When you Combine your Passion with Your Job

I come from a conservative family which still believes art and entertainment can only be a recreation rather than a full time career. It has been a life long struggle for me to make my parents understand that I wanted a career that I am passionate about, rather than just a well paid and prestigious job. Although, my mom pushed me to do my engineering degree rather than art, architecture or fashion (which was my interest at that time when I came out of high school), my parents did appreciate my creativity and allowed me to pursue my passion in addition to my studies. I attended a lot of amount of drawing and painting classes and also won prizes in various competitions. What I didn't know at that time was eventually both, my academics and passion would play a huge role in shaping my career.

I am a single child in my family, and that was a main contributing factor for me to immerse myself in games. I was not a socializing type growing up, so most of my free time was spent at home playing all by myself. It used to be really frustrating at times. When I was eight, I got my first Tetris game, I got totally hooked on to it. Eventually, my parents bought me a Atari Console when I was twelve, and I was flabbergasted. Mario was an addiction. I didn't need friends to always be there for me anymore. I spent all my extra time playing games. Once I was in high school I and got a personal PC and started playing MPG games. Even today I feel nostalgic playing games, it makes me feel alive.

Another big part of my life was reading novels, I used to spend a lot of time reading mystery, fantasy and thriller books forgetting my existence mesmerized by the plot and characters, not blinking an eye, resisting my urge to sleep till I finish a chap...

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...I entered animation, I lost touch with the idea. In 2012, when I started researching about schools and I was convinced that Master's in Games is the perfect fit for me, especially with the boom in game technology, its a great time to invest in gaming education.

So far that's where my journey has led me to. My origin, background and unique perspective from multiple worlds; art, technology and business (my father is a self made business man, and my mother is a commerce professional and owned a professional coaching academy) will definitely make me a diverse candidate who can bring in a rich flavor to the team of UCSC candidates. I am as passionate, as I am hardworking, if I love something I always put 100% into it. It's always been all or nothing for me, and since gaming is all I love, I can promise you my wholehearted dedication to learn, research and contribute.