Farewell Wikimedia, hello entrepreneurship
If my 20s were about observation, my 30s will be about participation. I’ll be rolling up my sleeves and digging into fertile ground.
Episode 1 of “Participation; Aishwarya’s startup journey”. As I go through this endeavor with my co-founder Kye Kim, I aim to document the details of my creative process.
Friday April 26, 2024 was my last day working at the Wikimedia Foundation. I said good-bye to an important organization and even more important people. I walked away from Wikipedia, a project that I want to outlast me. I was ready to walk away because in two weeks I turn 30, thus entering the fourth decade of my life, and it’s time to start a new chapter.
My first decade was all about childhood and imagination. I relished my mom telling me to “go play and she shouldn’t know I was in the house for at least a few hours”. I comfortably lived in my own head for long stretches of time.
Age ten to twenty was a “grind”, but I thirsted for it. It felt natural to be a powerhouse high schooler who easily crushed fourteen hour days and went on to study at Stanford. I was bold and blunt, in words and in style.
Then came the experimental 20s. A time of exploration, observation, and, ultimately, self-discovery. I was profoundly changed by questions of privilege and power, and continue to ask, what is my role in improving the conditions of the world? What I realize now is that my interest in subversive knowledge was guided by a desire to understand myself better. The daughter of postcolonial migration patterns and multiple caste systems, ensnared in layers of cultural patriarchies, I was the philosophical and imaginative child that simply went on to ask bigger questions, only to find that there are no clear answers. Only hints. My 20s were about acquiring the tools needed to have a point-of-view on a variety of subjects. To be able to observe society and culture in an accurate way and draw insights about who we are, why we are, and in which direction we are oriented.
If my 20s were about observation, my 30s will be about participation. I want to build, innovate, experiment, learn, document, and share. I’ll be rolling up my sleeves and getting into the proverbial “boxing ring” (alternative metaphor — “digging into fertile ground”). While my belief in collective action is steadfast, I have turned my headlights of justice inwards and narrowed my focus to my sphere of influence.
There are so many levers we need to pull in order to ensure technology serves humanity. Focusing on America alone, we need regulation, consumer education and awareness, and a transformation of the education system and workforce. Beyond the American context, we need thriving open source and responsible technology ecosystems. Amid all this, as a product designer, researcher, and writer, what is my theory of change? Can a self-proclaimed democratic socialist build a successful software business that provides a salve (for those who want it) to the dominant surveillance capitalism model? Is this my role to play? If my co-founder and I build a paradigm-shifting alternative to addictive and toxic digital products, will we be able to shift the landscape entirely?
Now at the end of my 20s I have my health, own a home in San Francisco, am engaged to a wonderful man, and have family and friends who love me. What more could a girl want for but very little? What more could a girl contribute but her potential?
Congratulations!! So beautifully put, so excited to read and hear about your next chapter :)
Fantastic all the best may the bird soar off into heavens and attain its glory