A small-town girl from Jamshedpur, Sneha Biswas never would have imagined how far she would go. From studying in her room with her entire family to lecturing at Harvard University and opening her own start-up. This is the story of how Sneha Biswas did it all.
Sneha Biswas – And How She Did It: Her Story
It all started in a small 2-room house in Jamshedpur. With one room being taken up by her dad’s colleague Sneha and her family had just the one room to themselves. The whole family slept ate and lived in that one room.
While many would see it as a lack of privacy or breathing room, Sneha knew it to be the default. Looking back even now, she remembers only how that house brought her family so close together.
“The small house made us feel close-knit. We always communicated, whether we were happy or sad.”
Sneha and her sister were both toppers throughout school owing it all to the value their parents placed on education. When asked if the entire family living in that small room ever caused distraction or lack of focus, Sneha revealed that there could never have been any distraction when the entire focus of her family was on their education.
From a very young age her mother would send her to various different schools and events to participate in elocution and debate competitions. She wanted her to be exposed to everything so Sneha would be confident and ready for whatever the world threw at her later on.
Her father was more of the educator but Sneha says her mother’s stubbornness to have an all round development is what got her a little further in life.
“When you go to places like IIT it’s your communication skills and the confidence that sets you apart”
All those competitions and events really helped her with the confidence she needed to set herself apart. Being seen by students and teachers, forming connections are important things you don’t just learn from a textbook.
From IIT Kharagpur, Sneha would go on to study and then lecture at Harvard University while being a student. While those took her to higher places she always remembered her father’s lessons on being grateful and giving back.
Today she runs her start up that focusses on the gaps in the education sector and helps so many kids achieve what she did herself. She has long since moved to a much bigger house but her family still eats, sleeps and hangs out in the same room, the running joke in her family is:
“It doesn’t matter how big the house is, we’re all going to be living in the same room anyway.”
Just as she says “Spaces are not defined by square feet but by the measure of happiness it can bring”. Her story is a brilliant example of the power education holds. It just goes to show that no matter where you come from, through hard work, determination and the love and support of your family, you can go anywhere in life.
Rushita Sheth
Mansi Zaveri
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