I’ll take some half&half

Twelve, is when I first moved to the United States where everything seemed foreign, exciting, and scary. I left my community of friends and extended family in India - a place where I ran through neighbors homes freely playing tag - the safest place in the world. My community suddenly shrunk to just my immediate family when we emigrated to the US. I looked to them for guidance and advice, but how could they? Being in a new land, we each had to make sense of it ourselves. It settled on my mind that I had to rely on myself if I wanted to thrive in my new home. Not knowing English? I excelled and quickly graduated out of my ESL program. No high school or college guidance? Landing in a community college due parental misadvise, I navigated my way into a reputable state school and graduated with a degree in Computer Science, equipped to take on the modern technological world. No career guidance? Working as a software engineer, in both the startup and corporate worlds gave me immeasurable experience that has led me to found my own biotechnology company. Twenty-six year old me doesn’t blame my immigrant family. With love, they did what they could. This community, not knowing how to navigate this country, has been the greatest blessing to me - it has forced me to interface with the realities of life from a young age, and as Robert Frost says, “that has made all the difference”.