Shahdokth “Shy” Mudakavi is founder and CEO of Safari Kid, a preschool and kindergarten school that started in San Francisco Bay Area. America is a land of opportunities and this is where dreams come true points out Mudakavi. What did she do right? “I believed in it. There was 100 % belief and they say when you believe you are half-way there.”

Mudakavi  was all set for a career in the networking industry when she moved to the Bay area. But, her heart was not in networking and she decided to explore other alternatives. She enjoyed working with children and ended up tutoring kids and set up an afterschool program.

About 10 years ago, she established her first preschool in a small room in a mall. It took  4 months before a student enrolled at Safari Kid and by the end of the first year she had 10 kids. Since then Safari Kid has evolved and has  preschool and afterschool programs for children under the age of 12 years old.

Today, there are 40 schools in the US and most of them are in California. Safari Kid has expanded its footprints globally with schools in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Dubai and India.

Mudakavi grew up in Mumbai, India and now lives in San Francisco Bay area with her family.

This interview aired on TV in the San Francisco Bay area and in Cambridge, MA.