“I am funding my sister’s education in Delhi. I am providing financial support to my father’s business. This couldn’t have happened without YWI”, – Says Nishita.
Nishita was born and brought up in Ludhiana, Punjab. Education was an afterthought in her extended family – for both boys and girls. The usual trend was for boys to start doing business at the age of 20 and for girls to get married. Her father though had other ideas and wanted Nishita to get a good education and be independent. When in middle school, her father’s business failed. Nishita knew she had to become independent. She started taking tuitions to fund her education in Class X. After Class XII, Nishita wanted to study in a private college, but her family’s financial condition didn’t allow this. She travelled to Delhi to join a college but was called back mid trip by her father. She therefore joined a college in Ludhiana itself. To fund her education, Nishita took tuitions from 6AM, attended a full day of college and then took tuitions again in the evening – there was no time to enjoy teenage or college life.
Nishita stuck to her ambitions. After being offered a place in the YWI initiative, Nishita found it hard to convince her father to let her join this program in a new city. No one from her family had done so. She succeeded and joined. “My biggest takeaways from the YWI boot were learning to network and speak up. There is no harm in asking and reaching out – at worst, I will be turned down. But if I don’t ask, I won’t know!”, says Nishita. She is currently interning with BlackRock, and she immediately started saving from her stipend. She knew she needed to support her family.
“My sister just started her undergrad in Delhi and I am sponsoring her education. Without my savings from the internship, she would not have been able to join. And because of what I have done, my family gained confidence to send my younger sister to Delhi. I am even helping my father restart his business!”, proudly says Nishita. The journey for this fighter from Ludhiana has just begun.