With incredible grit and determination, Sandhya Padala has set an example for less privileged immigrant women.
The Indian American woman has transformed from a shy lower-middle-class family girl from Hyderabad, India, into an entrepreneur determined to make high-quality computer science education accessible to everyone, according to her company’s website.
Padala, the founder and chief executive of Rex Programming, is a global entrepreneur working towards bringing high quality technology education to everyone.
Her journey from a conservative Indian family, to one of the few women in major corporate IT management roles, to a start-up founder, is an inspiration to everyone, especially for minorities, immigrants and women, her bio notes.
“I grew up in a 300 square foot home that I shared with five people,” she said in a statement.
“I was an average student who excelled in math but was not good in history, biology or English,” she explained. “My mom was strict and taught me the value of hard work. Dad was lenient and taught me to believe in myself.”
By 11th grade, Rex Programming said of its founder, it became clear that math and computer science would be her key to a successful future.
Padala went on to earn a master’s degree in computer science in 1999 from the University of Toledo in Ohio. She had previously earned a bachelor’s in electronics and telecommunications engineering from Osmania University in 1998.
For the first eight years she lived in the U.S., she played it safe, according to the company.
She never questioned anyone and always agreed to what her bosses said because of her insecurities about her English and finances, and her upbringing in a culture that taught girls that they should defer to men, it said.
Padala improved her English by watching movies and attending classes. As her confidence grew and her financial and visa situation stabilized, she worked her way up to senior IT management positions at reputed corporations like Harley-Davidson Motor Company as well as serving on nonprofit boards, like the YMCA, her bio added.
In her last full-time corporate position, she ran a multi-million dollar, 200-plus person project. Of the 200 people on her team, less than 3 percent were women, her bio explained.
“It is important to make the family a part of your journey,” she said.
Since her son was 6, he wanted to learn to create video games.
“I looked high and low for a suitable environment for him,” Padala explained. “When I couldn’t find one, I decided to create one.”
She has spent the last four years overcoming many obstacles as she builds her company, Rex Programming, which was founded in 2015.
She says it is critical for entrepreneurs to remain open-minded and adjust their strategy with developing situations and circumstances, her bio said.
Rex aims to provide organizations the best-in-class cutting-edge technology courses.
“I was struck by the comment made by Sandy, that coding is the reading and writing for the future generation. That really resonates when you realize how basic reading and writing is and what that means for coding going forward,” Curt Hazelbaker, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, said in a statement.
Rex has gone on to be a huge success, having impacted over 10,000 students in its short tenure and has doubled revenue every year, for the past two years, and opened a second location in North Carolina.
It has taught students through partnerships and pilot programs with major organizations like Girl Scouts, the YMCA, as well as camps and classes at reputed private schools such as Greenhill, the company notes.
Padala had considered giving up like any other entrepreneur. But her daughter told her that if Steve Jobs had given up then the world wouldn’t be where it is today, according to a company profile of the entrepreneur.
Padala realized that she needs to be a good role model for her daughter, nieces and many other women afraid to take the next step. She discovered her inner strength and resilience while building her business, it said.
The financial investment and support of her husband and brother helped her at every step. She also credits her success to her employees and advisory board, according to the profile.
According to Padala, the biggest challenge of a female entrepreneur is to balance societal obligations, taking care of family, and the demands of running a business. She believes that women are better at business as handling conflict, emotions, empathy, multitasking and being realistic about finances comes naturally to them.
The confident entrepreneur realizes that she is the best salesperson of her product and services. She is conscious that she has a long entrepreneurial journey ahead and is poise about it.
In the technology domain where there are few female entrepreneurs, Padala has emerged as a role model that others can look up to, the profile said.
Article Credit: indiawest