Her Story
About Kashvi
I founded Voiceipedia in high school starting in 2020, creating an organization focused on providing educational welfare and financial assistance to refugees in the Bay Area region. I've been working in the nonprofit field for 6 years now. Currently, I'm going into my junior year of college at UC Berkeley, and the experience I've gained throughout college has been really helpful, building on the leadership experience I developed in high school through leading clubs and other professional activities. One of my most notable achievements was helping launch the National Women in Workforce Conference last year as part of the UC Berkeley Women in Business Club. It was really successful, with hundreds of women coming out to learn more about career fields and business consulting. While I've handed off the organization to another member so I'm not as active in day-to-day operations, I still spend a few hours every single day checking up on the organization, assigning weekly tasks to the committee and board members across our different committees like legislative and community service, and planning our larger events months in advance through monthly meetings where we gather everyone's feedback.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kashvi
01What do you attribute your success to?
I'd say my successes are due to my family, who are really supporting, as well as at UC Berkeley where I'm surrounded by so many people that are willing to help me and guide me. I think just being a part of those two communities at home and in college have really helped me a lot.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One thing that really resonated with me was that someone told me it's not about going into a career for how much money you're going to earn or just about financial stability, but it's more about finding a place where you feel like it's home and you feel like you can exercise your passions and your interests. It's like a place where you're always continuing to learn and grow your knowledge. When you enjoy what you're doing, it's never work.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say always continue learning. That's really important. You don't stop learning after college or education, you always have to keep learning. Especially with what we've seen with AI, there's so much that people now have to adjust their jobs and their skill set to be able to work with AI instead of being replaced by it. I feel like there's always learning that you do, so you should always have an open mind to that.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say in the nonprofit field, one of the biggest challenges is finding individuals that are as passionate and as motivated to work in the field. Oftentimes it's difficult to find a supporting board and team where everyone is as passionate as you in the topics that you're passionate about, because everyone has so many different interests. So I think just building and finding more of that passion and interest is key.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Empathy is a huge value that's important to me, making sure people understand each other's feelings and are open to listening to others. Open communication and empathy are critical. I also think being very understanding of others is essential. When you work in the workforce, people have different responsibilities and different knowledge levels, so it's really important to make sure that you're understanding of each other's diversities and kind of embracing them and helping others out when they need help.
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