What does it take to turn lived experiences into systemic change?
For me, it means:
Building community-led movements
Holding power accountable
Mentoring young voices
Today, every effort I make takes me back to where it all began: to the feeling of being unheard.
When you ask kids about their dreams, they say magical things—to fly, to bring dinosaurs back, to make chocolate rain. When I was a child, I dreamed of drinking coffee in a steel glass instead of a coconut shell. I dreamed of a toilet in my school so I wouldn’t miss classes.
I grew up in a small village in Karnataka, raised by a single mother in a Dalit household. Life taught me early what it meant to be invisible. One day, a woman politician from my community visited my school. She walked in with confidence and spoke without fear. That day, I wrote in my book: “One day, I will become the Chief Minister of Karnataka.”
Years later, that note has unfolded into a relentless pursuit of change—from leading campaigns that changed policies to building communities that refuse to accept inhuman circumstances. Today, I see young faces still dreaming of steel glasses and school toilets. I want them to know that they deserve change. Because the path I walked, from a small village to the frontlines of change, is proof that even the smallest dreams can spark revolutions.
My Journey