Carrying the Legacy: How Monica Kachru Built a Foundation in her Late Daughter's Honor to Increase College Graduation Rates across Underserved Communities
“Losing Anaya devastated me beyond imagination, it broke me. But in that despair, guided by Anaya’s passion I realized while we may not get to choose our tragedy, we do get to choose our response to it.” Today’s woman dreamer, Monica Kachru, founder of the Anaya Tipnis Foundation and graduate of MIT Sloan School of Management, is a true inspiration. After the tragic loss of her daughter, Monica created a foundation in her daughter’s name to help improve college graduation rates across underserved communities, a cause her daughter was passionate about. In fact, “Studies show that only 16% of students from low-income, first-generation communities graduate college. That means less than 2 out of every 10 students will graduate college.” Monica shares her vision for the cause and her advice to those dealing with grief. We are honored to share this powerful story!
1) Tell us your journey. You were inspired to start your foundation on behalf of your daughter who you lost tragically 2 weeks before she was to begin her freshman year at MIT. How has your journey been with this foundation, and how do you hope to carry your daughter's legacy?
Monica Kachru
My journey is deeply intertwined with the epiphany Anaya had of her own purpose in life a year before she died. It all started with an independent project she pursued in her senior year of high school analyzing the education system for inner city students. She found the system fraught with systemic bias which favored students like her. She was deeply disappointed and wanted to end this inequity, demolish the educational redlining, break the barriers so that every young person like herself could have a fair shot at achieving their dream. In her own words, she wanted to “level the playing field”. Her passion and desire to disrupt the status quo of injustice was contagious. Honestly, I was in awe of her and it was extremely exciting and humbling to be around her.
Monica’s daughter, Anaya Tipnis
Losing Anaya devastated me beyond imagination, it broke me. But in that despair, guided by Anaya’s passion I realized while we may not get to choose our tragedy, we do get to choose our response to it. My response to my loss had to match Anaya’s passion and tenacity. I started this Foundation in 2018 with my husband and a few of our closest friends in honor of what Anaya taught me. Our mission is built around Anaya’s ethos, her purpose and vision. There were only 6 of us then and 3 years later there are over 70 of us today supporting 26 young students from underserved communities through college. Our goal for the next year is to support 40 students and we plan to expand our support to similar students across all the New England states within the next 5 years. While Anaya is not with us today, we carry her legacy to break down barriers with pride and determination.
2) The foundation has such a noble mission, to increase college graduation rates of disadvantaged students. Tell us more about your mission. How does your foundation empower disadvantaged communities in higher education?
Studies show that only 16% of students from low-income, first-generation communities graduate college. That means less than 2 out of every 10 students will graduate college. This high drop-out rate is driven by a sheer dearth of financial stability they face and a lack of college preparedness. Furthermore, research also shows that low-income, first-generation students are comparatively underemployed despite having the same education and a college degree when compared to their wealthier peers. Therefore, in taking on this challenge of truly levelling the playing field, it meant a different way of thinking: we needed to offer an end-to-end solution. We could not hand them a check and expect magically all other problems would disappear, neither could we expect providing them a mentor without adequate financial support would suffice. After all, our own kids have access to financial, academic as well as emotional support. Doesn’t every child deserve the same?
To that, our Foundation provides 3 pillars of support
A) Financial support to enable students to attend college;
B) Personalized mentorship to help them transition and navigate college to ensure they stay in college.
C) Internships to provide hands-on experience and confidence to help build a professional network and social capital to secure gainful employment for the long term.
Education is the most powerful tool which helps us gain social and financial inclusion. By creating the pathways for access to a world class education, upward financial and social mobility, we empower our students to end intergenerational poverty, disenfranchisement, better health outcomes for their families and other positive knock-on effects. By empowering our students, we want to create the tide that lifts all boats.
3) What was some of the most rewarding work you have done through your foundation?
Anaya Tipnis
Our students and their stories of strife, sacrifice and grit inspire me every day. It is a privilege to support them and be part of their journey. We are all rooting for them, we are their guides, their cheerleaders, their confidants. We call our community Anaya’s village. 3 years later, I recently heard our volunteers and students refer to our Foundation as Anaya’s Village and that we are family. Seeing the cohesiveness and the trust we have built in and between each other is the most rewarding work I have done and will continue to do. With the passion, clarity of thought and shared values in Anaya’s Village, there is nothing that can stop us for pushing the boundaries and disrupting the status quo of inequity in Education.
4) What is your advice to families, and particularly mothers dealing with grief? What is one life lesson you carry with you?
Monica Kachru
Please be kind to yourself. There is no one answer, no one hack or miracle serum to heal this unimaginable loss. I wish there were. Grief is an individual journey, don’t hold yourself to a timetable for recovery. But I want you to know that healing is possible if you allow it.
I deeply believe that when we find a purpose that is selfless and larger than ourselves, it liberates us from pain and suffering. I found my purpose, that has brought me even closer to Anaya and liberated me from grief and paralyzing suffering.
5) As the platform for women dreamers, what is your next big dream?
My dream is to reach every underserved, disadvantaged and marginalized student in the US and around the world to give them the opportunity to work hard and get the education they deserve.
Thank you Monica for sharing your inspring story with us! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!
Bio: Monica is the Chair & Founder of Anaya Tipnis Foundation. Monica believes education should be a right not a privilege for every young man, woman and person. As the Chair, she leads all aspects of the Foundation's efforts. A seasoned executive with a passion to drive high impact solutions to accelerate socio-economic growth and advance economic inclusion. Monica is an active member of Sloan Women in Management which promotes greater role of women in all sectors and advancement to leadership positions. She also works extensively in key areas of clean energy and technology bringing low carbon solutions to meet our growing energy needs. Monica enjoys hiking (a bit too much), adventure travel and playing hoop with her friends on Sundays. Monica is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management.
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