Khushi Malde

Soon after leaving Nairobi, Kenya, to start her undergraduate studies at University of California, Berkeley, Khushi Malde found herself looking for ways to connect students back home with the innovation, knowledge, and connections that suddenly surrounded her.

“I saw there was a big gap in opportunities and resources back home in Kenya – even though I went to a private school – versus what a lot of my peers from U.S. high schools had,” said Malde, who is now a master’s student in the GSE’s Learning Design and Technology program.

“That’s when I got more curious about how to bridge this opportunity gap, but I wasn’t sure on how to make that happen.”

That curiosity led her to collaborate with fellow classmates to create Technology & Entrepreneurship Ladder, a nonprofit focused on connecting bright Kenyan high school students with entrepreneurial tools and skills necessary to create their own businesses.

“People are talented no matter where they are – it’s just they have to find out what they’re truly passionate about,” she said. “The only way to bridge the gaps and ensure that innovation is happening in every part of the world is to empower people across the globe, and not just focus on the developed world,” she said.

During her time at Stanford, Malde, a Knight-Hennessy Scholar (KHS) in the GSE, hopes to gain a better understanding of the science of learning and design, so she can scale her nonprofit’s impact to reach more students in less-resourced countries.

As part of the Knight-Hennessy program — designed to prepare graduates for leadership in addressing complex challenges facing the world — she wants to learn how to collaborate across sectors and achieve her goal of making high-quality education accessible to all.

“I believe helping youth build an entrepreneurship mindset of resilience, failing forward, and growth can help them with anything they hope to do in the future.”