Gayathri is 21 years old and from Chennai. She loves classical dancing along with making arts and crafts. A lover of both the arts and sciences, Gayathri also has a knack for sales. When C2C India Representative Fatima Colaco visited Gayathri at the Centre for Social Service (CSS) in Andhra Pradash, Gayathri showed her the wares sold at their local house stitching and sewing center. With a natural flair for salesmanship, Gayathri convinced Fatima to purchase several kurtas.
Gayathri’s journey to CSS happened after several traumatic events in her life. Her parents died when she was young, so she moved to Hyderabad with her two older sisters. She faced a lot of personal problems while living in the homes of her relatives, so much that she didn’t study for a year.
Fortunately, with the help of her uncle, she joined CSS, an organization that provides shelter, schooling, and meals. Gayathri enrolled in 6th standard (6th grade) at CSS, but she struggled to speak. Her past experiences had rendered her quite soft-spoken. In addition, she struggled with Telegu a language she was not fluent in. As time passed, some of the girls in her class helped her learn Telegu and raise her grades.
CSS partners with C2C and offers sponsorships for the girls. Gayathri was in the 10th standard when she began to receive a C2C sponsorship. At the time, she didn’t fully grasp who was sponsoring her, but it helped her to not worry about her economic situation and instead focus fully on her studies.
The C2C sponsorship continued into university when Gayathri enrolled in Siddhartha Institute of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad. With her tuition and living expenses paid for, Gayathri could focus solely on her challenging subjects, like Physics. Gayathri earned her Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering.
Only a month ago, Gayathri started her new job at Highradius, a multinational firm with headquarters in Boston. Gayathri works at their offices in Hyderabad where she is currently completing her training before she starts working in coding in SQL programming language. She knows she is one of the younger members hired on, but fortunately, everyone has been kind and supportive as she adjusts to her new working environment.
Gayathri has dreams to further her education and study in the U.S. to earn a Master’s degree in Digital Signal Processing. But for now, Gayathri is thrilled to start in her new job. She looks back at her experience at CSS and C2C and she is eternally grateful. She thanks each and every person who helped her along the way. She hopes to soon return to CSS. She has plans to return to her former school in order to show the young girls that they can achieve great things if they work hard and help each other.