Richa Gupta and Vedant of India dared to dream big and work hard. Today, the fruits of their labor are exceeding even the dreams they had, and they hope to continue helping even more children in schools. They are 2 of 3 founders of Labhya Foundation, an India-based foundation  whose work in social/emotional curriculum now reaches 2.5 MILLION students across 20,000 schools. And they only started this in January 2017, 3 years ago.

The 3 founders met in a chance encounter but all with similar backgrounds and visions -- all from humble, meager beginnings in India, all w/ a vision for empathy building and helping schoolchildren believe for more. The realized schools in India stressed academics but w/ so much cultural diversity, students needed more in order to learn. They wholeheartedly believe a social/emotional component is imperative but this hasn’t really been added or in many cases considered before, plus no one wants to hear young 20-somethings.

Ultimately, in the end, they create SEL curriculum and reach millions of students and thousands of teachers. As their website’s mission statement states, Labhya Foundation partners with Governments, Multilateral organizations & Non-profits to co-create scalable Social and Emotional Learning programs across Public Education Systems. So, how’d they do it? Learn about a life-altering exchange Richa had with a 12-year-old girl who thought her limiting views on life were normal, and learn about the pivotal, life-defining decision Vedant made at 17 after a life riddled with hardships of many kinds. These moments set the tone years before they met for their invaluable foundation that would come.

I’ll say this: THIS IS A LONG EPISODE! During the first hour you’ll hear much of their backstory. And in the 2nd hour -- they give the blueprint to their success! Hear their journey, find out just what they’re doing and why, and learn just how they did it. Maybe you can help? Collaborate? Or just be inspired right now on DBC.