Her Story
About Rashmi
Rashmi Shinde is currently a second-year MBA student at Duke University. Prior to business school, she studied textile engineering and worked for three years in the social impact sector with a non-profit dedicated to empowering young girls in rural India through education. She then served as the lead program manager at a group of four schools, expanding her impact from supporting 60 girls to approximately 1,900 children by implementing educational reforms and improving extracurricular facilities. Driven by a childhood dream, Shinde pursued pageantry full-time starting in 2023 after years of trying for the national title, ultimately winning Miss India International in 2024 and representing India among 71 countries at the Miss International competition in Japan. She chose to attend Duke to gain business acumen to scale her impact, and during her first year she interned with the VC firm Duke Capital Partners. Shinde values doing work from a place of love, maintaining integrity, and having the courage to take the first step even when life does not go as planned.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rashmi
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It always seems impossible under a ton of people around you think. All you need is that one person to believe in yourself, and that person has to be you. Focus on doing what you love, and where your heart's really at, and everything else will just take care of itself. The fire within you has to burn brighter than the fire around you.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Challenges include balancing two diametrically opposite fields like engineering and pageantry, and coming to business school without a finance background while surrounded by experts with 5+ years experience. This led to feeling overwhelmed at times but also grateful to learn from scratch at age 27-28 and build resilience.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Three core values: doing everything from a place of love (love what you do), integrity (sustain the process, avoid shortcuts that haunt you), and courage (take the first step, believe in yourself even when life doesn't go as planned).
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