years ago at the age of four I was
witness to this strange flying animal
land in front of me all of us children
ran away thinking is going to take us to
a far-off land or probably eat us up or
one of those things the people
navigating this flying animal were kind
enough to show us around the machine and
it wasn’t an animal it was a machine
this was a helicopter and thus began my
love for play anything that flew big
planes helicopters any machine that flew
few years later living in a small town
of Nepal my parents believed that the
four basic necessities to life food
clothing shelter and good language
speaking skills they didn’t believe that
Nepal had the culture that they wanted
to have me grow up in and decided to
send me to boarding school I went to
boarding school at the age of seven and
the only memory that actually comes to
mind is of me running behind the car
saying please don’t leave me and go you
don’t love me enough what went on for
seven years was no fairy tale but it was
rather rough 17 years as a child I was
at one child who was always the loser in
school you know who never had friends
who people made fun of I remember us
lining up for assembly once and no one
wanting to stand next to me simply
because I wasn’t the cool kid who they
wanted to talk to I thought this would
change over time but it really didn’t
there were two options I could either go
back home and tell my parents to you
know keep me in day school in Bhopal or
live boarding school body could seem
like a better choice despite being a
loser and the not so popular kid life
moved on and the time came for college I
always had this secret aspiration
because of my love for planes to become
a pilot we didn’t have the Internet then
whatever I knew was thanks to Britannica
encyclopedias there were these really
huge big maroon books which gave you all
the information you needed for every
project work every passion everything
you possibly knew about
I wanted to become a pilot but of course
you know belonging to a small-town
conservative mawari family any vocation
that was manly was not acceptable the
CFO option was to study design as luck
would have it I only applied to one
design school in India which I thought
was the best and I was very confident
that I would get selected unfortunately
I was number one on the waiting list but
fortunately that turned in my favor as
you’ll come to know I decided to pack my
bags and move to Bombay and figure out a
life for myself the big city complete
independence boarding school was a very
sheltered life things were done for you
you were told what to do
you were given a drawing book and you to
fill the colors in Bombay was very
different
there was no drawing book there were
just blank sheets of paper where you had
to figure your own life out and this was
at the age of 16 being the youngest kid
in college again I was hell-bent on
changing my popularity level I was
hoping that I’d be the most popular kid
in school or in college rather and that
did happen but the only thing blocking
my path to being the most popular kid in
school was the pocket money I got my
father was a very strict disciplinarian
and the pocket money he gave me I
thought was enough to survive for four
days he thought was enough to survive
for a month so I had to figure it out
you know my ego didn’t allow me to go
back to him and ask him for more money
so I said why not start working I
started freelancing for a lot of
companies which needed design helps
aren’t doing the advertisements drawings
sketching etc and made good money on the
side as life went on the first year got
lots of work but more money than I knew
how to count on to deal with there was a
really good opportunity that came along
the marketing manager of a really big
cooperation asked me to actually assist
his team and build an in-house design
team to create creatives for them to use
in newspaper advertisements and
hoardings etcetera how would I manage
college I said we’ll figure it out so I
would do one college from 7:00 to 10:00
in the morning that was Degree College
which was giving me a degree in
economics I would have the next college
from 10:00 to 3:00 and go to office at 4
o’clock I would normally end up leaving
office at 12:00 12:30 and the
battle would be convincing the guard at
my PG that I was not out drinking with
my friends
but working in the office so he should
let me in to sleep we figured out a way
to that to the guard and I became
friends in exchange of favors while
working in this cooperation as to be
very open about my love for planes and
keep talking about everything I knew one
such time I ran into somebody who I
basically discussed my love for planes
width and then identified a building on
which there was a helipad which was
wrongly placed this man was very
fascinated and the next day he offered
me the chance to help him completely set
up the private aviation department for
this company I was very clear in my
understanding I mean I know everything
about planes through book knowledge I
know nothing about planes in real life I
don’t know
how companies are run I didn’t know how
to make a business plan he said you have
one month make a business plan and come
back to me Google thankfully had come
about by then I didn’t have to go back
to those Britannica encyclopedias and I
figured out a business plan in 20 days
this individual was very impressed and
he gave me the chance to set up a
company in which we were buying assets
over 200 million dollars the next two
years went by I was I didn’t lead that
normal college life that I thought I
wanted to lead being the popular kid in
school instead I paid the p1 to mark my
attendance and ended up coming to work
at 7 a.m. every day those two years
taught me a lot there was I I still
hadn’t come out of my shell I would
still give in to whatever I was told all
those very aggressively working in this
company it was time to graduate from
college I had a tuition teacher who’d
come one month before exams to the
office and teach me everything I’d
missed throughout the year so I could
pass those exams I did pass with a
degree with great marks thankfully my
Orthodox family then said look you can’t
be doing a job okay it was fun during
college it was all great you know now
it’s time to move on why don’t you come
back home and get married
I had to escape this I was 9 all of 19
19 and a half there was no going back
home and getting married I convinced him
that the MBA that an MBA is what I need
and when I said I want to do an MBA in
aviation management I was again told no
you don’t do an MBA in aviation
management who’ll marry you do an MBA in
finance finance is a
Rowen you can do sitting at home with
your husband with your in-laws etc great
I didn’t know that F of Finance I still
hate finance I went on to do an MBA in
finance and found myself a job with
another company in London which actually
you know gave me all the knowledge that
I missed out on in my current role I
spent around one and a half years in the
UK exploring the world very very
differently and coming out of my shell
slowly but not so much in my head I was
still that child who was the loser in
school who gave up on things etc and
then we got over now my parents were
hell-bent on getting me back home and
getting married there was no escaping at
this time so I came back home with a
plan in mind to convince them that look
I want to set up a company I want to do
great things I’ve got great job offers
give me a couple of years but life
unfortunately had other plans in store I
came back home I to Bhopal two days at
home my mum said you’ve been complaining
of this pain in your arm for the past
one year let’s go to the doctor I hate
the doctor I was I had never been
admitted in a hospital ever since the
only time I’d been admitted in a
hospital which wasn’t a real hospital
was boarding school Hospital for fake
fever to escape my exams or something
like that so I said okay let’s go to the
doctor how bad can it be
we went to the doctor who was also a
family friend and what was supposed to
be a 20-minute appointment to actually
diagnose the pain in my arm turned into
an hour long ordeal I am not known to
have patience I stormed into the
doctor’s office and I said I need to
know what’s going on here the doctor
looked crestfallen he looked I’d never
seen him like that so I looked at the
paper under him they were my reports I
took my reports from him I said thank
you very much and I walked out i sat in
the car with my mom and I opened the
reports and the first line read or
diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma I
never paid attention in biology class I
had to Google with Hodgkin’s lymphoma
was and Wikipedia’s first line said it’s
a type of cancer I knew I didn’t want to
tell my mother this while she was taking
me home we were all supposed to go out
for dinner as a family that night so I
called up my father and I said why don’t
you come home there’s something we need
to talk about
soon after my phone call I think the
doctor called up my father and he came
home well-prepared
what followed was I think two to three
days of lot of aggressive tests I had to
be admitted into a real hospital for the
first time for a surgery for them to
actually test if it is cancer or not in
more detail
I remember being wheeled out of the
operation theater under the influence of
anesthesia and telling my father please
tell me it’s not cancer tell me it’s not
cancer but unfortunately it was you know
it was at that moment something changed
in my life I was always that person who
felt sorry for myself who said by a mile
loser why does no one like me things
like that it was at that moment that I
took a decision that you know I am going
to make control my destiny and I’m
stronger than cancer I’m going to come
out very very victorious
I saw the face the look on my parents
faces and I knew I had to be strong for
them I knew I had to cure myself for
them before anything else the next eight
months was a whole new world for me from
never being into a hospital to various
hospitals across the country lots of
needles nurses chemotherapy huge
machines giving you radiation etc etc
all throughout cancer there were days
when I would wake up not wanting to wake
up there were days when I didn’t know
what was happening around me but
fortunately for me cancer was also the
best thing that happened to me because
remember I had come back home to get
married now that I had cancer I I didn’t
need to get married so while I was
recovering I spent a lot of time on the
internet figuring out what my next plan
was going to be because I knew cancer it
bought me a couple of years at least and
I knew I was going to come out of it I
spend my time developing what was then
an idea called debt said go oh I
basically wanted to bring around
transparency in the private jet and
helicopter market in India I had
remembered people telling me that you
know Kanaka why is hiring a private jet
in India like rocket science I said I’m
going to change this the day I recovered
I decided to pack my bags and move to
Delhi to set up this company the day I
finished treatment rather my father was
dead against it he thought I needed to
stay back in Bhopal for a year and
recover from what had been an eight
month long ordeal if I had stayed back
in Bhopal for a year I would have needed
a shrink you know I had to get out of
there I moved to Delhi um with very
little money in my bank account but hole
friends who were very helpful and kind
spent the next two years just figuring
out how Jet Set Go would work in India
what people accept it you know the first
few people I went to laughed at me and
said who’s going to book a plane on a
phone
someone told me who’s going to book a
plane from a 22 year old girl there was
a customer who Evan took pitch to who
said you are going to fly a plane you
know it took me a lot of time convincing
him I am NOT going to fly a plane I’m
going to be the person providing him the
best planes in the country and I’m going
to change the way the world flies at the
end of every day which didn’t go by well
this to be this conversation I used to
always have with myself telling myself
that you know we are going to change the
way the world flies this man doesn’t
know what he’s talking about two years
went by one day at a time and jet said
go finally came to life I was the only
person running the company I started it
with whatever little money I had I
remember answering the phone changing my
name to Sunita Rita etc because I didn’t
want customers thinking it was a one-man
show a one-woman show rather yeah and
the time moved on and I didn’t give up I
think perseverance is what played the
most important role apart from belief
which is extremely important as I needed
help I found a co-founder who changed
the way the company works
I found a co-founder who gave me the
support I needed we moved from being one
peep one person to 10 people 10 to 20 20
to 30 we moved from doing one flight
into a week which would drive me nuts
you know I would spend the whole week
just preparing for that one flight to
what we are now where we have one plane
in the sky on an average every minute of
yesterday I had a customer come up to me
and tell me Kanaka you’ve reduced my
private jet bill by almost 30 percent
what’s the magic ingredient behind it
you know I’m yet to figure out the magic
ingredient but what I do know is when I
was diagnosed with cancer I remember a
whole lot of my family standing around
my mother and telling her oh my god even
if she recovers how will you get her
married you know son I remember walking
up to them and saying listen I don’t
need to get married or do any of the
things you expect me to do I’m going to
be on the cover of Forbes in five years
I had no clue how I was going to be the
cover of Forbes or how Forbes worked for
that matter five years later and in
March of 2016 early March I was thinking
to myself you know we’ve been in the
Forbes a lot of times we’ve got
excellent coverage but I made this tall
claim exactly five years ago and people
want to laugh at me then I convinced
myself that no one’s gonna laugh at me
you’ve come so far don’t worry about it
exactly shy of 10 days of five years
getting over I got an email from Forbes
saying you’ve been chosen for for 30
under 30 and we would like you to be a
again you know I don’t know if there is
a book that was written on how to battle
fight cancer and accomplish your dreams
in five years I don’t even know if this
book exists I haven’t read it but I do
believe that if every one of us believes
in ourselves in our own dreams we can
achieve whatever we set out to far
greater than what you’ve heard today [Applause]