Meet Ms Destiny Maker

One day, Jyothi Reddy thought of ending her life as she lugged water out of a well: it’d end her daily grind out in the field, all worth Rs 5 a day. Third of the five children, she quickly recalled how Venkat & Saraswathi Reddy had her and two of their daughters bundled out to an orphanage in Warangal. Back home in the city itself, she was a matriculate. She was married off and soon became a mother of two children. Just before the fatal jump into the well, she looked back at them, her small daughter fastened to her sari. The infant was crying. Jyothi pulled herself back from the edge of the well and wiped her tears. She wasn’t alone, she realized; she had to fight on.

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That was nearly three decades ago. Today, Jyothi Reddy is the CEO of a US-based IT company which she founded in 2001. The woman from a remote Telangana village has 163 employees in her company, Key Software Solutions, Phoenix. It has an annual turnover of $15 million. Jyothi is an international motivational speaker, travelling across the world and sharing experiences of her extraordinary journey.

“From the government-run Bala Sadan orphanage, my younger sister, Lakshmi, ran back home. But, I stayed back because I knew that my father would harass my mother if I too returned,” recalls Jyothi. 

Her five years in the orphanage were nightmarish. There were days when she went to bed without food. With no cots or mattress, she, along with other inmates, slept on the floor. The frequent sighting of worms in the daily food served at the orphanage nauseated her. She did not visit home even once during her five years at the orphanage. During summer holidays, she would stay at the superintendent’s house to help her with household chores. “I called her ‘amma’. Her daughter was a doctor, and I, too, wanted to be known as Dr Jyothi Reddy,” she says. “Now, I have registered to do a PhD on women's empowerment in rural areas”

“Yet, I have one beautiful memory of my stay there. It was magician Samala Venu’s visit on Children’s Day. He would give us chocolates and blankets,” she says. “I dreamed that I too would someday give chocolates to orphan children.” Jyothi makes it a point to celebrate Children's Day and her birthdays, sharing a 100kg cake at orphanages.

“I was only 18 when I was drafted into farm work. There were days when I did not have money to buy milk for my daughters. I sold empty liquor bottles at 5 paise each to buy milk.” Then came the turning point. Jyothi landed a job as an adult education teacher at the Nehru Yuva Kendra, on a monthly pay of Rs 120. Later, she joined another project as a National Service Volunteer for Rs 190 a month. 

Jyothi walked out of her house with her children in 1990 with a mission to educate herself and become ‘something’ in life. All she had was Rs 110 in cash and a few utensils and clothes in a shoulder bag. She went to Hanamkonda on the outskirts of Warangal, and rented a room for Rs 60 a month.

While doing odd jobs, she resumed studies through the BR Ambedkar Open University. After graduation, Jyothi was posted as a special teacher in Ameenpeta village, a two-hour train ride from Warangal. In 1994, she was posted as a regular teacher in Parkal mandal of Warangal, on a salary of Rs 2,700 a month. By then, she had registered for Master's in Sociology. The Parkal school had only a few students, as most parents in the area sent their children to a private school. Jyothi formed a parents' committee and encouraged them to send their children to the government school. She was promoted as a Mandal girl child development officer. Her husband, too, moved to Warangal and took up a small-time job.

“When a cousin came down from the US and suggested that I could make a decent living there, it ignited my ambition.” In 1998, she applied for a passport and did a PG diploma in computer application. Within two years, she enrolled her daughters in a residential school and flew to San Francisco, with $1,000 in hand. “I could not understand their English. I had to struggle a lot before settling down.” There were several families known to Jyothi but none was willing to support her. She, was told she could find a job in New Jersey. She found a job at a cassette shop, which paid her $5 per hour.

Then, an acquaintance, who knew her as a teacher, told her about a job opening as an IT recruiter, at a monthly salary of $1,000. Jyothi extended her visa and shifted to South Carolina, where she would be trained on the job.

“I decided to improve my English, and started reading the Bible, which was free! Those notes are still with me,” she says. Soon, a Virginia-based software company ICSA offered her a job with a salary of $5,000, and free food and accommodation. After completing a course in quality assurance testing, she went to Phoenix for an interview. She failed to make the cut, but fell in love with the place. “On October 26, 2001, I started Key Software Solutions with just three employees,” she says proudly. By 2003, her husband and daughters also migrated to the US. 

Jyothi has not forgotten the children of Warangal. She gifts other deserving students clothes, bags and other material. “There are 3.6 crore orphans in India and I want to find a solution for them,” says Jyothi. Her autobiography “Yet, I am Not Defeated” has been published in English, Telugu and Kannada. “If you have power inside you, no power can stop you,” she says.