Today we’d like to introduce you to Neha Negandhi.
Neha, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My parents and older sister immigrated from India to Chicago, where my younger sister and I were born. When I was eight-years-old, my family and I moved to Charlotte, NC. Growing up with brown skin in the Deep South meant traversing the straddle between my Indian heritage and everyday, suburban, Southern American life. It was not easy and often painful to have my unruly black hair, my dark eyes and my olive skin stand out glaringly amongst the sea of my blue-eyed, blonde, white peers. Very often, I felt like an outsider, which led me to extensively question my identity and exhaustively search for my own community – those like-minded people with dual-cultural identity scars who still fought for the American dream. In the Indian culture, we were always taught community comes from your neighborhood, those that live closest to you on surrounding streets and houses, because they can lend a helping hand and vice versa. My interpretation of lending a helping hand led me to be one of the first Indian-American candy striper, hospital volunteer, at Charlotte’s Presbyterian Medical Center. For me, volunteering was a way of finding my community, so I always raised my hand to give to others that may benefit the most.
When I arrived at Appalachian State University in the early 1990’s, I was one of two South Asians. My community lens shifted more into campus student life as I formed communities through the Appalachian Ambassador program and student leadership roles. It was at college that I formed a larger appreciation for my Southern roots and became a country-music fan. Still to this day, when I listen to country music, I’m 100% connected to my Southern girl roots and the sweet, simple truth in the words of a country music song.
After college, I moved to Atlanta and started my corporate career at Turner Broadcasting. The common thread in my life is community giving, and during my Turner years, I founded the South Asian Journalists Association Atlanta Chapter. My side-career at a freelance journalist began taking off, and I got to interview and publish articles about notable leaders in society.
Getting married and moving to Seattle prolonged my corporate career. I spent several years doing Marketing at T-Mobile (headquarters) and then shifted to Starbucks (headquarters) doing international branding. While in Seattle, I was elected President of Network of Indian Professionals Seattle chapter. I had my son in Seattle, and shortly after that, we moved back to Atlanta.
In 2015, after watching the deeply troubling documentary, “India’s Daughter” about the gang-rape of a Delhi woman aboard a public bus, I knew something had to be done. I organized a 400-person event at Oglethorpe University’s Conant Theater for Atlanta to host India’s Daughter’s documentary premiere with the British filmmaker in attendance. It was my way of opening a dialogue of how cultural identity lies in gender inequality. There is much male patriarchy in India that it bleeds its way into how girls/teen girls/women shape their lives and mindsets.
In 2016, delving deeper into social impact and community intersection, I founded and hosted a:30 minute radio talk show called Seen from the Inside. It broadcasted on WMLB-Atlanta, Voice of the Arts, every week. The show interviewed celebrities and leaders on the social good they created through their public platform. The show engaged leaders to share stories from their childhood and connected audiences to the why in the importance of giving. At the core, the message was to find your own WHY and give to those in the community that benefits the most. I had my daughter the following year and took a break to be home with my kids.
Then in 2018, people started asking me to serve on non-profit boards and help out the community. I serve on the Executive Board of Junior League of Atlanta (2,800 women strong organization), and I serve on the Executive Board of Pratham Atlanta (helping underserved kids in India get a quality education). Simultaneously, I started my own consulting company called Social Measures to help small/mid-size companies and organizations define and practice social impact.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not a smooth road, but I believe strongly that there must be a journey to get to the experience finale. It is only through struggle, overcoming obstacles, staying the course through challenges that you learn the true value of victory.
Some of the challenges were and continue to be how to stay true to who I am and what I stand for versus what society wants me to be. Though my parents are some of the hardest-working people I know, they did not have time to mentor and show me the different paths that life has to offer. They only knew that in order to live the American dream, you have to go and get a job, work for “the man” and earn a paycheck. It’s super ironic that they were preaching to work for a company when they both achieved so much by being entrepreneurs. They sacrificed so much that their three daughters didn’t have to suffer. We never worried about food or money because my parents did all that for us. Though I never thought twice about the basic necessities of life, I did struggle to find my way and still do in some capacity.
After college, my parents pushed me to find a corporate job and earn a good living. What I really yearned to do was move to Bombay, India and work in the media industry and most probably, I would have founded a non-profit to help those that needed it the most. But I was strongly discouraged to do that and thus, I moved to Atlanta and started working for Turner Broadcasting.
Struggling is just one half of the coin – the other half is gratitude. I have a great life that has led me exactly to where I’m supposed to be. It is really full-circle to help organizations find their purpose alongside their profit, which allows those in the community.
Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
In 2019, I started a consulting company helping organizations define and practice social impact. After talking to so many CEO’s and marketing professionals and seeing the need of how companies need to understand their WHY in community giving, I started Social Measures. Social Measures helps organizations define and practice social impact. It is when small/mid-size businesses assess building their purpose alongside profit is when maximum growth happens. It is how their transactions attract top talent, grow their bottom-line, and attract new customers.
I’m super proud of one of my clients – which is a mid-size software technology company. Their social impact mission is to help children lead a better quality of life and health, so Social Measures connected them to an amazing international charter school in DeKalb County, Georgia. The International Community School is the only Title I international charter school in the state of Georgia and they serve refugee and local children in and around Clarkston, Georgia. We found out that they had space for a media lab, but they had no computers because of lack of funding. Social Measures coordinated our clients to practice their social impact by donating 25 brand-new computers and one new smartboard to International Community School.
What sets me apart is that I am deeply entrenched in Atlanta’s non-profit community. I have taken part in several non-profit leadership programs, raised money for many non-profits, sit on several non-profit boards, and know many people in the community. If there is a cause and the company I’m helping with needs a connection, I can easily make that happen. What makes me thrive is being a connector for Atlanta’s corporations to the non-profit community. The main driver being the intersecting point where the community citizens are the ones being helped and benefiting the most.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Quite honestly, I’ve never been asked this question before. As someone that has interviewed hundreds of leaders/celebrities/CEO’s, I pride myself as a good quality researcher. But in all the questions and interviews I’ve done, I’ve not ever considered or asked how luck might depend or not depend on our personal success. I have to admit that this question had me stumped. So I did what I always do when searching for answers – I research. Then I apply it to my own life and life’s work.
Here is what I think: Has luck – good fortune – played a role in my life and business. Yes, and for that, I am grateful. But I honestly believe that luck opens a door, it leads to an opportunity; it puts me in the right place at the right time. What I do (or did) with that fortuitous circumstance is hard work and relentless commitment to defy odds and move forward.
Here’s a recent story that comes to mind. I happen to be a part of a trio planning monthly community suppers centered on social impact. At one of the suppers, I spoke to the audience about crafting their core values as a foundation of their company’s mission. During my talk, one of the event goers commented that my talk and speaking style reminded her of a TEDx speaker. I was floored because I mentioned to her that I had just added being a TEDx speaker to my 2020 vision board. Yes, definitely it was luck that had me in the room speaking in front of her who she just happened to know about the upcoming event. But in the end, it was my perseverance and hard work that applied, gathered my uncomfortable nerves to audition and ended up getting the speaking role. It was just announced that I would be a TEDx speaker at an upcoming event.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.socialmeasuresllc.com
- Phone: 4702106134
- Email: info@socialmeasuresllc.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialmeasuresllc
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/socialresponsibleconsultant/
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