Raj Gilda spent two decades in banking and IT in New York and Mumbai — Citibank, Deloitte, NSE, Tech Mahindra — quietly optimizing spreadsheets and, presumably, his own retirement plan. Then in 2011 he quit a perfectly good career to build vocational classrooms in government schools instead. As Co-founder at Lend A Hand India, he now works closely with state governments to bring vocational education into secondary schools, a scale of impact achieved in partnership with government, not by LAHI alone, now reaching 20+ states and over 2 million students a year. Along the way: a Chevening Gurukul Scholarship, a Government of India appointment to the National Skill Development Agency, a seat on NCERT's textbook development team under NEP 2020, a President's Volunteer Service Award, "top alumnus" honors from UT Austin (MBA included, presumably as a backup plan), and an Electronics Engineering degree from Pune which largely remains ornamental.