Jyothi Reddy USA
First Impressions:
The first time I met Jyothi Reddy garu was at one of the North America Telugu Society conventions. Someone mentioned that hers was a compelling rags-to-riches story. Later after few months, I met her in Detroit at a Telangana Jagruthi event, in which TRS Kavitha was the honored guest. We sat at the same table and she greeted me affectionately. I was flabbergasted by her warmth and our friendship began. Our friendship grew stronger on our visit to Warangal, India, for the Telangana American Telugu Association’s Seva Days. During that visit, she dropped me and my buddy Devender Reddy at my brother’s place in Kompally. My brother Rajanna asked her to stay for tea and snacks. She made herself comfortable on the sofa and started narrating her life journey. The next three hours was a life-changing experience. The story she told had many turns, achievements and challenges and at times during the narration she was teary.
Childhood/Education/Marriage:
Jyothi Reddy was born into a poor family in 1970. Having seen hard times, her parents enrolled her in an orphanage. She was married at age 16 and had two daughters by the age of 18. To eke out a life, she had to work as a paddy field laborer for Rs 5 per day.
She took off narrating her economic journey from paddy field laborer (Rs 5 per day) to NYK (Nehru Yuva Kendra) teacher (Rs120 monthly salary), from graduation from BR Ambedkar Open University to a special government teacher position (Rs 398 salary) and from a postgraduate degree to work as a government teacher (Rs 5000 salary). One would think she would have settled there. While working as a teacher, she had a two-hour daily commute by train. She flexed her innate entrepreneurial muscle by venturing into micro businesses with fellow passengers (stitching saree falls, selling sarees, and short-term financing).
Y2K & Y.Not.USA:
She was never satisfied with her accomplishments . She was like a hungry cougar looking for bigger prey. One afternoon, Jyothi Reddy met her distant cousin, who was visiting India from the United States. She was wearing nice clothes, looked very polished and different from what Jyothi Reddy remembered from childhood. Her cousin’s Ray-Ban sunglasses inspired Reddy to want to transform herself into an NRI no matter what. Persistency and perseverance were always Jyothi Reddy’s trademarks. And now the government teacher and housewife living in Warangal (150 km from Hyderabad) was bewitched by Ray-Ban sunglasses and U.S. fashion. Those days Y2K was an impending disaster for U.S. businesses and a boon for software developers in Hyderabad. She started exploring U.S. opportunities. One weekend, she went to Hyderabad, hired a taxi for the day and visited about 12 computer institutes. She signed up for a programming course.
Daily Schedule:
Daily Jyothi Reddy woke up at 3:30 a.m., cooked and packed lunches for her family then took the train from Kazipet to Hyderabad (150 km) to attend two-hour computer classes at 7 a.m., then returned to Kazipet, Warangal, by train by noon. She then traveled 40 km on a two-wheeler from Kazipet to attend to her school inspection duties. After work, she commuted back to her home in Hanumakonda for household chores, dinner preparation, and completing programming assignments in her small rented apartment. This was Jyothi Reddy’s daily struggle to redefine herself. Finally luck favored and she left her two young daughters in India and travelled to the U.S in 2000
“Well ..come to USA”:
Life in the U.S. was not rosy for her, either. Her employer’s family, which hosted her initially, grossly mistreated her. Missed payments, verbal abuse, taunting, nitpicking, and more. She shifted to many new jobs, staying in airports to decide on the next course of action for her life. She had to stay with many new families as a paying guest, lived in hotels, and signed up for manly tasks like unloading consignments from trucks to get by. What makes her story unique is her courage, resilience & focus to boldly face challenges in a new country. I am not able to fathom the drive behind her determination to excel in life. Hats off!
Paddy field laborer to CEO:
Jyothi Reddy finally returned to India in Spring 2003 to see her daughters . On the advice of a Hindu priest, she decided to start a new IT company after her return to the U.S. Her company, Key Software Solutions, started with just a few employees, slowly grew to annual revenues in the millions. Her personal struggles and poverty diminished with her company’s sustained growth and other rewarding investments. The challenging journey from paddy farm laborer (Rs 5 daily wages) to a successful IT entrepreneur took a long 18 years. Finally, she reached her goals as an entrepreneur, daughter, mother, wife and godmother to many orphans in India.
Some snippets of her struggles in the USA:
- She religiously took weekend classes to improve her IT skills during her entire stay.
- During Christmas breaks, she would travel to all her clients’ offices to further enhance customer relationships.
- She would practice speaking English in front of restroom mirrors for hours. She visited Hare Krishna Temple to volunteer over the weekends. Lord Krishna in Hare Krishna Temple also provided this hungry devotee with a nice meal. In the process, she interacted with many Americans and improved her communication skills.
- Very focused and driven to achieve her goals in life.
Low points:
Jyothi Reddy’s life has been marred by challenges and painful moments. After her narration, I asked her: “During your travails, what was the most difficult and painful moment(s) or the low points?” She readily remembered:
“When I was about 19 years, when it was difficult for me to support my daughters, I decided to commit suicide. So, one day I took them to our family well. I placed one child on the wall and was about to fetch the younger one to the wall. I heard the playful baby voice of my second child. At that time, I decided that no matter what, I will never quit this life battle of mine.
Another very painful moment was in the USA. My apartment was a few blocks away from my office. It was winter and after work, I was walking home alone. Suddenly a huge street dog almost my height jumped on me and started attacking.”
“Imagine the scene, a Telugu village girl, paddy field laborer, teacher, housewife with two children in India fighting off a street dog in darkness.”
She started crying and we all watched her in awe. That incident did it all. There can never be another Jyothi Reddy, I thought.
Harvesting time:
Jyothi Reddy’s daughters went to good colleges in the U.S. and she performed their marriages. Her sons-in-law are highly accomplished and hail from Telangana. Her company, Key Software Solutions, is doing great. She also made successful investments in real estate, stores, and restaurants in Phoenix, AZ. She is now leading a semi-retired life. She splits her time between the U.S. and her palatial house in Hyderabad.
She is blessed to have had one-on-one meetings with Presidents Sri Pranab Mukherjee, Sri Abdul Kalam, Sri Anna Hazare, CM Sri KCR, Smt. Smriti Irani and many luminaries.
Orphans have no rights:
She is currently channeling her energies into a neglected issue regarding orphans. Since she grew up in an orphanage, she is able to relate to many aspects of orphans’ lives.
One thing I didn’t know was that orphans are not part of the government census and not eligible for government benefits, including voting rights. She is fiercely fighting for orphans’ rights and has raised the issue with the government. I pray to the Almighty to bestow blessings on her new life goal of protecting and guiding orphans.
Walk the talk with NDTV Shekar Gupta
