The Journey

Growing up in rural Michigan, near a cornfield where my family didn't even lock the doors, my world was small but safe. Everything changed at 13 when I traveled to Peru with The Children's Environment Trust. For the first time, I witnessed artisan work and poverty. My sense of possibilities expanded exponentially. "That was where it all began," I often say. "I didn't want to return to the life I had before."

My father was an entrepreneur who, alongside my mother, built a tool and die manufacturing company from the ground up to nearly 120 employees—all while working full-time jobs. Watching their hustle planted seeds I wouldn't fully understand until decades later. I became the first person in my family to attend college, earning my degree from the University of Michigan in Anthropology and International Studies, with deep dives into economics, gender studies, and Asian studies.

At 21, I received a research grant to study how economic empowerment transforms women's lives in India. I interned with Dastkar, visited tailoring centers across the country, and fell in love—with the textile process and with the women I met. I heard stories that changed me forever: widows cast out by their in-laws, survivors of domestic violence ostracized by their communities, women divorced for having daughters instead of sons. I returned to India a second time, interning at Amnesty International, deepening my understanding of the intersection between human rights and economic empowerment.

Before WORK+SHELTER scaled, I built a parallel career inside fast-moving companies. At Translations.com I managed a $1.8M/year book including Hilton and Kayak; at Google I ran $2.4M in digital ad programs for clients like Best Buy and Target; at Mojiva I pitched $1M+ in mobile marketing per month for brands like MillerCoors and Etsy; and at Publicis/VivaKi I served as Associate Director of Offshore Strategy & Operations, expanding BPO usage by 200% and saving nearly half a million dollars in a single quarter. That corporate range—revenue ownership, cross-border operations, vendor strategy—became the operating spine I now apply to mission-driven work.

Over a simple cup of chai, I met Kavita Sabharwal—a widow and single mother who knew firsthand the hardships facing women in Indian society. Together, we envisioned a space where women in dire circumstances could gain meaningful employment, learn new skills, and become financially independent. In October 2011, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, I founded WORK+SHELTER in north Delhi. 14+ years later, we've trained 200+ women, currently employ 45+, generated $773K in trailing twelve-month revenue, and delivered 500+ B2B orders for clients including Levi's and Clay—building what I call "The Impact Factory," where social good meets world-class manufacturing.

Sustaining a profitable U.S.–India business takes more than mission. I've spent the last decade building the operating muscle behind it: deploying a custom-trained AI model that cut U.S. client management hours by 80%; designing output-driven compensation models; engineering a global legal structure for cross-border compliance; and overseeing P&Ls, tax filings, and trade liabilities across two countries. Side engagements—from auditing financial irregularities for a Côte d'Ivoire nonprofit to building financial systems for a Web3 startup—have stretched the toolkit further.

Today, I split my time between Chicago and Delhi, traveling nearly 50% of the year. I'm currently pursuing an Executive MBA at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management (Class 146)—and was honored with the Kellogg Dean's Leadership Award in 2026. What's next? I'm open. Drawn to the intersection of emerging technology, institutional trust, and public benefit, I'm exploring roles and ventures where founder-level ownership, AI fluency, and global operating experience can help turn ambitious strategies into real-world impact.