About Me
The Shailesh-tival?
It’s a little bit of an understatement to say that music played a major part of my formative high school years. Even though the childhood violin and alto saxophone lessons were an epic failure, my parents still somehow let me take up the piano as a ninth grader, after I saw Billy Joel and Elton John live (the first time) in 1994. I had a pretty eclectic taste in music at the time ranging from Beethoven to Metallica.
The late 90s were the heyday of large traveling music festivals, with the HFStival being Washington DC’s biggest summer festival. With that in mind, I invented a fictitious summer festival called “The Shailesh-tival,” that featured my favorite artists at the time: Billy Joel, Elton John, Metallica, the Gin Blossoms, the Presidents of the United States of America, and a slew of lesser acts I was listening to at that time.
Shailesh and his niece, Elena
Despite my love of music, I decided to study something a little more technical in college. I attended the University of Illinois, earned my degree in Electrical Engineering and stayed two more years for graduate school. My time in Champaign marked a time a great personal growth, mostly because I met some incredible people that continue to be some of my closest friends to this day.
About a year and a half out of school, I found an opportunity to use my love of music and my engineering degree together, by working with automakers to develop the Bose sound systems in their cars. With such a great opportunity, I picked up my life, and headed for Detroit, Michigan.
Detroit, Michigan? Yes, that was even my mom’s reaction. I’d always felt that my engagement to my work would be the key driver of my personal happiness, so I took the job despite the fact that it was in Detroit. By the end of it, the fact that it was in Detroit became one of the best parts of the job.
Having a sense of professional engagement, I decided to once again turn my eye toward my personal happiness. I became an avid runner, and set a goal to run a half-marathon in under two hours. It took four tries but it finally happened in 2009. I started training in Tae Kwon Do, and earned my black belt. I joined Toastmaster’s and earned my Competent Communicator. I made another set of incredible friends and fell in love with a city that most outsiders know nothing about. Three and a half years it was once again time to move on with my life.
2009 Dexter-Ann Arbor Run
I started the MBA program at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the fall of 2009, graduated in 2011 and started working in the Innovation and Product Development Practice at Accenture Strategy in September, 2011.
I’m keeping this blog as a way to stay connected to all of the people who’ve known me and helped me experience all I’ve experienced and grow all I’ve grown. I’m still exploring the world, learning all about things I’d never thought about, and trying to share what I’ve learned.
Shailesh and Steve