Anyone interested in donating to the organization can contact HelpHOPELive, Two Radnor Corporate Center, 100 Matsonford Road, Suite 100, Radnor, PA 19087. Donations can also be made online at www.helphopelive.org. —Linda Harbrecht
Medha Khandelwal ’06 For Medha Khandelwal ’06, it all came down to the cookie stand. She earned a degree in social studies at Harvard, studied in Delhi, and wrote a thesis on life for second-generation Muslim youth in America. But when making a decision about her professional life, she went back to the small business she ran with an EA classmate on the corner. “I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Khandelwal says. Conversations with her sister, Mallika ’07, and a friend led Khandelwal to consider starting a website that would help people find compatible roommates in New York City. Roomidex works with people’s Facebook contacts to find matches based on neighborhood preferences, what kind of amenities people want from a building, and how much they want to pay—among other things. The key is that instead of casting a net over the entire NYC rental universe, it works within the Facebook world and can be more precise in finding a good match. “Everyone has a terrible roommate story or knows someone who has one,” Khandelwal says. “Most people can personally relate to what we do and why there is a need for it. “This can help eliminate some awkward conversations.” Khandelwal isn’t just working with Roomidex. She is director of marketing at Skedge. me, an online scheduling platform for businesses. She is also involved with Project HEAL, a nonprofit that looks to fund treatment for people with eating disorders and help alter perceptions of healthy body images. “There are a lot of people in my life who have suffered from eating disorders,” she says.
That cookie stand may have satisfied a lot of cravings for desserts, but it spawned much more. From her base in Manhattan (she lives with her sister), Khandelwal has spread out in many different directions. In July, she’ll undertake a new challenge: marriage. Expect that to be a sweet success, too. —Michael Bradley
Zach Mondesire ’06 Zach Mondesire gravitates toward helping the less fortunate. In February 2011, he was in Cairo for the second time, teaching young Sudanese refugees anger management skills. It was the Arab Spring. One night, Mondesire opened his apartment door to see 10 armed men and a tank outside. “They went through all my things and interrogated me,” said Mondesire, now a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. “I was on the floor on my knees. Every time I tried to get up and move, they told me to sit down.” Neighbors, apparently, had reported him as suspicious. Mondesire, fluent in Arabic, kept his cool—and got a lucky break. The principal at the school where he taught was nearby and vouched for him.
“I tried to teach mindfulness and emotional awareness, forgiveness … challenging yourself to make different choices.” —Zach Mondesire ’06
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