How did I get here?

When I tell people what I do (I’m a marketing manager for Intel’s strategic philanthropy, Education), the first reaction is usually “I didn’t know Intel did that” and followed quickly by “how did you get that job?” So I’ll start there…

To really understand how I got here, I’ll start almost a hundred years ago in the small Indian village where my grandfather was born. This a story of the son of a rural farmer who got the opportunity to go to college and study chemistry on a scholarship at a time when completing high school was a significant achievement. His education gave him the ability to get back on his feet after a 2 year bout with TB caused him to lose his business. He managed to send his sons to college, but there wasn’t enough money to send his daughters. One is his sons, my dad, studied engineering in college and set his sights on going to the United States to get a Master’s degree in engineering so that he could help the rest of his family. He borrowed some money and crossed an ocean. After completing his graduate studies, he had a successful career as an engineer and an entrepreneur. He made sure his daughters knew the value of a good education. “The one thing that no one can take from you is your education” he often told them. And he encouraged them to pursue science and technology in their studies. One of his daughters (me) went to work for Intel and I eventually made my way to the education group because I’ve seen in my own family how education and especially science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education has the power to change lives and I wanted to be part of the change. So that’s how I got here.

So what is it that we actually do in Intel Education… I could recite all the facts and figures like we’ve trained 4 million teachers around the world on helping their students with 21st century skills like digital literacy, problem solving and collaboration. Or that we invest $100 million each year on educational programs focused on improving teach and learning through the effective use of technology as well as advancing science, math and engineering and research. And you can certainly read more about all of our programs in the education section of the CSR Report. But what I think tells the story best is the people that are impacted by our programs. So that’s what I hope to share with you over the coming months…stay tuned.