YLDP Batch of 2020 with guest Speaker Sandhya Rao
By Sushanth Byru
On our fifth session to the Houston Lighthouse on January 18, we as a team have learned a lot about the events that take place at this establishment. After hearing our speaker, Sandhya Rao, talk on the amount of struggle she had to face to get a good education and the struggles of her trying to settle in life along with her parents, our group was very inspired. She went over the condition she had and how that caused many obstacles to appear all throughout her life, and then told her life story on the things she has done to overcome those obstacles. Even though the speaker can’t see herself, we saw the passion, commitment, and emotional attachment she had to her job. Her will to help others just like her was really huge.
Sandhya Rao has worked very hard from her childhood to get where she is right now, as a law clerk. The struggles to get from high school to the famous Stanford University were enormous and when she got out she didn’t care about all the hatred and discrimination she faced, and instead she pursued what she wanted to do and ended up today in an amazing facility helping more people that have conditions like her. The session taught our team that all of us as a population should try to understand each other and feel compassionate towards each other.
This a quality that makes a special leader since connecting with the people around you is a major key in leadership.
From this session, Ms.Rao has taught my team to never judge someone by their appearances and instead get to know the person and accept them with kind hearts, and this is a major skill that a leader has. Ms.Rao has made it clear that it is not what’s on the outside that matters, but what the person inside character is, and my team has learned that this will be a useful skill as a leader and that it is very important.