Priyal Upadhyaya

I absolutely attribute my success to my family, because this job is so challenging in all ways. I don't just mean family in terms of blood relations, but creating your own people, your own relationships. It can be your friends, your community, people you work with, or your family. Having those people right by you, the people who believe in you, the people who support you - I think everything that I'm able to achieve is because of the people who have supported me in this journey. Specifically for me, I've just been lucky to have an amazing family. But that can be anybody for you. Finding your own family who supports you is what makes the difference.

The best career advice I've ever received is something so simple if you listen to it, but something I just cannot forget: showing up. Every day showing up without fail, and how just showing up makes a lot of difference in people's lives, especially the communities that we work with. It's not just something we do for them, but it's also hard for people like us, because we're working with underprivileged communities every day. Imagine, it's hard on you physically, emotionally, mentally, financially. So just showing up, and how much difference can just that make in the community's life and our own life as well.

I would say to very, very strongly believe in yourself. In our sector, there are a lot of women, and one thing that we always encounter is, 'Oh, you are a woman, so you don't have to pay your bills so you can work in a nonprofit.' This is just a hobby, not something you can make a career out of. It means that somebody else is financially sponsoring you, or something like that. This takes away a lot of our joy and a lot of our credit. And that's not just true if you come from an underserved community - that's true everywhere. Even if you are a privileged woman, you would still listen to it. So not being influenced by it, and just believing in your purpose, and just keeping your eyes on your North Star, is the one advice that I would like to give to all the women around me.

I think opportunities are immense. Even when I moved to the US, I've been grateful to have some amazing professional partners who have valued the diversity and the perspectives that I bring from a global point of view. I think there's a lot of opportunity for collaboration at the global level, because when people from different backgrounds and contexts come together, it brings a lot of space for creativity and innovation. In terms of challenges, I feel very strongly about two things. First is having the right talent, because since people are not paid well enough often in nonprofits, it's very hard to get the right people to do the job. Just because it's a nonprofit doesn't mean that you don't want to organize better, function better, or have your impact better. So it's very difficult to find that balance, and it's only amplifying. Talent acquisition is one of the biggest challenges. And how do we fairly compensate the people that work so hard for the betterment of all the community and for the greater good? Fair compensation is a very, very big challenge.

I think the most precious value to me is excellence. Thriving for excellence in whatever you are doing - you might be doing something really small, something really big, it doesn't matter. But whatever you take up, be it professionally or personally, trying to make the most of it. Trying to achieve excellent results out of it. Yes, there will be failures, and yes, nothing is 100%, but just having the intensity to thrive, to achieve excellence with the people you work with or your community together, is something that I value the most. When we thrive for excellence, then that is when I think the greatest impact is achieved.