My biological mother later found out that my adoptive mother had never graduated from college and my father had never graduated from high school, which led her to initially refuse to sign the adoption papers.

I realized that my childhood challenges, including my mother's struggles as a single mom and a doctor, shaped my desire to make a difference in the world.

My mother put me in a program called Job Corps after I dropped out of high school, which ultimately saved my life and set me on the right path.

Despite growing up without a mother, my childhood was happy, thanks to my father's sacrifices for my education and my grandmother's influence as a free-spirited role model.

I was born in a refugee colony in New Delhi, and my father was a freedom fighter while my mother was a fighter like all mothers.

I was in a PhD program in statistics, but I had a passion for business, which was a difficult conversation with my traditional Asian parents who valued academic careers highly.

I decided to drop out of college and trust that it would all work out OK, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

In my early 20s, I lost both my parents, which taught me the crude tools of survival, much like humanity in its adolescence.

I believe that my life has been shaped by my mother, my father, my teachers, and the environment I grew up in.