Today we’d like to introduce you to Sejal Desai.
Hi Sejal, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I am passionate about two places – Mumbai (my birthplace and where I spent 19 years from age 8-27) and Dallas (my adopted home where I have now lived for 24 years and counting). I am an only child but I was surrounded by cousins and extended family members. My grandmothers lived with us and they had a deep influence on my life. My maternal grandmother is still alive at 110 years and she continues to inspire us. My dream was to immerse myself in dance. I enjoyed learning and performing ballet and Indian classical and folk dance genres. I also found immense joy through the service of others and volunteerism became an important part of my being.
My career pursuits ended up taking me to the fields of accounting, consulting, M&A, Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Non-Profit. I loved experimenting and reinventing myself. Using my skills across multiple sectors allowed me to build my network well, there was never a dull time!
I eventually developed two parallel paths for myself – my day job and my volunteer work. I come from a family of strong women, well-educated but also who always served the community in their own way. They also took exceptional care of their family and loved ones – especially our elders. All of this helped instill in me a strong service mindset. Over a decade ago, when I was turning 40, I experienced my mid-life clarity moment. I felt an urgency to fully embrace my passions. I started my own social enterprise focused on volunteerism and voluntourism between US and India and then from that stemmed an opportunity to engage with the Communities Foundation of Texas here locally. After almost a decade at the Communities Foundation where I managed an initiative called CFT For Business, I had the opportunity to engage with the education and international development sector. I now serve as the Executive Director of Akanksha Education Fund where we seek to transform the lives of children from low-income communities in India by offering them a holistic education that expands their opportunities and allows them to maximize their potential.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As a South Asian immigrant to the US pursuing career paths traditionally reserved for men or Caucasian women, there were definitely challenges to overcome. From building one’s credibility, re-educating oneself, creating a network of supporters, trying to be seen for who I am, and more.
A few days after we moved to Dallas, our apartment burned down, and our renter’s insurance appointment was scheduled for later that same day. While that was a tough start, we realized that life could only go up from there. And it did….my husband and I were blessed to have found a supportive community at our different universities and we actively invested in these people and institutions. Now after having lived here for 24 years and benefitted from the community and its people, it’s our turn to give back and contribute to the community that embraced us so openly.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
At Akanksha (means to Aspire), we strive to provide children from low-income communities with the knowledge, skills, and values so they can lead empowered lives and maximize their potential. Akanksha runs a network of 27 innovative schools in partnership with local municipal corporations (public-private partnership schools) to provide free high-quality education to children from low-income communities in Pune, Mumbai & Nagpur. We currently serve 12,000 + students and 4,000 alumni. Our work impacts 50,000 family members and a total of 200,000 community members.
Here is what sets us apart –
Akanksha provides a holistic learning experience that encompasses academic learning using digital tools, and socio-emotional well-being, and helps every child achieve their full potential.
Akanksha enrolls students in kindergarten and tracks them until the time they graduate college and begin to work – nurturing a 20-year partnership with the student and family.
Our schools are free to attend with a lottery-based admission process to ensure equitable access to an Akanksha education for ALL children irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds.
We receive 2.1 times the number of applications every year versus the number of seats available.
95% of our alumni continue college post their graduation from Akanksha schools versus the State average of 68%. (Source: Educational Statistics at a Glance, MHRD, Government of India, 2018)
Akanksha’s parent engagement program involves the parents as partners in the learning journey of their children. Parents are part of the School Management Committee (SMC) and wholeheartedly participate in the functioning of the school.
Key Statistics:
100% of our student’s complete high school
96% enroll in higher education
74% of our alumni are employed full time
Top industries employing our students include banking, finance and accounting, hospitality, IT/telecom, NGO sector
80% of working alumni are continuing higher education – graduate or postgraduate studies
12 students are studying in undergraduate colleges in US on full-ride scholarships
Our work allows us to support may of the UN’s Sustainable Development goals (No poverty, good health and well-being, Quality education, and Gender equality) and we want to partner with individuals, foundations, and businesses who are aligned with this mission.
We are interested in working with individuals, foundations, and businesses that want to make a difference in the world. www.akankshafund.org for more.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I have been blessed to have had many people that informally served as mentors or guides to me during my career. These took the forms of individuals, speakers, or books. Over the years through these learnings and my own experiences, I formed the following mantras that I follow and share with mentees:
-Spend most of your day doing something you are passionate about
-Define success for yourself. Don’t let others define success for you.
-Be grateful at every stage in your life
-Hope for some early failures in your life – it will teach you a lot.
-Count your wealth in terms of the number of meaningful relationships you have built, not money in the bank.
-If you are lucky, pay it forward.
In terms of what has worked for me, I would say look for people and places where you can learn something. It does not have to be in your own career or at your own company of industry. It does not even have to be from someone older and more experienced. If you want to learn and grow – the signs are everywhere!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.akankshafund.org
