentorship. Industry experts guided Bhavya, helping to refine her vision and offering practical insights into the mental health sector.

Atal Catalyst Program

The next significant step was the Atal Catalyst program with the Indian School of Business (ISB). This program taught the teenager all the essential business skills such as making business projections, identifying target markets, and perfecting her pitch to investors.

“Under the mentorship and guidance of Vinay sir from ISB and my AIM mentors, Adolescencesio was selected among the top 21 business ideas.”

Next came The Big PItch 2.0. It gave Bhavya the opportunity to pitch Adolescencesio to investors live and Adolescencesio was selected among the top 10 ideas for sponsorship by the DLabs Incubator association at ISB. This recognition not only provided financial support but also validated the potential and impact of Adolescencesio.

COO at TeenVisor

Thanks to AIM, Bhavya connected with other young entrepreneurs who share similar passions and goals. One exciting outcome is her current role at TeenVisor as the Chief Operating Officer, where she works on innovative solutions for adolescents with other young entrepreneurs.

“Whatever I have achieved so far would not have been possible without the guidance and blessings of Amma, Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, all my gurus, mentors, teachers, my school, my school principal, my parents, and my friends. They have stood by me throughout my journey.”

More recently, Adolescencesio won the 2nd place at the International Stogofest in Dubai, marking a significant achievement on the global stage. “We were the only team from India to have won this prestigious award, marking a significant achievement on the international stage,” smiles Bhavya, beaming with pride.

As a Tinker Champ, Bhavya had the opportunity to mentor and guide other young innovators, sharing her experiences and insights to help them realize their potential. “This role has been incredibly fulfilling, as I am able to contribute to the growth and development of future leaders and change-makers.”

[caption id="attachment_39036" align="aligncenter" width="506"] The Young Innovator is also COO at Teen Visor[/caption]

Future Plans

Looking ahead, Bhavya aspires to further her studies in psychology or a related field in behavioral sciences and cognition. “My long-term goal is to expand Adolescencesio's reach and impact, while also contributing to the field of psychology through research and practical applications.”

She hopes to implement awareness programs in schools and collaborate with NGOs and government bodies to create a global community where every adolescent feels supported and empowered.

Follow the young innovator on LinkedIn.

Electroshoe to the rescue: How innovator Siddharth Mandala’s device keeps women safe

(April 23, 2022) He was 12 when the infamous Nirbhaya rape case shook the nation in 2012. People took to the streets asking for justice, and his mom was one among them. Curious about the protests and confused about the word rape, Siddharth Mandala joined his mom for one of the protests. “A 40-year-old woman came up to me, and told me not to be like rapists. I didn’t even know what rape meant back then. This was a catalyst for me. I ended up surfing the internet, asking my friends and teachers to get a grasp on this concept called rape. Understanding the gravity of the issue, I decided to do everything in my capacity to prevent sexual assault,” Siddharth tells Global Indian. This awareness led to the birth of Electroshoe, a small badge that can be clipped onto any footwear, or worn as a ring or pendant and can be easily activated during any threatening situation by pressing. “It pulls out two sharp pointers, mimicking stun gun’s mechanism, and pierces through clothing, and even skin to electrocute the attacker,” explains Siddharth who took two years to build a working prototype; and another three years to create a market-friendly

gh clothing, and even skin to electrocute the attacker,” explains Siddharth who took two years to build a working prototype; and another three years to create a market-friendly product by interviewing over 500 women across India and California.

[caption id="attachment_15377" align="aligncenter" width="478"] Siddharth Mandala[/caption]

The Hyderabad born and raised reveals Electroshoe activates an alarm sound to alert nearby police stations and sends location to family members. “It can even sense angst in a conversation, and can raise alarm,” adds the entrepreneur. With a built-in solar plate, it recharges itself when exposed to sunlight. “The idea was that it should be something that women can carry with them easily all the time,” adds the 21-year-old.

An incident caused a shift

Born in 2000 to a businessman father and a criminal lawyer mother (now a homemaker), Siddharth loved to build things as a kid. And he found time to pursue his interest in his growing years. But the Nirbhaya rape case pushed him to put his innovative side to better use, and that’s how Electroshoe came into existence. But it was an uphill climb with many obstacles in the path. He taught himself programming and coding with the help of mentors from Linkedin and social media. While his prototype failed 17 times, he also faced electrocution twice. But Siddharth never gave up.

But things started to shift when he moved to the US to pursue further studies. “I grew up reading about startups in the Silicon Valley and wanted to be a part of that environment. But I realised it was more about finance and investment,” reveals Siddharth. Around the same time, he met Zach Latta, founder of the hack club, who told him that San Francisco was the place to be for his startup. “I dropped out of my college in California and lived homeless to fundraise for Electroshoe. My parents sold their house in India to send me to college in America. Hence, I didn’t tell them. I used to go to meetups and pitches for free food, where I tried to convince as many people as possible to help me out," reveals the young innovator who didn’t find much support from investors.

[caption id="attachment_15372" align="aligncenter" width="847"] Electroshoe[/caption]

An uphill task

But that didn't deter Siddharth who tried making “shoe attachments from greeting card sound chips that make a sound when you step on them” and tried to sell them in San Francisco. But he didn't know where he could meet women. “I tried standing outside Starbucks and selling them to women. That did not work. I realised that only two types of people will listen to me: My parents, friends, and people who are interested in me. So I went on dating apps. I’d go on dates and somewhere in the conversation would show the product and sell it to them. This is where we found the first 50 users,” reveals Siddharth who returned to India and worked on his product.

Siddharth, who is pursuing a degree in international relations and computer science from Claremont Mckenna College, spent six years turning a prototype into a product “that has gone through almost 30 iterations.” It is no secret that electric shock can often cause internal damage, even leading to cardiac arrest or trauma. However, Siddharth reveals, “We spent years creating the exact amount of voltage to ampere ratio that electrocutes lethally but not enough to kill a person." But he had to face a blow ahead of its launch owing to the Covid 19 pandemic. “We were very close to partnering with Telangana police but Covid first wave kicked in,” says the boy who has branched out his personal safety company to real estate and crypto.

[caption id="attachment_15376" align="aligncenter" width="631"] Siddharth Mandala working on Electroshoe[/caption]

Innovator-turned-activist

Apart from being an innovator and entrepreneur, Siddharth is also an activist who started a nonprofit Cognizance Welfare initiative with his friend Abhishek to spread awareness about rape. “Together we filled over 50 potholes in Hyderabad, we made underprivileged children build inexpensive GPS trackers to track their younger siblings and prevent human trafficking, we even helped a California-based non-profit adopt a village called Kanigiri in Andhra Pradesh and helped them build libraries and infrastructure,” beams Siddharth with pride, adding, “We even built an education class module and spent three months travelling to different cities educating young children about sexual assault and how to detect it very early.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMck9K6D15o

Siddharth, who has come a long way, advices youngsters to “get started and build something already. Even if it’s broken, miscalculated, and consumes most of your time, do not worry. These things usually take time, however, the key is to put something out and let the world see it and show you the path.”

An innovator at heart, he has designed a hardware wallet and a mobile app that can protect people, and their funds safe in the crypto space. "When I was in California, people in the NFT and crypto space were being kidnapped and beaten to share their private crypto keys. Once shared, even police can't trace down the funds. So the wallet acts like additional security feature," concludes Siddharth who loves working out in his free time.

Follow Siddharth Mandala on Linkedin

Reading Time: 5 min

Akshaya Dinesh: The Indian-American empowering girls in tech to break barriers

(July 15, 2023) Akshaya Dinesh fell in love with coding through hackathons. The 24-year-old began her entrepreneurship journey during her time at Stanford University, and is the founder of two startups - Ladder and Spellbound. She went on leave of absence from university and gave up a paid internship at Facebook to concentrate on her entrepreneurial journey, where she felt she would make the biggest impact. Her work mainly involves empowering girls in tech, encouraging them to break stereotypes and helping them gain access to opportunities, training and resources. Growing up in New Jersey, Akshaya began dabbling in coding in early high school, more out of boredom than passion. "The summer between middle and high school, I just was super bored and had nothing to do. My parents encouraged me to try to learn a new field." Her parents had seen the opportunities out there for programmers and told Akshaya to learn Java. "I unwillingly learned Java and hated it," the Global Indian said in an interview. "The first language I learned after Java was JavaScript because I realised Java wasn't enough for me to actually build anything of use." How hackathons changed her life Her big turning point came

rel="noopener">interview. "The first language I learned after Java was JavaScript because I realised Java wasn't enough for me to actually build anything of use."

How hackathons changed her life

Her big turning point came when she discovered hackathons, which happened almost by chance. "I was a math competition for my high school math team and I saw a Major League Hackathon sticker on someone's computer," she recalled, in a podcast. She went home and looked it up, only to find "this whole world I knew nothing about." There happened to be a hackathon coming up in New Jersey and she signed up. Her mother drove her to the event and Akshaya walked in to "a sea of white and Asian boys, pretty much." Clearly, there were very few girls in tech and not much was being done to increase diversity in the space. The spectacle was so daunting she wanted to turn around and go home. To her relief, she found a table of girls and gravitated towards them. "We spent that weekend working on a website together. We were total newbies and didn't win anything, but I was translating the code to Javascript. I loved the entire idea of being able to build a product from scratch in 24 hours," she said.

[caption id="attachment_31926" align="aligncenter" width="410"] Akshaya Dinesh, the entrepreneur working to empower girls in tech[/caption]

Just like that, Akshaya was hooked. She would travel to hackathons every weekend, has attended more than 45 and won a couple of the big ones too. Enthused by her successes, Akshaya attempted to join the Robotics team at her high school. "The male programming lead was so unsupportive, he screamed at me to leave the room. I went home and cried to my mom, wondering what I had done wrong," Akshaya said. She learned later that many people had complained against the young man in question, and it spurred Akshaya to do something about it.

Akshaya decided to launch a diversity initiative within the school. She recruited a few of her peers and over the next few years, the team had organised two hackathons and coding and entrepreneurship training to girls of all ages across the country. "Over 600 girls have been taught by our curriculum," she said. Her big lesson from the experience was that anyone can be an entrepreneur, given the right resources and opportunities. "One group of sixth graders who attended our camp, came from a relatively low income area of New Jersey. They had no coding experience. By the end of our eight-week bootcamp, they had created an Android app from scratch, which they pitched in English to the entire audience." The app was meant to teach ESL students how to speak English. "It's amazing to see how quickly people can grow if they are in a supportive environment," Akshaya says.

Akshaya's own accolades earned her a spot in Stanford University's prestigious CS programme. Her involvement with She++, a social enterprise that works to empower underrepresented groups in technology, helped her land two big internships before college, one at Microsoft and the other at Bloomberg, before she began university. "It was my first time getting to experience Silicon Valley and being in huge tech companies that I had never dreamed of visiting," she explains.

At Stanford University, Akshaya taught two classes - Introduction to Programming and Data structures. She also continued her involvement with She ++, through which she had wonderful experiences. "I wanted to give back and make that experience possible for other women," she said. So, she ran the college version of the Ambassadors programme, although the summit itself was cancelled due to the pandemic. Stanford University provided her with a rich ecosystem to learn and grow, and the CS programme was the right place to be. "It caters perfectly to tech and tech entrepreneurship learning," she said.

Up the social entrepreneurship 'Ladder'

At Stanford, she began brainstorming with a friend who was doing a CS Master's. The pandemic was at its peak then and thousands of people were struggling to find replacements for cancelled internships. The duo put a simple plan in place - matching students with mentors in their field of interest and having coffee chats with them. "That became huge quickly," she said. Lots of people signed up and it was clear they had filled a growing need. This was how Ladder came to be, a community for people in tech to meet, network and help each other grow through collaboration.

"We had a huge list of internships that had come to us at Stanford University," says Akshaya. They put those in the public domain and thousands of students began picking them. She realised that people simply don't have access to the wealth of information and opportunities that she had at an Ivy League university. The Ladder newsletter was gaining traction fast - with 30,000 subscribers in the first month. "We could see there was a problem and wanted to work on it full-time to democratise access to opportunities," she said.

The young entrepreneur was at another crossroads. She had an internship at Facebook lined up, and a CS course awaiting her at Stanford. However, she had also managed to raise funding for Ladder, which gave her the financial freedom to quit her summer job. She also went on leave of absence from her course at university. She recruited a couple of students to help her and the platform was ready in the next two weeks. As her startup grew, she knew more than ever that she didn't want to work in a big-tech company any longer. Working with girls in tech allowed her to see the impact she was making. "I am an impact-oriented person and I wanted a certain kind of gratification that just isn't there at a big-tech company," she says. "With my startup, though, I can build a feature and see people using it in a week. I want a shorter feedback loop."

Challenges

"I realised that the most successful founders have an insane amount of confidence in themselves, their story and the product that they're building," Akshaya explains. As for herself, she often struggled with 'Imposter Syndrome', and to speak confidently to people. It was also intimidating to be in a male-dominated world, where female founders even struggle for funding. She tells her fellow female founder friend’s one thing: "When you enter a pitch meeting, assume that you’re a white male and you have all the same privileges," she remarks. It's part of empowering girls in tech as they struggle in a male-dominated, sometimes unwelcoming environment.

Akshaya is also the founder of Spellbound, which incorporates interactive user experiences embedded inside the body of emails. "My goal is to build an extremely successful large business and sort of prove to the world that you don't need to be a white man to accomplish the same types of success," she says.

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Young environmentalist Sanju Soman is working on building model villages

(May 15, 2022) Back in 2012, a 19-year-old student based in Thiruvananthapuram started an NGO named SARSAS (Save A Rupee Spread a Smile), which aimed at encouraging charity and social work in youngsters. Almost a decade later, environmentalist Sanju was selected as one of the young climate leaders from India by the United Nations as part of their campaign ‘We the Change’, for his exceptional work, in 2021. [caption id="attachment_16665" align="aligncenter" width="701"] Sanju Soman[/caption] Currently, Sanju is tirelessly working on several environmental issues through his NGO Sustera Foundation, which drives collective action through capacity building training, campaigns and policy dialogues to equip communities to adapt better to climate disasters and climate change. "Change should happen now and at a very fast rate," advocates Sanju, during an interview with Global Indian, adding, "During my college days, when I was working towards initiating SARSAS, I realised that there are a lot of youngsters who are ready to do social work but they are unable to do so, due to the lack of a proper platform." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sanju Soman (@sanju.changemaker) Some of the major programmes that Sanju initiated in the last ten years

initiating SARSAS, I realised that there are a lot of youngsters who are ready to do social work but they are unable to do so, due to the lack of a proper platform."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sanju Soman (@sanju.changemaker)

Some of the major programmes that Sanju initiated in the last ten years are rainwater harvesting project in Malayinkeezhu, a drought-prone region in Kerala and Trivandrum, an annual charity run to raise funds for financially needy patients suffering from critical diseases. The environmentalist also undertook a 10-day cycling expedition, covering the Western Ghats from Mumbai to Bengaluru in early 2015.

A green panther

A native of Adoor in Kerala, Sanju grew up in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as a laboratory technician. Although he was attending an excellent school, Sanju would eagerly wait for vacation time, when he would get to come to India. "Saudi back in the day had many restrictions. I was the only child, and didn't have many friends. So, I felt lonely some times. However, back in India, I had several friends. My grandparents lived in a beautiful home, and I remember as a child I would visit paddy field with my grandfather, and loved exploring the village," shares the environmentalist.

[caption id="attachment_16666" align="aligncenter" width="438"] A childhood image of Sanju[/caption]

His love for Kerala made him shift his base soon after finishing his class X in Saudi. "My last two years of schooling were awesome. I made so many friends, and was even involved the co-curricular activities at school," says Sanju, who describes himself as an above average student. After finishing school, while other students were confused whether to pursue engineering or medicine, Sanju chose to study human psychology from SN College in Thiruvananthapuram.

[caption id="attachment_16667" align="aligncenter" width="728"] Sanju during a workshop[/caption]

However, it was during his graduation years that Sanju started getting involved in various voluntary organisations. "I started SARSAS in 2013, which turned out to be one of the largest youth-led NGOs in Trivandrum. The idea was to create a space for young people where they can share their thoughts and discuss about varied social issues, without any hesitations or fear of being judged," shares the nature activist. Through their efforts, SARSAS raised around Rs 70 lakh over five years to support cancer patients, who were from vulnerable communities. The team also launched several social projects, which involved about 300 to 500 volunteers.

Creating a "model wetland village"

During his post-graduation in Climate Change and Sustainability Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Studies (TISS), the environmentalist joined the Ladakh Ecological Development Group (LEDeG) as a Research Intern in 2015, where he worked for two months. After he came back from Ladakh, Sanju joined the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and led the Habitat learning project in 2016. There he trained teachers and students of government schools near the Vembanad Lake in Kerala for a period of two years.

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A post shared by Sanju Soman (@sanju.changemaker)

"Vembanad lake is the second largest Ramsar wetland site in India and also one of the most diverse and flood-prone regions in Kerala. Realising the importance of the lake, we engaged with the villagers in teaching the students and teachers about climate change and the importance of habitat conservation with a focus on wetlands, especially the one that they live by," Sanju explains. This work made him one of the 58 Global school ambassadors from across the world, chosen by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN-SDSN) to scale up SDG education in schools.

[caption id="attachment_16669" align="aligncenter" width="751"] Women of Muhamma village working at the social innovation lab[/caption]

It was around this time that Sanju started working on the concept of making a wetland village sustainable and self-sufficient. "Muhamma is a small village which is also part of the Vembanad-Kol Ramsar wetland site. While I was attending a panchayat meeting there, I learnt about the struggles of the fishing community people residing there, especially the women. They were talking about how the increasing plastic pollution was affecting their livelihoods. So, we developed a three-year plan to make the panchayat energy efficient, plastic-free, and also to improve the livelihood of people,” the environmentalist says.

[caption id="attachment_16668" align="aligncenter" width="698"] Sanju, along with several other environmentalists. during an event[/caption]

The programme was affected due to the COVID situation in the country, and the tasks are still a work-in-progress. "There have been drastic changes like reduced plastic consumption, increase in tree cover in the area and recovery of canals,” he says. To empower the ladies in the area, Sanju also set up a social innovation lab, through which Sustera trained over 150 women from the fishing communities on cloth upcycling. He was also part of an initiative to make Muhamma the first synthetic sanitary napkin-free village.

The road ahead

Along with his friends, Sanju started a social enterprise named BHAVA in 2018 to support those women making upcycled goods to sell their products in the market. They succeeded in providing a minimum wage of Rs 5,000 per month to around 40 women through this as an additional income. The environmentalist also launched one of the largest upcycling efforts in Kerala and converted around 30,000 kg of cloth waste into usable products.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sanju Soman (@sanju.changemaker)

Simultaneously, Sanju founded Sustera Foundation, an NGO, to train youngsters in climate action, capacity building of local self-government institutions, and supporting climate entrepreneurs. The NGO has mentored over 70 entrepreneur teams over the past few years.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sanju Soman (@sanju.changemaker)

Currently residing in London with his wife Sonu, Sanju works with World Institute of Sustainable Energy. His research centers on understanding and facilitating multi-level climate governance in Kerala. “I met Sonu while we were working at the ATREE and our ideologies matched. We didn’t want an extravagant wedding. Instead, we used the money kept for the wedding to help people in need during the pandemic. We also used some money to develop a Miyawaki forest in a small piece of land,” says the environmentalist, who is also managing Sustera with its new initiatives in Kerala like creating an ecosystem for green enterprises and eco-restoration.

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