My Journey

Here are some of the twists and turns that have brought me to where I am today :)

Age 5

My First "Book"

The Orphant Girl (yes, Orphant -- spellings were never my strong suit) was my first "book", inspired by time I had spent at an orphanage. Even though TOG never went beyond the original handwritten version, it made me want to be a writer :)

Age 10

Clothes for Female Athletes

My brothers and I played football almost everyday, but I never had girls' jerseys. So when Reebok had a competition to produce fresh designs, I created some of South Asia's first football jerseys for women. And won my first national award in the process :)

Age 15

Bestselling Novel, National Writing Award

My first novel was published after almost 100 rejections. The first edition sold out in 45 minutes. While ONE featured on local bestseller lists, my autobiographical essay won a national award :)

Age 16

Finding My Motivation

I built a lot at 16 - my high school's newspaper, a charity, and even a language conservation drive. I won a National Linguistics Championship and became Head Girl of my school. But the best thing then was the love I was gifted with, from people who came to my book signings and wrote letters to me. They will forever be my biggest motivation

Age 17

School -> College

I thought I'd be a full-time writer, but my parents convinced me that college was a good idea. I was fortunate to be accepted into a few good schools, and decided on Princeton because the pumpkin carving photos on their website made it look like fun

Age 18

Archery

I went to my first archery nationals when I turned 18. Over my archery career as an athlete, and then President / Coach of Princeton's team, I made some lifelong friendships, had a field lovingly referred to as "Sekhsaria Fields", and won a few medals :)

Age 19

Journalism

Nobody was surprised when I joined The Daily Princetonian's staff on my first day at Princeton. At 19, I became News Editor, and was recognized by the New Jersey Press Foundation for my coverage of campus suicides and women's history

Age 20

Lumhaa

In college, people around me were unexpectedly sad and disconnected. I wanted to change that. When my psychology thesis showed that even 5 minutes with "memory jars" made people happy, I created Lumhaa. It's since scaled to 194 countries!

Age 21

College -> Wall Street

I graduated from Princeton with highest honors and 4 degrees (psychology, finance, entrepreneurship, and European Culture). I was still working on Lumhaa, but spent my days on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs. The energy there is unmatched :)

Age 23

Exited startup

After Goldman, I co-founded and was CEO of a cognitive test-based set of companies. I exited those at 23, and went back home for a vacation. When I saw the newly unleashed entrepreneurial energy in India, I knew I wanted back in :)

Now

Boosting Happiness + Access

I now spend most of my time working on things that can improve our quality of life. Of course Lumhaa is the biggest part of that, but I also love helping with access (e.g., helping students from rural India get PhDs). Separately, Bollywood and combat for life :)