Meet the dynamic, and energetic girl, who, in her first year of graduation, had already created a story of inspiration for herself. Kavya Shankar, who is currently pursuing her engineering in East West institute of technology, is demanded to mentor a lot of youth today, sometimes, people of above her age too, are mentored by her, towards success.

Kavya, who was the youngest and the most pampered child of the family, was always given more importance when compared to her two more elder sisters. She grew in an environment where she had all the support to do whatever she needed and hence, she involved herself in all activities of her school, be it sports, singing, dancing, drawing or crafts. “As a child I was too naughty and more like a tomboy, since I was brought up that way, but, this attitude actually helped me to accept and adapt to new environments easily. I was equally creative and always involved myself in doing something. I remember my teacher who taught me how to make a simple greeting card and I used my talent to prepare a card to gift it to my father, on father’s day and he still preserves it. I was also good at sports, where I have represented my school in state level competitions” recollects Kavya.

She grew up reading stories about Dr. Abdul Kalam, Swami Vivekananda, Kalpana Chawla and more such achievers, whom she feels, are her teachers who taught her life. Kavya’s dream as a child was to fly planes. She knew she had to work really hard to become a Pilot. As she complete her 10th grade, there was a change in the institute she studied. A new environment, friends, lecturers did not make her feel isolated because of her attitude which she mentioned earlier. Here, once again, she had all the exposure to exhibit the talent and also, happened to score a distinction in her 12th grade. Now, was the point of her life, that completely changed what she wanted to do in life.

Her sister, with whom she was emotionally attached the most, happened to take a decision to kill herself because of the pressure from the society to secure a good job. In spite of scoring good marks, her sister did not get a job that was expected by her and the society, but, her family was still supportive in encouraging her. This led to ending her life, which became the toughest situation for the family. Kavya still remembers discussing with her sister a few days before she took such a hard decision, when her sister told that marks were not the only important part of life, there is more to it. She also recommended her to join platforms which can help her enhance all other skills too. Reminding herself of this again and again, Kavya decided to be a part of the platform where she could get exposed to the corporate world, learn from industry experts and also, accomplish her sister’s dream for her.

“Then came my life 360 degree life-changer called i3. This platform brought me back to normal. It gave me the confidence and courage, that I was the only one who could make my life and my parents happy. The 14 weeks of my journey in this platform gave me a new family. In these weeks I executed 14 different projects, met more than 14 terrific personalities who shared their success stories with us and I impacted more than 10,000 people in and around the city, through projects like Meal donations, Women empowerment and many more” she says. She also became the youngest True IUITE of the season, a title that is given to best performers of the season. She shares about the moment, “Everyone were curious and excited to know who were the TRUE IUITES. I was seated thinking that I could not be one, but the next moment, I heard my name as the youngest True IUITE of the season. I was just shocked and was unable to express that feeling in words. That was an exciting moment in my life that I always remember and feel proud of. I3 made me find myself, my potential and my strength”. Not only becoming strong herself, but, she is now the strength for the entire family, which is proud to have her with them. “My entire family was upset because of my sister’s death. They were broken do. i3 became the reason to not just help me, but, strengthen my entire family” she adds. Kavya did not just stop there, she continued to reach out to schools and colleges motivating the students toward positive attitudes. She has been invited to various colleges and schools as a guest speaker, chief guest and as a judge. She was also a part of the organizing team of Run4OSCAR, a fundraiser event that happened in early March, 2015. She continues to keep herself active through various activities and the list of her achievement continues. All of this began with a reason to accomplish her sister’s dream!