Celebrating MIT's graduate student parents
Happy National Student Parent Month! This month, the Office of Graduate Education is featuring one graduate student parent per week, highlighting their academic work and parenting journey at MIT. Stay tuned for more student parent features!
Family: Sons Arjun (12) and Aarav (9), wife Gaauri
Degree program: Executive MBA at Sloan School of Management
Years at MIT: Entering first year
Meet Unmesh Gandhi, a first year in the Executive MBA program Sloan School of Management. Unmesh, along with wife Gaauri and two sons, Arjun (12) and Aarav (9) moved to Cambridge in 2008, settling near Harvard Square.
From Consulting to Food Security
After spending over two and a half decades accruing management advisory experience in areas of business transformation and organizational strategies, Unmesh ventured into the world of startups; advising under-resourced entrepreneurs while also entering into the nonprofit sector. He currently works to transform the operations and technologies as Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy at the Greater Boston Food Bank.
His path into food security was intentional. After years of work-related travel, he wanted to stay close to home and contribute to something meaningful in Greater Boston. Now, as he begins his Executive MBA at MIT Sloan, he hopes to expand that impact even further.
“I think MIT Sloan can give me the platform to solve social problems, with a focus on food insecurity,” he says. “I want to come out of this program with a playbook for other nonprofits.”
A Family Motivation
For Unmesh, returning to school is not only about professional growth, it’s also personal. He shares how important it is that Arjun and Aarav see him take on challenges, even later in his career. “I want my children to see that learning never stops, regardless of life stage,” he reflects.
His sons seem to have already internalized this message, picking up a handful of languages each and excelling in varsity sports and martial arts. Unmesh is proud of their ability to thrive, and strives to equip them with an internal standard that will see them through both good days and bad: “Your only competition is yourself,” he tells them. “Be better than you were yesterday.”
Balancing Parenting and Grad School
Though his children are older, balancing family life will still be a challenge– especially with his sons’ busy extracurricular schedules. For this, he turns back to Gaauri, sharing that her partnership “[makes] parenting seem easy to manage.”
He admits that he didn’t know much about MIT’s support systems for families before starting, but says he’s grateful those resources are there.
As he begins his program, Unmesh is excited for what lies ahead; at Sloan, at GBFB, and at home. “It’s about showing my kids that no matter where you are, there’s always room to grow.”
For more information on MIT’s support for students with children, please visit the MIT Families website or contact gradfamilies@mit.edu.
