Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Jyothi Reddy : A Dream On Story



We do surrender at those breaking points where there is hardly any chance to move ahead. Do we? Not everyone. Especially when someone realises that every setback is here to guide us, teach us and take us forward. This has been proved by Mrs. Jyothi Reddy with her amazing journey from a field laborer to the CEO of Key Software Solutions in the US. This is the story of Dream On...a spirit to take every negativity as a challenge......
Read on..

Jyothi was born in 1970 and was the youngest among the five girl children in a poor family in India. Due to her family’s financial situation, she was admitted into a welfare orphanage. To get the admission, she had to become a motherless child. It was a heart breaking situation for Jyothi as she could not see her mother during the days when she was in the orphanage. There was nobody to share her happiness and sorrow. Instead of getting down with the situation, Jyothi developed a strong will to make her future bright. She promised herself to work towards creating a better life for her. She learned the way of dealing with life in a hard and practical manner. The hardship taught her the value of life and made her think beyond the situation. Every hardship is there to teach you. Hardships and setbacks are little nudges from the ALMIGHTY for you to Dream On.

She attended a government school while at the orphanage and she also took vocational course while residing in the superintendent's house. Jyothi used to help her superintendent with their household work. She realized that to lead a beautiful life, she should get a decent job first. She started thinking for the ways to get into a job. The moment one focusses the mind on the solution, the situations start supporting the solution.

However, there was more on the way for her. She had to suddenly get married at 16 to her cousin,  who was 10 years elder to her - instead of working on to make her dreams come true. After having 2 children, the situation became even worse as she had to work in the fields for a daily wage of Rs. 5 to take care of her children. These situations made her even stronger to stand and fight for life. This is what dreamers are made of. They become strong with every setback. They start to Dream On.


Then came an opportunity in the form of NYK (Nehru Yuva Kendra), a Central Government scheme which sought to create awareness among the youth. She took the opportunity and became a NYK Volunteer and later started teaching. But the money she was making was not sufficient to run the family. She used to stitch petticoats at night to make more money. 

She also learned typewriting. Apart from her bad financial situation, she also had to fight with family and society to do what she wanted to do. She studied and obtained a BA from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University in 1994 and studied for a postgraduate degree from the Kakatiya University on weekends and obtained it in 1997. This made her get a special teacher job for a salary of Rs. 398 per month. She used to travel for two hours to reach her school. She utilized this time to sell sarees to her co-passengers which gave her some extra income. Her struggle for life made her become conscious about the time and it showed her the ways to utilize the time available creatively.

“In 1992, I got an 18-month job as a special teacher at Ameenpet, 70 km from Warangal. The journey would cost me more than my salary. I used to sell sarees in the train every day to earn the extra money.” she says.

Sweet Memories

Her job was regularized and she started making decent money. But she did not want to settle for anything, as her passion to reach a higher level always was haunting her to find the next best. A relative's visit from the US made her think about going to the land of dreams, United States. She studied computer courses to get the eligibility to work in the US. She went to US by leaving her two daughters in a missionary hostel.

It was not an easy journey for her to settle in the US. She had to work in a gas station, work as a babysitter, load/unload goods and work at a video shop for her survival. She then joined a company called CS America as a recruiter with an aid of a close relative. Later she got another offer from a different company, but it did not stay and she had to go back to babysitting and gas station for survival. That was the beginning of her entrepreneurial dreams. 

“My next step was to learn software from VCL Computers in Hyderabad. I took a long leave from the office, got my passport and H1 visa ready and in 2000 I went to the US, where my husband’s cousin was. I took a job in a shop earning $60 for a 12-hour job and stayed as a paying guest with a Gujarati family,” she says.

She wanted to start her own business and was looking for the suitable line of business to start.

When she visited Mexico for stamping, she realized that she could start a consulting company as she was familiar with the paperwork involved with the Visa Processing. With her savings of $40000, she opened an office in Phoenix in 2011. She has been successfully running her company KEYSS since then.
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Her two daughters moved to US and completed their education in the American schools.

Her practical experiences with a struggling life made her think about doing her part in helping the people in need. Whenever she visits India, she goes to old age homes, orphanages and provides a helping hand to them. She also visits educational institutes to inspire and empower the future generations.

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Today, her next dream to see that every Orphan in India to get his/her own Identity, recognition and enjoy equal opportunity. Towards reaching that goal, she has been interacting and sensitizing various Government agencies, policy makers, politicians as well as Non-Government Organizations.

Through such mission, she wants to help and make all young orphans between the age group of 18 - 35 to get financial independence. Using Vocational Training, she intends to train them and enable them become self confident and self-reliant and improve their employability.

That is what people who find their mission in life, do. They convert their passion to their mission, and no mission is complete which does not elevate the lives of others around them. That's one of the key message of Dream On.

Jyothi is also working on her vision which empowers the rural women with skills and makes them self-sufficient.
This is how a girl from a village created her own destiny and went to the top of the world and started helping many.

And as she says:
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Are you ready to Dream On in life, and get set to lead an extraordinary life? Then read this epic story of a dreamer, catch hold of the book.. Dream On.

Like it? Share it then. You may make someone's day or life.

Cheers



Manoj Arora
Stay happy.... always !! 

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