What would it take for you to leave behind everything and step into the unknown, chasing a dream you never thought you had the right to pursue? That’s exactly what life does give you opportunities you’d never expect. In April 2018, I received a call from my mother who was working in Singapore as a cook for an innovative furniture designer, Janice Feldman. My mother told me that her employer was giving me an opportunity to move. I asked “Moving? What’s happening?” That’s when I knew I was starting a remarkable journey to find my passion, a journey that most girls in my part of India never get to take. At the age of 18, my mother was forced into an arranged marriage, and my father always ran from my responsibilities. When I turned 3, my mother left for Singapore seeking employment, leaving me in the care of my maternal grandmother. While still married to my father, my mother was essentially a single parent who took all of my responsibility. Witnessing her determination taught me the importance of independence but this seemed impossible as an Indian girl with limited options. Like most girls in my community, I was getting just enough education to marry and have children with a man I didn’t love. But unlike them, I was given the rare opportunity to go “fly on my wings,” as my mother says, and get an international education. My mother's employer decided to pay for my education. At the age of 12, I was left asking myself, “Who is this woman, why would she want to support me?” I spoke zero English, so why would this foreigner whom I had only met once be so interested in me? I now realize she understood that all I needed was a chance. In April 2018, thanks to my new benefactor, I was accepted into a boarding school in South India 2,000 kilometers away from the house I grew up in. Once I knew I was leaving, fear took hold and I hid my passport from my family to avoid this major change in my life. When my mother found out, she was furious but explained to me “Change can be scary, but you can’t give up this opportunity. Don’t let my dream for you to fly go to waste.” In two years, I went from speaking no English to taking all of my classes and having all of my interactions in English. To me Janice Feldman is not just my mother’s employer who paid for my education, she is an angel from heaven and my Godmother. Because of her, I was traveling alone, leading clubs and dance communities at a boarding school at the age of 13. Seeing my vast improvement, my mother and godmother started applying for schools in the USA. On March 7, 2020, they called me, in tears of joy in their eyes, to announce my acceptance into Villanova Preparatory. Then I realized that dreams do come true when given opportunities. A year later after visa rejections, pandemic travel restrictions, and virtual learning in different time zones, I was finally travelling to California. Who would have thought that a girl from my community would be on an journey alone at 15 to get an education? Turning 18 used to mean getting married but now it means independence. The independence to do what I want to do and be who I want to be. While this journey started as the dream of my mother, now it is mine to embrace.