Hailing from Tirunelveli, a rural district in Tamil Nadu, Ashweetha’s story is remarkable in multiple ways. Her parents rolled beedis (local handmade cigarettes) for a living. The first time she accessed a computer was to apply for the Young India Fellowship (YIF).

“Growing up as a girl child in a poor community, my dreams were confined to the four walls of my home. As a child, I would watch my parents roll beedis day in and day out, thinking to myself, what would my future be?”

Between college, giving tuition to children and rolling beedis, Ashweetha only got to work on the YIF application when travelling. She travelled two hours each way to reach college. And since women couldn’t be seen with a mobile phone, she would huddle under a shawl to ensure she couldn’t be seen. Today, with a Bachelors in Business Administration, and a postgraduate diploma from Ashoka, Ashweetha is the first

graduate in her family.

After graduating from the fellowship, she started Bodhi Tree Foundation. In the last five years, they have trained 3,000 rural youth, and worked with 25 colleges, through basic skill training. Two of them have studied at Ashoka. “I have been given so many opportunities, which others in the village still don’t have. I wanted to extend my experience to them, in the best way I could”, she says. “Today I have stories of rural youth breaking boundaries, embracing ambition and pursuing opportunities which are far from the realities they are born into.”

In 2018, Ashweetha was awarded the Chief Minister’s State Youth Award for her work. She was invited to speak at TEDWomen, USA. She is also the second President of the Ashoka Alumni Association.