Post by Arun Jain, IIT, MBA

𝗜 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨.𝗦. 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀. No connections. No roadmap. Just hope, grit, and a belief that this country could help me build the life I envisioned. I didn’t know anyone in the office. I had no relatives here. No fallback plan. Just faith. I still remember:   •  The first freezing winter.   •  The awkward job situation.   •  The late nights wondering if I truly belonged. But I kept going. From surviving to adapting. From adapting to thriving. I didn’t know what I was really good at back then — but I knew I had the hunger to figure it out. I had seen what persistence could do, and I trusted that I could break through here too. So I: studied harder, worked longer, took risks, built one relationship at a time, fell more than a few times, got back up every single time And slowly, the isolation turned into belonging. Now, I’m proud to be part of a strong, vibrant community — IIT alumni, TiE chapters, friends & families in NC, NJ, NY, CA, Seattle, Kentucky, Texas, and former colleagues who are now lifelong friends and collaborators. I never even planned to pursue formal education here. But just early this year, I completed my MBA. This journey has had highs and lows — moments of doubt and moments of deep fulfillment. But looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. Because the “American Dream” wasn’t a one-time event. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 — 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽, 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. So if you’re chasing your own version of it: Don’t wait for permission. Don’t expect perfection. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁. Your dream isn’t sitting out there waiting to be handed to you. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 — 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆. PANIIT USA TiE Carolinas Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati Sanjiv Goyal Gautam Aggarwal Abhijit Muthiyan Chintan Gandhi Digvijay Baglekar GAURAV GULATI Jaya Shankar Rohit Jejurikar Duraisingam Velu Raj Choudhary Simmi Prasad Sonali Luniya Rao Mulpuri Mehul Shah Hemal Surti Sandesh Joshi Kumar Rishabh Neeraj Agrawal Vidwat Thakar PMP, CSM® Mahesh Verma Prasad S. Aasheesh Upadhyaya Kalyan Gummadam Dhirendra Sinha Amit Qusba Saurabh Kapoor Mohan R. Arvind Singh Anmol Rattan Nageswara Yendru Narender Koosukuntla Nilesh Pisal Mohit Singh Kiran Kumar Thota Swati Deshpande Animesh Pathak Ron Singh Gupta Michael Mason Matthew Staebler and many more. #IIT #paniit #iitg #iitalumni #tie #raleigh #nc #dreams #GrowthMindset #LeadershipDevelopment #ImmigrantJourney #FearlessMindset #SuccessStory #KuberaCapital #LifelongLearning