Highlights: John discovered his love of South Asia at a young age and had the opportunity to visit India for the first time when he was 17. As soon as he returned to the US, he knew he would go back. His passion for international development started during his time at the University of Notre Dame where he won several grants to fund return trips to India to participate in an internship with a women's empowerment NGO in Rajasthan, study an ethno-nationalist political party in Pune, and conduct market research on the tourism industry in Jodhpur. This research served as part of a business plan for a social enterprise that led him and a partner to the semifinal round in the McCloskey Business Plan Competition. While at Notre Dame John's studies focused on social entrepreneurship, which gave him the opportunities to travel to Cambodia for a consulting project with BRAC and to work with a small, family-owned creamery/deli in Indiana.