As part of the Morning Lazziness series about empowering women who encourage and do incredible things with their ideas in society, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gitanjali Rao.
Author of “A Young Innovator’s Guide to Planning for Success”, Gitanjali Rao is an inventor, aspiring scientist, speaker, and active worldwide promoter for STEM. She was recognized as America’s Top Young Scientist and received a President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA) from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for her patented invention of a lead contamination detection tool. Gitanjali is also the inventor of Epione, a device for early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction through genetic engineering, and Kindly, an anti-cyberbullying service that uses AI and Natural Language processing.
She was honored in Forbes’s “30 Under 30 in Science” in 2019 and as TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and “Kid of the Year” for her innovations and STEM workshops she conducts globally, which has inspired over 75,000 students across six continents and forty-five countries in the last three years.
In 2021, she was appointed a UNICEF Youth Advocate because of her work in using science to solve social problems such as cyberbullying and developing solutions for environmental protection. She recently received a Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for her selfless service for the Kakuma refugee camp students in Kenya. She will be attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology starting in fall 2023.
Here’s what we found out about Gitanjali’s daily routine, followed by an exclusive Q+A.
1. Can you share the story behind your journey as an entrepreneur and what inspired you to start your own business?
I started the Vervient Foundation with the goal of reaching as many students as possible when trying to achieve my mission of establishing a K-12 innovation curriculum. What started out as a journey to just work with a few students turned into a global movement of young innovators. I realized how important innovation and problem solving is, especially inside of a classroom environment, so I soon made it my goal to make it normalized across the world.
2. What challenges have you faced as a woman in the business world, and how have you overcome them?
It’s very difficult to be taken seriously in the field of innovation and education not just as a woman, but also as a young South Asian woman. One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced is a lack of support and understanding of what my mission is, specifically hatred towards the bigger goal and skepticism about reaching it. My biggest way to overcome it is by identifying those whose opinions do matter vs. those who don’t. It’s much easier said than done but some people will always look down upon you but there will be the select few that will act as your biggest mentors and role models.
3. How do you balance your professional and personal life as an entrepreneur?
As a college sophomore at MIT, I find myself caught up in managing school, my workshops, my social life, and my other extracurriculars. A tip that I keep in mind is that everything I’m doing is something I want to be doing and not necessarily something I need to be doing. This makes managing my time a lot easier. I’ve also realized the importance of prioritization and commitment. It’s been a goal of mine this year to stick to commitments and realize what is important in the grand scheme of things.
4. What strategies have you found most effective for networking and building connections in your industry?
Since I mainly work with educators, students, and executives of organizations- I’ve realized that we need to make a stronger effort to connect all three groups. The best solutions and the way that we’re going to make the best strides forward in innovation is by taking a multi-disciplinary approach towards problem solving. This means introducing more internships for middle and high school students, more hands-on learning and partnerships with organizations in the classroom, etc.
7. In what ways do you prioritize diversity and inclusion within your company or startup?
I make an effort to work with students from all backgrounds especially because every student learns differently. For example, a student from a girls school in Afghanistan learns very different from a young boy in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya who learns differently from a high schooler in NYC. I believe that every student has a passion that needs to be fostered and everyone should play their part when it comes to innovating.
8. How do you stay motivated and resilient during tough times in your business?
I’ve grown up in a household that has pushed this idea of “if you don’t like the way something is, fix it.” I have always gone out of my way to “fix it” no matter what the situation may be. At the end of the day, I try to look at the bigger picture to realize that if I’m not going to take a stand and focus on the importance of innovation in today’s education system, nobody else is.
9. What advice would you give to other aspiring women entrepreneurs who are just starting out?
I believe I am where I am because of the risks that I took along the way. If I had any piece of advice to give aspiring women entrepreneurs and changemakers, it would be to take the risk regardless of how big or small the reward is. It’s important to fail and try again because failing forward alows us to grow as individuals.
10. What is one quote you live by that has guided you in your entrepreneurial journey?
My favorite quote is an Albert Einstein quote and it’s “It’s not that I’m smart, it’s just that I stay with the problem longer.” I find myself repeating this quote to students when I work with them.
11. Can you share a memorable success or milestone that you’ve achieved in your entrepreneurial career?
A memorable milestone was reaching about 90k students that I’ve had the opportunity to work with across 6 different continents in the past 6 months. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience of creating the Vervient Foundation and spreading the importance of innovation, it’s that everyone has the drive to solve problems that are personal to them- it’s just about fostering their ideas and bringing their dreams to life.
