Do you know how there is always one part of the family legacy you are obligated to or maybe even forced to carry on? That’s how I became an electrical engineer, carrying on my grandfather’s legacy. After moving from India to the United States in 2013, somewhere between being and becoming an engineer, I realized I enjoy being an engineer and all the aspects of problem-solving that come with it. I always think this wouldn’t have been happened without the guidance of my amazing mentors who encouraged me to seek change and learning. With that support, I started as a project coordinator, changed to energy analyst, BIM electrical engineer, renewable energy apprentice, and electrical engineer.

After moving to the US, I felt at home in SF for the first time. The intermingling of people and their cultures and the transfiguration of architecture and nature in SF made me feel rooted while thriving in uprootedness.

Outside the engineering world, I am a patron of free-living animals. We infamously call them strays due to the lack of our understanding of earth as a shared home. In the name of progression suitable to only humans, we invaded all the known space, leaving animals behind perplexed after the peak domestication era only because we have machines and other means to get by. Do we stop and think about what would happen to abandoned domesticated animals, and why are they even called strays? Can we evolve a culture for a beautiful future on earth in harmony with animals? My advocacy and work for free-living animals are mostly confined to Asian countries.

Did you know?

If I were not an engineer, I would be walking this earth with our beloved gentle giants – Elephants. I dream of trading my current urban life to pursue the beauty of burden of trust these animals have placed in us. This dream is very much alive and coming to life with investigative story writing, rescues, collaborating with animal welfare organizations, and occasionally walking with gentle giants.

nikhila@meyersplus.com
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