Ishita Kopparapu

I was most surprised to see how many people connected and continue to connect with me from all corners of the world. It has been truly amazing to see how the organization has flourished with a little push, a lot of hard work, and absolute love. My team has been an amazing support and they continue to guide me as I navigate so many things. I was truly surprised to see how many opportunities I have gotten through the organization both intentionally and unintentionally. 

My vision for my project is for it to grow and develop to become an organization that has an impact all over the world. Currently a lot of the organization’s work is local and is slowly expanding to become international so hopefully, I am able to make the impact I always wished to do very soon. I plan on continuing to run this organization for the rest of my life in some capacity so in terms of stEMPOWERher’s future, there is a long way for it to go and grow.  

I can work with almost all types of people but for something like a mentorship, I would expect that if someone comes to me for help, they are willing to put in the work and get things done. As a student, I too am busy and have a lot of work and responsibilities outside of school so I want to make sure that if I am putting time in for someone, both me and the mentee are benefiting from the experience and that our time is used wisely. I am willing to set up as many times to meet as the mentee would like but only if the mentee is serious about the project and wants structured guidance on how to further develop his/her project.

I would say my biggest strength as a mentor is being able to successfully guide who I am teaching to think critically and outside the box ensuring that they are able to achieve success. I pride myself in knowing that I can come up with very interesting and unique ideas as far as impact projects go and believe this strength can be put to good use through GIC. I also have vast experience working with all age groups and all kinds of people. Through those experiences, I have learned the importance of networking and regardless of what project someone works on, networking ends up being the foundation of it. I can effectively teach students how to network and forge important relationships. Apart from this, students will also have access to my network which I believe to be extremely valuable and useful; especially for STEM oriented projects.