Sindhuja Jeyabal graduated from the School of Information with a Master of Information Management and Systems in 2016. She currently works as the CTO of Dost Education, which she co-founded to help Indian parents of any literacy level take charge of their child’s education. Prior to the I School, Jeyabal graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in computer science from BITS Pilani, India.
What was your I School research or focus?
I was an explorer in my first year at the I School and found my niche in ICTD and data science — with a particular interest in educational interventions and impact measurements.
Why did you choose the I School?
After a B.S. in Computer Science, I worked as an engineer for close to six years. Though I liked getting into the nitty gritty details of coding, I craved to learn about building products that people would want to use. After looking at various MBA and Human-Computer Interaction programs, I found the I School. I was delighted by how diverse and interdisciplinary every cohort was. I saw the I School as a place where I could get exposed to new avenues and ideas while still leveraging my technical expertise. Berkeley and the weather were a big plus too!
What has been your favorite class at the I School?
Information Technology Economics, Strategy, and Policy
What is an information challenge that intrigues you?
Figuring out the balance between providing information to ‘empower’ and inherently enabling the people to create and share ideas. This is a challenge I deal with in my day to day work in the development sector.
What are you working on now?
I strongly believe children deserve the best irrespective of the circumstances they are born into. At Dost Education, I am currently focused on improving the quality of pre-school education globally. After launching in 2017, we have reached 30,000 mothers and helped them make quality early learning a daily practice in their homes. I am excited about the new developments in technology, especially voice platforms and the endless possibilities it provides in catering to people of all literacy levels.
