“I’ll never forget the day I went to distribute meals in the Priyanka Gandhi Camp in Vasant Vihar. The residents were fighting for basic needs. I began cooking meals at home and visiting the slums regularly. But as I spent more time there, I realised that distributing food wasn’t enough,” says 42-year-old Payal Kumar, who spends her days educating underserved children, and empowering women in the slums of Delhi.

Before her marriage to Pankaj Kumar, an electronics engineer with a budding sound system distribution business, Payal had spent almost three years in the corporate world, working as an event manager.

“I decided to step away from my career to support my husband’s venture. I managed the administration of the business while also overseeing event management. Throughout the years, I skillfully balanced the demands of running the business with raising our two children, Pranjal and Krrish,” she says.

“I was deeply involved in the business, but I felt like I wasn’t fulfilling my true calling,” she adds.

Stepping away from business

A pivotal point in Payal’s life came during the COVID-19 pandemic. “When I first stepped into the slum during the lockdown, I was confronted with a reality that was beyond anything I had ever imagined,” Payal says, recalling her experience in the Priyanka Gandhi Camp. “In that silence, I realised that I wanted to do something for people who didn’t have the privileges that I had.”

She........

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