Tell us a little about yourself – your early days, where you were born, your schooling, college, your major, when you moved to the US, how you landed at your current role.

I was born in the US in Boston, Massachusetts, but spent my younger years growing up with my grandparents in Mysore, India. My grandfather at the time was Vice Chancellor of Mysore University so I grew up on that campus before returning to the US to start my K-12 schooling in Burlington, Massachusetts. I went on to Brown University and majored in Modern American History, and joined Teach for America (TFA) right after graduation. I was placed in Miami Dade County Public Schools, in an elementary school in the Little Haiti community. It was there that I discovered my passion for education, in particular a calling for serving in low income communities that had been denied educational opportunities in this country.

After completing my commitment with TFA, I went to Stanford for my MA in Education Policy, Organizational Studies and Leadership. I hoped to leverage that degree to deepen my impact in urban education and after graduation, I was awarded a fellowship from Building Excellent Schools to design, found, and lead my own charter school focused on serving a traditionally underserved community. I used that fellowship to found Cornerstone Academy, a TK-8 charter school serving 525 students in the Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose. I led that school as principal and Executive Director for 6 years before undergoing a nonprofit merger with Alpha Public Schools in 2016 and having that school join the Alpha network. In 2021, I took over as CEO of Alpha Public Schools and remain in that role to this day, leading an organization of 4 schools in East San Jose, serving nearly 2000 students across grades TK-12. We serve a community that is largely Latinx and Vietnamese, with many students who will be the first in their families to attend college.

Have you drawn professional inspiration from others? Who/what inspired you to pursue your current career and why?

My grandfather inspired me to pursue the field of education and be of service to others in that field. He was a professor and spent his life building engineering programs at the university level in India and was well respected for his leadership throughout his career. My mom still hears stories from former students he inspired and supported. I aim to have that same impact on my students – to be that person that inspired them to choose a particular career path or direction in life. 

How do you balance career, personal life and passions? Is there such a thing as balance?

I work very hard to integrate my passions into my life and make time for them. This includes being intentional with my schedule and calendar and finding ways to do my work that makes time for the things I care about. Right now, I love coaching my son’s basketball and soccer teams and so I build that into my calendar and protect that time fiercely. It does mean some early mornings working and some late night meetings, but the tradeoff is weekend time with him doing something I love. I’ve also come to accept that life has different seasons and you will lean into different passions in different seasons. Balance in a traditional sense is probably not realistic, but I think you can work to achieve a life that reflects your priorities.

What has been one of your biggest challenges as a leader?  

I work in education, specifically in charter schools and the reform space, which is a highly political arena, so I am always managing external forces and their impact on the work. We are constantly fighting funding challenges, misguided policy, external attacks on our work, bureaucracy and red tape, and people who quite frankly don’t understand what we do and mischaracterize it. I have to keep my focus on our mission and our students, while also keeping my head up and navigating these murky political waters, which is an ever present challenge in my role. In addition to being our organization’s Chief Executive, I am also its Chief Storyteller because I have found that if I don’t spend time telling our story and lifting up all the good work our teachers, staff, and students are doing, other people will co-opt that narrative for their own gain.

What are the most important qualities you look for in people? Why?

Professionally, I love to work with people who are humble, hungry for development and growth, and always believe there is more to learn. When you build a team with folks like that, the synergy you can create is amazing because egos are left at the door and the mission, vision, and core purpose really becomes central. Personally, I love being around people I can learn from and who push my thinking. I appreciate vulnerability in my relationships. So often, we only share the best of ourselves with others, but the deep connections are formed by sharing our war stories and offering insight into those moments when we were not at our best. 

What advice would you give your 25-year-old self? What advice would you give to the next generation of young women entering the workforce?

You don’t have to have everything done perfectly in order to be a success, advance to the next level, or be worthy of praise. Women are so much harder on ourselves than men. We often believe we have to have all the qualifications to apply to a job or we have the perfect product/solution to be worthy of attention, but the reality is that isn’t true. My younger self had extremely high expectations for my work and while I know that helped me achieve success in many ways, it also held me back. 

Rapid Fire:

Yoga & Chai or Zumba & Iced Tea?  Neither – Strength training and protein shakes.

If you were to write an autobiography, what would you name it? Holding the Universe Together

What’s one item you can’t live without? Chapstick

What does Neythri mean to you? 

I appreciate belonging to a community of like minded women with shared experiences and aspirations who value supporting and lifting each other up.