Priya’s transition from financial services and higher education to founding LifeVitae was driven by a deep passion for education and a commitment to bridging a fundamental gap in career guidance. Throughout her career—whether working in elite academic institutions or the social impact space—Priya observed the challenges faced by students on both ends of the spectrum. While some academically brilliant students struggled to translate their achievements into meaningful careers, others who did not excel in traditional academics possessed unique strengths that often went unrecognized.Her experience in Singapore, where she worked closely with the education sector, further underscored the urgency of this issue. She recognized that students, regardless of their academic performance, were navigating an increasingly unpredictable job market without structured, personalized career guidance. The employment landscape was evolving rapidly, with career shifts becoming the norm rather than the exception. The half-life of a career had shrunk from 30 years to just five, compelling professionals to reinvent themselves entirely—engineers turning into chefs, C-suite executives pivoting to podcasting, and individuals carving out new roles that had not existed a decade ago.Traditional career guidance methods, however, had failed to keep pace with this transformation. Most assessments focused narrowly on cognitive abilities, overlooking the lived experiences, passions, and unique strengths that truly defined an individual’s career potential. Career counselors, despite their best efforts, struggled to keep up with the rapid emergence of new-age professions, such as AI ethicists, digital entrepreneurs, wellness coaches, and content creators.This realization led Priya to establish LifeVitae, an AI-driven platform designed to help individuals identify and harness their strengths beyond academics. Unlike conventional career counseling models, LifeVitae builds a holistic profile by incorporating life experiences, skills, and passions, guiding students toward careers that are not only fulfilling but also future-proof. With a strong focus on emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, and the UAE—where access to career guidance remains limited—the platform aims not just to suggest students what they can do but to empower them to discover who they can become and how they can thrive in an ever-changing world.For Priya, this transition was more than just a career shift; it was about driving a fundamental change in how individuals are prepared for the future of work.
One of the biggest challenges Priya faced while building LifeVitae was bridging the digital divide, particularly in rural areas where access to technology was limited. Many students had ambition and potential but lacked reliable internet, modern devices, and exposure to digital tools necessary for career guidance.Rather than seeing this as a barrier, Priya and her team viewed it as an opportunity to rethink accessibility. They designed LifeVitae to be lightweight, mobile-first, and optimized for low-bandwidth environments. More importantly, they tailored the platform to local needs, ensuring that its questions, recommendations, and user experience resonated with students from all backgrounds.This challenge became a defining moment, reinforcing LifeVitae’s mission of democratizing career guidance. By designing for the most underserved communities, Priya created a solution that was not only functional but truly transformative—ensuring that every student, regardless of location, has the opportunity to discover and build their future.
Priya’s academic journey at IIT Kharagpur and IIM Lucknow played a pivotal role in shaping her leadership style. At IIT, she developed a problem-solving mindset, learning to navigate complexity with analytical precision and resilience. IIM Lucknow broadened her perspective, emphasizing strategic decision-making, ethical leadership, and the ability to inspire diverse teams.A key lesson that continues to guide her is the responsibility of data-driven decision-making. At LifeVitae, she ensures AI-driven insights remain transparent, unbiased, and aligned with individuals’ best interests. For Priya, leadership is about balance—combining analytical rigor with emotional intelligence, decisiveness with inclusivity, and innovation with integrity. Her academic experiences instilled not just a problem-solving mindset but a vision for creating lasting impact.
At LifeVitae, being a student’s “best friend” means offering personalized, practical, and accessible career guidance. Priya ensures that the platform moves beyond generic advice by tailoring recommendations to each student’s unique experiences, skills, and aspirations.A key strength of LifeVitae is its local hyper-contextualization. Whether a student is from a rural area with limited exposure or an urban center with diverse opportunities, the platform adapts its assessments and recommendations to be relevant and meaningful in their specific environment. By localizing career suggestions, LifeVitae ensures students have access to real opportunities based on their background and available resources.Priya is also committed to ethical data usage. Unlike platforms that scrape data from external sources, LifeVitae relies solely on information students willingly provide, prioritizing empowerment over exploitation. Additionally, the platform evolves with its users—continuously refining recommendations as students gain new experiences and skills. This dynamic approach ensures that students receive up-to-date, relevant guidance at every stage of their career journey.
Priya envisions LifeVitae evolving from a static career guidance platform into an intelligent, adaptive system that actively supports students throughout their educational and professional journeys. Recognizing that career paths are increasingly dynamic, LifeVitae provides proactive, context-aware guidance tailored to each student’s unique growth, aspirations, and local opportunities. Unlike traditional platforms, it breaks career planning into precise, actionable steps, ensuring students receive relevant insights at every stage.A key differentiator of LifeVitae is its holistic, AI-driven approach. Instead of relying solely on grades or test scores, the platform factors in life experiences, passions, and skills to create personalized career pathways. Its AI continuously adapts, refining recommendations as students evolve. Additionally, LifeVitae anticipates user needs, delivering timely, proactive guidance rather than waiting for students to seek advice. Designed for accessibility, it ensures underserved students benefit from a mobile-first, low-bandwidth experience.AI is central to LifeVitae’s mission, enabling real-time adaptation to students’ changing goals. The platform not only personalizes career recommendations but also identifies emerging opportunities and skill gaps, helping students stay ahead in an evolving job market. By combining cutting-edge AI with ethical data usage and global reach, LifeVitae empowers students to navigate their careers with confidence, clarity, and purpose.
Priya highlights the shift from structured responses to fluid, intelligent conversations as a pivotal transformation for LifeVitae. Moving beyond reactive systems, the platform is evolving into an AI-driven mentor that anticipates student needs and provides proactive, context-aware guidance. The advancement of AI in understanding not just queries but also the motivations and aspirations behind them excites her the most. LifeVitae’s AI continuously refines its recommendations in real time, ensuring students receive dynamic support at every stage of their journey. This transformation is not just about technological progress but about redefining how students engage with career and education planning—turning AI into an evolving mentor rather than just an information source.
Ensuring fairness in AI-driven career recommendations remains a core priority for LifeVitae. Priya emphasizes the platform’s holistic approach, analyzing students’ life experiences, strengths, and interests rather than relying solely on academic metrics. To minimize bias, LifeVitae’s AI models are trained on diverse datasets, continuously audited, and reviewed by educators and career experts. Human oversight plays a crucial role in maintaining the integrity and relevance of recommendations. Additionally, students are presented with multiple career options rather than rigid pathways, empowering them to make informed choices based on their aspirations and potential.
Looking ahead, Priya envisions LifeVitae as a transformative force in career discovery and student empowerment. The platform aims to evolve into an intelligent career companion that adapts alongside students, offering personalized, predictive, and data-driven insights. By bridging the gap between education and employability, LifeVitae seeks to make career guidance universally accessible, partnering with institutions and governments to ensure all students—regardless of their background—have the tools, mentorship, and opportunities to succeed. Ultimately, the vision is to redefine career discovery, making it more inclusive, dynamic, and empowering for students worldwide.
Priya outlines LifeVitae’s global expansion strategy as one that prioritizes both scale and the depth of personalized guidance. Rather than simply broadening its reach, the platform leverages AI-driven localization to adapt to diverse educational systems, job markets, and cultural contexts. By integrating dynamic personalization, LifeVitae ensures that its AI continuously refines recommendations based on real-time user data, maintaining individualized and context-aware career guidance across regions.Strategic partnerships play a pivotal role in this expansion. By collaborating with educational institutions, governments, and corporate stakeholders, LifeVitae embeds itself within existing learning ecosystems, ensuring students worldwide receive high-quality, tailored career support. Priya emphasizes that scaling does not mean dilution—LifeVitae remains committed to innovation, AI refinement, and deep user engagement, ensuring that students, regardless of location, receive career insights that are both actionable and empowering.
For aspiring entrepreneurs in the edtech space, Priya advises focusing on purpose, adaptability, inclusivity, and measurable impact. She stresses the importance of identifying gaps in education and creating solutions that drive meaningful change rather than just digitizing existing systems. Adaptability is crucial, as education constantly evolves alongside technological advancements and workforce shifts. Additionally, she highlights the need for accessibility, urging entrepreneurs to design solutions that reach underserved communities. Above all, she believes success in edtech is measured by tangible learner outcomes rather than engagement metrics, advocating for continuous refinement based on real impact. Priya also underscores the power of collaboration in driving meaningful change. At LifeVitae, partnerships with educators, policymakers, and industry leaders ensure solutions remain aligned with real-world needs. Internally, fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation keeps the platform future-ready. She expresses deep gratitude to mentors, advisors, and the LifeVitae team, recognizing that their collective vision and resilience have been instrumental in shaping a future where every student has the tools, guidance, and confidence to realize their full potential.
