KALPANA SAROJ
ARRANGING HER OWN FUTURE
Raised in Vidarbha, India, Kalpana Saroj lived her young life as any normal child would: she played with other children and attended school. And it was school and education in which she took a keen interest from a very early age. Sadly, it was also during this early age that she would find herself ripped away from the life she knew, married off at 12 years old. Cast into an arranged married life that very much amounted to slavery, Saroj bore the responsibilities of cooking, cleaning and enduring physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband’s ten-member family. Having been more or less opposed to his daughter’s marrying at such a young age, her father came to visit Saroj not long after she took a husband; he took one look at her and knew he had to help her. After extricating her from her marriage, her father brought her home. Saroj was ostracised by her people for years, at one point attempting suicide. It was from this lowest point though that she began to rise. She went to work in a garment factory, quickly grasping the business and then lobbying for government funds that would see her start her own tailoring business. Saroj started a successful furniture business while still holding her tailoring job. From there, she was always on the lookout for new opportunities, even launching her own film production company. However it was when she took control of a failing copper tubing company that she ascended to the ranks of the ultra-successful. She almost single-handedly reversed the company’s fortunes and Kalpana Saroj now boasts a net worth of more than $110m.
RYAN TEDDER
THE MAN WITH THE MUSIC
Ryan Tedder is an Oklahoma native, born in Tulsa and raised there, as well as Colorado later in his youth. He was brought up in religion, often surrounded by a large group of family members who were missionaries and higherranking members of the church. Encouraged by his family, Tedder began playing the piano at the age of three. He was supported by his parents in all things music. His father a local musician and his mother a teacher, they fostered his piano talent while also encouraging new endeavours, such as his sudden need to add singing to his early resume when he was seven. Throughout his upbringing, Tedder lived by rigorous, self-imposed practise schedules, working to get better and better. While attending college, he again brought a workmanlike approach to his music, forming bands and performing live whenever he could. It was after graduation however, that he would receive a rude awakening from the real world. Tedder was crowned champion on an MTV music competition, and while he delighted in his triumph, he soon discovered that the record contract and album he thought he’d earned, were never to be handed over. After spending time working as a waiter and staff at a department store, Tedder finally caught a break. Taken under the wing of mega hip-hop producer Timbaland, doors began to open. Ryan Tedder learned how to popularise his songwriting for a mass audience, subsequently reconnected with an old college friend to form his chart-topping group OneRepublic, and cemented himself as a go-to songwriter for a generation of pop superstars.
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