Meet Samuel
Meet India’s Operations Lead, Samuel Mandapati! Samuel and his family live in Bangalore. His wife is a Kindergarten teacher and his daughter, Sarah, is ConnectEd’s Project Manager! Like Stephen’s story, education is a passion among the Mandapati family, too.
Samuel graduated top of his class for his Master’s in Sociology. Sociology – the study of groups in society – continues to shape Samuel’s worldview on social classes. From the beginning of Samuel’s career, he’s been deeply involved in social work and human justice.
Samuel’s Passion
“I think music is my passion,” says Samuel. He is a music composer and programmer. When Samuel was around 10 years old, he began playing the keyboard. This is his God-given gift, as it’s a hobby that has come easily to him. Music is Samuel’s passion, but it’s dually a stress-buster as well!
Samuel’s Professional History
His first job focused on helping the lower caste in India. Then Samuel met his wife and moved into full time music! He worked 5 years in the film industry creating music. It was after this time that Samuel moved back to human justice work.
He began working as a project manager. Samuel helped with the relief efforts on the islands off the coast of India after the 2004 tsunami. When his work finished, he transitioned to a series of US-based NGOs including “Child Fund”, “Teen Challenge”, “Rise Against Hunger”, and “Bloom India.” Bloom India, is ConnectEd’s non-profit branch. All programs focus on bringing relief to vulnerable children through quality education. This intensive background in non-profit agencies gives him a great passion for others. He cares for others’ well-being and their quality of life.
Samuel’s Philosophy of Development
Throughout India, some communities traditionally fall behind. Typically problems such as these stem from racial inequality or socio-economic reasons. In India, these issues mainly arise from the caste system. To eradicate this pattern of communities getting left behind, they need support. This is where Samuel’s ideology of development comes in. In Samuel’s experience of nearly 20 years in non-profit work, he sees that education is the best way to develop communities. “Education is what puts people on their feet,” he says. “Money helps, but it’s temporary.” Training children to adulthood sets them up for life. This is why Samuel will always believe that education is the route to proper lasting development and relief.
Samuel and ConnectEd
Education is the focus of all of Samuel’s professional experience. One of ConnectEd’s biggest goals is to provide high-quality education throughout India. This is a goal that Samuel would love to see, too. ConnectEd and Samuel share a passion for education. In his role, Samuel gets to oversee and experience new ways of teaching and learning. Moreover, he helps supervise curriculum development and the quality of education.
Interestingly, education is constantly changing. Samuel finds this reality very unique. When one sticks to one plan without flexibility, it stunts academic success. Samuel and his team devote themselves to staying relevant. They study the latest trends in education and technology. As a result, our approach and methods suit these trends. Lastly, ConnectEd’s students and parents benefit from an agile team like us.
