Standing On My Own Feet

Everyday in my job I see a lot of stories: of struggles and of accomplishments. One of the reasons why I’ve become so attached to my current job is the fact that I get to see a lot raw things; things that are real, things that genuinely matter and things that make a huge difference in someone’s life.

This is a story about how one of my recently-struggling Cloud workers who broke barriers and paved her own way to success at such a young age. I met her tentatively two years back when I was fresh to my job as well. I still remember conducting team meetings with this petite, ever-smiling girl who would always have an enormous red headphones around her neck!

It took me a while to actually understand the true story behind that face.

She was only on her 9th grade when her father died suddenly due to cancer that they had absolutely no knowledge about  and from that day forward, her life took an unfortunate turn. Her mother was a housewife who was struggling to take care of her three young daughters. Without a father figure at home, life had become a mix of chaos of always having to struggle to pay the upcoming bills. There were bills for utilities, for grocery, and for classes. Even after joining high school, things didn’t seem to get any easier.

It was after college that she and her elder sister got to know about CloudFactory. Even that became a daily struggle when she had to go to a cyber cafe daily to work on CloudFactory tasks. Initially, she was spending more in cyber cafes than what she was actually earning through CloudFactory. Persuading her mother to take a small loan to purchase a desktop was not easy. It was a tough decision for both the sisters because if they didn’t earn well, they wouldn’t be able to pay off the loan for the desktop. Only having a desktop was not enough, the job had be done online and without an internet connection they would not be able to work at all. Amidst the tussle, a blessing emerged in the form of a generous neighbour who agreed to share his internet connection with them.

The day would go by working on shifts on CloudFactory tasks with her elder sister. Eventually, her pace started to grow and was able to earn $5-7 weekly which was at least something  and finally they were able to pay off the loan for their desktop.

Just as things were starting to look up, the rug was pulled from under her when one of the biggest clients at CloudFactory came to an end and there were no tasks in the system for her or her sister to work on. And hence, it resulted in a yet another never-ending scouring of job markets. Working for the marketing sector for an ISP company was tough when you had to pass out flyers under such a scorching sun. Once her elder sister got married, all of the family’s responsibility fell solely on her. Looking at her mom’s face was what kept her going; she knew she along with her sisters needed to give their mother a better life. She knew she had to go above and beyond to provide for the family and knocked on every opportunity’s door before she finally was able to land a full time role at CloudFactory itself. One inhouse project led to another which made life so much easier and better for her and her family. She even paved an opportunity for her younger sister to be part of CloudFactory. Work turned out to be so much more than mere work when she started expanding her contacts and learning from her surrounding. Most importantly, she has been able to gather her strength to face life and all its hardship.

Her words: “Looking back at the person I used to be still makes me tear up but now I have gained a lot of confidence and I know how I can actually help my family and make my mother happy. CloudFactory gave me a platform not just to earn but to meet amazing people and  improve myself. I have been able to learn to adjust with different personalities and get work done. I can proudly say that I have become a responsible person; a responsible worker, daughter, friend and a leader.”

Everyday I see this lovely lady at work who’s currently involved in a full time project. We have always existed to connect people to opportunities, to help them grow as leaders in their communities and I definitely see a confident loving leader right here in front of me!

-By Shristi Kapali