My first memory of Aditya Birla Group is when my friend who was from a middle class background was offered Aditya Birla Scholarship and thus could afford to study in IIT. He went on to pursue his dreams and is currently working as a robotics engineer in a top class firm. Since that day whenever I thing about Aditya Birla Group it brings a smile on my face and am confident that ABG has been spreading smiles since its inception in 1857. Their expansion from a jute plant to telecom,financial services,fashion etc has been inspiring. Today everywhere one looks be it my favorite brand Van Heusen or Black Carbon Aditya Birla Group has their footprints everywhere. Another thing that has always inspired me about ABG is how they take CSR very seriously. They have set up memorial hospitals as well. A company that drives on core values of social responsibility and leadership is inspiring. Aditya Birla Group has been awarding scholarships for 20 years now and have given wings to many people’s dreams. Recently I came across reports where ABG is also taken up initiatives to make processes more sustainable. For example Birla Cellulose assesses the environmental footprint and life cycle assessment of all its products. In a world where all industries are only concerned about the profits an industry concerned with sustainability and social responsibility makes it different from the rest of the industries. All these factors make Aditya Birla Group’s impact in my life big and I want to work in a business like this where the key drivers are the values one has. Our values provide us with our roots and roots provide us with wings.All my life I have tried to imbibe the same values and be passionate about everything I do. I started off my career with an internship at BlackRock as a java software developer. While I loved my job I wanted to do more and give back to the society in some way or the other. I decided to apply for volunteering role at Make A Difference, a Non Profit organization that deals with children in shelter homes. I went for the interview and little did I know that that would be the turning point in my life. I was selected for the volunteering role. I started off by teaching eight class English. The children were from Hindi medium school and were not at all comfortable with English. They could not even speak basic English. I was a little scared but I didn’t give up. I took up the task of coming up with interesting ways to teach them like Pictionary. After an year they became comfortable and could pass their English exam. I also taught substitute classes for other kids. I knew every kid in the shelter home and loved spending festivals with them also. Based on my performance I was selected for fellowship at Make A Difference. I decided to take up more responsibilities and a bigger role so that I could make more impact. I was the city manager for Delhi, the biggest chapter of Make A Difference and was responsible for managing volunteers who taught 11th and 12th class. The role was bigger and boards were a very big priority for the kids. I decided to quit my job at BlackRock after 2 years and worked in the fellowship wholeheartedly for six months. It was a big risk that I took but now when I look back I have no regrets. The students passed with flying colors in boards and were even awarded by Arvind Kejriwal. Few other kids were offered an internship with Myntra . Talking to these kids even now makes me really happy as they managed to come out of the poverty cycle and followed their dreams. Now when I look back I don’t know if I made a big impact or not but these kids have made an impact in my life and have given me the courage to follow my dreams.