What does it take to reimagine education not from an ivory tower, but from the frontlines of lived experience? In a world full of debates about how broken the system is, Akshita Tiwari is quietly, powerfully building something better. As a young woman of color and co-founder of qMe, she’s working to democratize access to one of the most complex subjects on Earth: quantum computing. In this conversation, Akshita, named Student Entrepreneur of the Year by the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council shares how she’s turning STEM education on its head, making quantum relatable, and navigating the leap from student to CEO. This is about innovation, identity, and the bold act of believing that everyone deserves a seat at the (lab) table.
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Founding qMe: Co-Founder Akshita Tiwari’s Mission To Democratize Quantum Tech
There has been so much conversation over the education system, how broken it is, and what we are going to do about the future of learning. I asked, “What does it look like when you build the future of learning?” not from an ivory tower but as a young woman? I’m going to say, a young woman of color who is determined to democratize access to some of the most complex knowledge on Earth, quantum computing. We’ll meet Akshita Tiwari, who is the co-founder of qMe and a finalist for the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year.
What’s qMe? It’s a platform reimagining how we engage with STEM and quantum learning, and watching its impact on all systems that we know, be it in finance, health, climate, and more. In this episode, Akshita is going to share what it means to be a young founder who’s navigating innovation, impact, and identity all at once.
We talk about the leap from going from student to CEO and being taken seriously when you’re looking for funding, making quantum concepts feel human, and why rethinking education might be one of the boldest acts of leadership there is. I seriously enjoy this. Read and stay to the end. I guarantee you, you will feel so much better. There’s a level of positivity and passion that transcends, as it were. Enjoy.
Akshita Tiwari, the Co-founder of qMe, welcome to the world of Women Advancing. We are so fortunate to hear from, at this point, the youngest founder that we are speaking to this season. Akshita, welcome.
I’m incredibly honored to be here. I’m so excited. Thank you so much for having me. I can’t wait.
qMe Co-Founder Akshita Tiwari
My pleasure. Before we jump into qMe, which is going to blow pretty much everybody’s mind away, let’s start at the very beginning and let’s know about you. Give us a little bit of background on your journey and how you ended up doing all of this.
Growing up, for high school, I went to a STEM magnet high school. When you go to these places, the first thing they instill in you is research. They want you to start research and keep that going for four years. I go and I am a confused ninth grader. I’m like, “What do I want to do research in?” I have no clue. My mentor at the time goes, “Why don’t you try something called Quantum Computing?” I hear that and I’m like, “No way. It sounds insane and complicated. It’s too much for me.” I had no coding experience.
From there, I was like, “Fine. If you’re insisting, I’ll try out this one class.” I tried out this one class. After I took the class, I realized that this field sounds theoretical, and you can make it theoretical if you’d like, but it has so many applications. In our science, we can use it as a tool to apply to healthcare, finance, law, or any of these fields. That caught my mind. Now we have something that I thought was computer science, and it is computer science, but it’s so applicable. That’s where my journey started.
From there, for the next four years, I was involved in my own quantum research. I still am to this day. I mainly worked in healthcare, so that was my intersection between quantum computing and healthcare. Growing up in these four years, I would attend these conferences and talk to my family every single day at the dinner table. I’m bringing this up, and I’m like, “I learned about this,” and they’re like, “This is too complicated.” I’m like, “What?” My whole family is full of CS experts compared to me. I’m just starting out. I’m like, “What do you mean this is too complicated?”
That’s where everything started for me because I know that I still have balance in my life. I do all the things I love to do, and I still am learning this complicated science. Why can’t my family think that? Why can’t my friends think that? Everyone is coming up to me and they’re like, “You should pick something easier.” Why? That’s my journey, and that’s where I started. That’s where I realized that it’s not about the content. It’s about that fear that we all have that this is never for me. I once had that fear when I started out.
That’s where my journey launched, and that’s where I launched qMe. Me and my best friend were like, “Let’s do something.” We co-founded qMe together to get rid of the stigma that quantum computing is so complicated because there’s so much unused potential amongst people that we know. That’s my journey. I finished my first year at UVA, studying Computer Science and Entrepreneurship. I love to talk a lot. I talk a lot about my journey in quantum, especially as a woman navigating both STEM and entrepreneurship. Both of them have their own barriers and their own obstacles. I’m still getting my footing down, learning things, and launching startups. I love what I do.
Defining Quantum Computing
It’s infectious. Will you do me a favor? Will you take a quick beat and unpack a little bit for the audience, the whole notion of quantum computing? Interestingly, one of the folks whom I’ve had the honor of interviewing is this woman, Danah Zohar, who does quantum leadership. It’s quantum mechanics applied to leadership theory. It’s interesting. I’m sitting here thinking it’ll be great to have the two of you have a conversation together. Share with people, when they hear quantum computing, what does that mean?
To simplify it down, the whole essence of quantum is that we have our regular computers. We call them classical computers. For certain problems, what classical computers can do, quantum computers can do better. They can do what’s called a higher computing power, and that sounds like a lot. Essentially, the concept is that we can apply the rules of quantum physics, which are not like our regular physics, and put them into quantum computing. That’s what we can use to have faster solutions and more effective solutions.
Quantum computing allows for faster and more effective solutions according to the rules of quantum physics. Share on XThis could mean the difference in accuracy, or it could mean solving the same problem that would have taken years otherwise to solve in days or minutes. The whole concept of it is giving us a look into our future in tech development and seeing where these problems otherwise we thought would be impossible to solve. That’s an interesting thing to play around with.
Understanding qMe’s Mission And Vision
In so many ways, what it does is it superpowers your ability and abilities. You can do so much of the computing so much more quickly, so that you can either find an error faster, so you don’t go down that path, or build upon all of this. What problem were you trying to solve when you and your friend co-founded qMe? Also, make sure that you share with us exactly what qMe is.
qMe is a venture that my best friend, Aditya Sengar, and I co-founded. What we do is we work to introduce quantum computing education at an early age. We essentially make this content more accessible to anybody, regardless of background, previous experience, and things like that. Our problem that we were trying to solve was something that we both have faced. Coming into the field at first, we thought that there was no place for us. We thought that this was not going to be something that stayed with us, and we thought the research was too complicated.
Our big mission is to get rid of that mindset. What we do is we started off by teaching middle school students. We expanded to elementary school students. We’ve also expanded to university students in India. The whole social good aspect of it, as well, is that we wanted to dedicate this to a cause that we care about. I feel like a lot of the time, I see representation and exposure to mainstream charity organizations, such as the Red Cross, but I see the same level of importance, but not as much exposure.
A problem that I’ve seen personally, as someone coming from an Indian background, is that many people in India, especially women, are unable to pursue not only quantum computing but also STEM fields because of societal barriers or financial barriers. It’s a cultural thing that we can work to change, despite being across the world. What we do is we pair up with an orphanage that supports women, and we fund their STEM education.
Over the years, we’ve picked our charitable initiatives that we personally either relate to or that we feel don’t get enough attention from mainstream media. That’s also part of what qMe does. I feel like it’s not talked about as much, but a core of what we do and what’s kept us motivated is the gratification that comes from that as well.
It excites me because, in social entrepreneurship, it used to be that people would think, “You can’t build something. It’s either purpose or profit.” There’s no way you can have both. The truth of the matter is that there has now been so much research that shows you can. The social entrepreneurship efforts and entities often have a longer-term, better, and more sustainable impact, for sure, but overall performance, honestly, because it makes sense. If you’re taking care of the planet, that’s going to take care of your customer, and that will help the people buy your product, which then leads to your profit. I’ve never understood why people don’t get that.
Initially, when I started out, I also had the notion that you can only build a business for X amount of profit, or for this reason. I didn’t know much about social entrepreneurship before I started, and I accidentally did it. We also need to talk more about what that looks like. Especially for young founders and women, what does that look like? What does it mean to make an impact? You want to be at the forefront of your impact. I want to see the people that I’m helping and the industries that I’m helping. Out of either laziness or lack of information, people are unable to do it. As you said, I find it so crazy. How do you not understand that?
For far too long, whenever anyone is looking to try and do something new, the very first question we ask is, “What could go wrong?” As opposed to “What could go right?” You only know what you know. That’s super safe. I’m not saying you have to be a crazy risk taker, but it could be beyond you, something so amazing that could make all the difference in the world, but you have to take a step away and be willing to expand. Speaking of expansion, what was the moment you knew this idea had legs? Was there a milestone?
There were two kinds of moments that we thought, “This is something that’s lifelong. It stays with us our whole lives.” When we first started, we were sitting in Panera Bread. We wanted to do something. We’re making calls and trying to pitch to people in our area. We got so much love and so much appreciation, but many people told us, “What are you doing? This doesn’t make any sense. It’s quite a foreign concept. It’s not something that has been done before on a major scale.”
When we first started, we had expected maybe 5 students to 10 students or 15 max, and we had gone 80 sign-ups in our first pilot program with no experience at all. That was based on students who wanted to learn. We didn’t even have the platform. We didn’t build it. The people wanted to learn. Middle school students wanted to learn. That was mind-blowing to us. I remember when I opened up that sign-up and I saw this many, I was shocked. I was like, “That’s insane.” That was our first moment.
We had that doubt that was like, “Will we be able to sustain this? It’s one thing to get this many students, but we’ve never taught this before. We don’t know what exactly is going on.” I remember from the classes that I had taken, we had always had MIT professors or PhD students teach us. That’s insane and amazing, but I never felt like I had the education at my level. We were like, “Let’s start where we wish we had started.” That’s something we’ve kept with qMe forever.
That’s the moment we knew that this idea was going somewhere. I remember there was this one particular moment when we were hosting a summer camp. A parent had signed up their child, and the child was in first grade. This is before we started teaching elementary school students. I’m stressed out. There are all these middle school students, and there’s a first grader. What are we going to do with them?
We were like, “Let’s try something out. Instead of talking about quantum computing, which will not mean anything to this person, let’s observe. Let’s take a step back as educators and see what he enjoys.” During the breaks, it would be YouTube breaks. He would watch astronomy videos like the planets that he liked to see. We would be like, “He likes planets. How about we try using his passion and then incorporate quantum computing into it?”
I talked to him and I was like, “I have a tool for you that can make these planets more interesting.” That’s where I came up with the concept of using passion as a tool to ignite curiosity in these students. That’s something we believe in at the core because even if I didn’t have the notion that healthcare is applicable in quantum computing, I wouldn’t care about it. I want to know what I can do for my interests. By the end of the week, this first-grade student wrote a blog article on quantum computing and astronomy. I thought that’s insane. That’s crazy. That was the idea. That was the day that I knew, and I was like, “This is going to stay with me for my entire life.”
This is the thing.
I love doing it. I love every minute of it. I think there is nothing better in this world than dedicating my Saturday mornings to it. I love it.
Navigating The Lack Of Access And Equity
It’s interesting, and you hit the nail on the head. You’re right, the difference is learning from peers. It’s peer-to-peer learning. It’s so much more accessible and much less intimidating. You automatically feel, “These guys will get me. They will understand what I’m up against, what I’m doing, where I am, where my head’s at,” and all sorts of things. That’s incredibly astute. Good on you for that. One thing you mentioned, and you brought up a little bit, was that there are barriers. Every founder has them.
As a woman innovating in both STEM and entrepreneurship, what are some of the challenges you faced? How have you navigated them? I want to make a statement. It’s hard for anyone of any expertise level, any age, and any experience, but to do what you’ve done and you’re onto something, I would think and hope that garner a lot of excitement from some, but there’s always competition.
Starting off with both STEM and entrepreneurship over the years, going to various STEM-focused magnet high schools, that’s one environment, and then coming from an entrepreneurship environment. Those are two different sets of barriers. For STEM, the biggest thing for me was access. At the time when I was even pursuing this research, despite being at a magnet high school, I was the only woman even pursuing it, to begin with. When you’re the only person doing something, especially in the field of STEM, when it’s a very technical field, you will always face some criticism, both external and internal, because there’s no access.
I feel like if I had known, or if it was a common thing for women to be in quantum computing and do all these things, I would have been like, “Nothing out of the norm. Whatever.” I remember my peers would come up to me and be like, “Why would you pick this when you can pick something easier, and when you can do something that requires fewer hours a week? Why choose this?” I sat myself down so many times, and I was like, “Am I doing the right thing by even pursuing it?” A) It’s such a new field. B) Even beyond that, I’m the only person doing something that people don’t know about or they’re not doing.
When you’re not following that bandwagon, there is a lot of doubt. The biggest barrier is the internal doubt, because if I believe that I can do it, then that opens up so many new doors for me. The problem is the way society has also conditioned us in the way that things are for women. It’s difficult to invoke that self-belief and keep it going. For me, I needed my family every single day. I would come to them with something, and they’re like, “No, you’re doing exactly what you need to do.” You need to have a support system.
I feel like a major barrier for me in STEM was having that access because I’m someone who loves to talk. I have a very social side to me, and typically in STEM, people think that the most successful people are those who are able to put their head down or are robotic. Growing up, I also felt that. I hate saying it, but it’s true. That’s the stereotype of the STEM world. For someone like me, for example, I was in my junior year. I always liked to go to this conference at MIT, and it was their undergraduate research tech conference. I went there. I love to talk, and I love doing all these things, but when you’re placed in such an exclusive STEM environment like that, it becomes so much harder not to tone down your personality.
Many people have told me, “You’re in STEM. You should act in this certain way, or if you want to be successful, look at this scientist. They’ve acted that way.” That access and knowing deep down that I shouldn’t have to tone down my personality, and I should go at it the way that I am. I can also be the way that I am and have this very vibrant personality, and also be very technically sound. You can do both. That is something that is still not understood. Even at the conference, I presented my presentation and my research, and I wore this very vibrant pink blazer. I was the only person wearing that. People were coming up to me and asking me, “Where did you get that, this, and that?”
In that moment, there was a moment of self-doubt of like, “Is that what I was supposed to do? Is that something I should have done?” Over the years, that’s something for STEM that I vouch for. I tell all the girls that I teach, “You need to believe in yourself, especially where there is not enough equity. We need to be the ones to push ourselves up there and be like, ‘We can.’” For entrepreneurship, I feel it’s the opposite problem. It’s about storytelling and making sure that you advocate for yourself before you even have a vision.
There have been so many times for my startup where I don’t even have a full app yet, but I need to go and convince people that I know what I’m doing. For entrepreneurship, the biggest barrier, especially in that perception-based field, is that first impression or that first chat that you have with someone. Getting over that nervousness and being like, “I’m going to go into this room. I’m the youngest person. I’m a woman of color.” I’m still going to talk to people. I’m going to go out there and throw myself out there. That’s the barriers that I’ve faced.
That’s what I was going to ask. It’s interesting. I went to an event. I was at the Motion Pictures Association, and it was for the screening of the movie LILLY about Lilly Ledbetter, who was the person who helped create and cause and had a bill named after her regarding fair pay. I met an astrophysicist with an extraordinary personality, bright, bubbly, and very stylish. All the things you would not at all have thought. She said exactly this, “This is me but I am also damn good at building rocket ships. What are you going to do with that?” It’s terrific. Here’s where I’m going with this. Do you think or have you ever found that being underestimated has worked in your favor, or are you so tired of that narrative entirely?
There are two sides of me that will answer this question. The first, it’s me now looking retrospectively at my journey so far. I can say that being underestimated has worked in my favor. People assume that your potential is so much less than it is, or you are so much less capable than you are. I’ve known that because people have even said it to my face. You’re upset at first, but it creates the fire and motivation in you to do something about it, and to be like, “You think that. That’s good. Think that, because I’m going to prove that wrong to the point where age isn’t even in the question.” It’s not about how old you are, what you look like, or what you do. It’s about, “Look at her work.”
When people underestimate you, use it as a motivation to do something that will exceed their expectations. Share on XMany times, with the right support, I’ve felt like I’m going to take this and turn it into success for myself. The younger people or the next upcoming generation don’t have to face that because I don’t think it’s right. Despite it working in my favor, I never think that it’s something that I would wish upon anyone or want for myself. I also feel like, as much as that stands, there have been times when I have felt the loneliness or upset. At the end of the day, it is still someone attacking how you are personally what they believe you can do. I believe the only person who can define what I can do is me.
The Right Mindset Of A Good Leader
I completely agree, and it’s incredibly short-sighted, frankly. How has your leadership evolved from when you very first started qMe to now? Have you had to unlearn anything?
Before I started, I used to think that entrepreneurship is a very not an emotional journey, especially coming from a very strong STEM background. In STEM, we’re always taught to be data-driven, neutral, and not to think about the emotions or things like that. That was already intrinsically in me, but as I’ve done qMe and as I’ve led qMe through everything, I’ve realized that the best leader isn’t the one who is able to get all the checkboxes. It’s able to lead with care and with empathy. That’s not something I intentionally figured out. As I would teach these students, I realized that the reason why this kept going isn’t because the business side of it was fun.
The best leader is not the one who gets to check all the boxes but the one who leads with care and empathy. Share on XIt was fun, but more than that, the students came up to me and said, “Because of you, I took my first quantum computing class. Now I’m pursuing research. Now I’m pursuing an internship. Now I’m even going abroad to study.” All these things, especially when it comes from women who are not able to have the same privileges that I do, being here with this education system. It sets something in your brain. It rewires me to think, “The things that I’m doing are helping somebody out there.” That’s such an important thing because leaders and entrepreneurs, especially in the media. It’s shown to be, “They’re so tough and strong-minded.”
You can be strong-minded and tough and still be incredibly emotional. The best entrepreneurs lead with emotion. They are very open about their vulnerabilities, what has gone right, and what has gone wrong. Something like qMe, where it is all about the mindset. The students need to be approached with care. I’ve had so many brilliant educators who haven’t understood that emotional human side of me, and that is what makes the difference between a good education and a bad education.
How To Reframe Intelligence
The thing that makes me laugh a little bit is that there are so many people who are so worried about AI being inhumane. There are so many humans who are incredibly inhumane. What’s a belief in your mind about learning our intelligence that you think we urgently need to switch around and reframe?
Something major that I always thought about is that intelligence can come in many different forms. I always used to think that the more technical people or intelligence is seen in IQ or things like that. It’s not that it doesn’t contribute to it, but there are so many other formats of intelligence. For example, design intelligence.
I could be someone who designs an algorithm, and somebody else is able to put it in a format usable by the common people. That is important because you want to be at the intersection of both. I know quantum computing. I can be learning quantum computing, but if I can’t put it into an audio or visual format that students in middle school or elementary schools can understand, then I don’t consider my job done.
How Quantum Computing Can Help Healthcare
That reminds me of the quote, “Simplicity is the greatest form of elegance,” and “Less is always more.” It’s just is. It’s so clean. With that in mind, as we get deeper into quantum learning, is there an area in particular or a societal ill, if you will, that you see having the greatest impact or the biggest? Is it education or climate, or something else, or all?
Yes, all, but in particular, if I had to highlight a few, I would say, first and foremost, in healthcare. My specific research was about healthcare, essentially something called Quantum Machine Learning. It’s different from our regular machine learning because it can take data, like hospital data, that is hard to work with, and work with it. That’s the simple explanation, but the whole thing is so inspiring. For example, if we can predict life expectancy for someone with lung cancer, which is something that I worked on, or even prove that quantum computing can be applied in these cancer fields or disease fields. That is something groundbreaking.
The more we educate younger people, we are going to have solutions for these problems that we could have never seen before. That leads back to education as well. Quantum computing is going to reshape how we think of education. Typically, even now, when teaching artificial intelligence or quantum, we are a little bit hesitant. We are like, “I don’t know if this is going to work.” When we start off, we’re like, “I don’t know if this is going to go anywhere.” In the next 10, 20, or 30 years, I want that notion to be completely gone because quantum computing education at an elementary school or for a first-grader is going to show everybody that education has no age. It is very much determined by how we are approaching it.
Redesigning The Entire Learning System
It’s a perfect segue into a question that is burning away within me. With you and all that you’ve lived, done, and the whole notion of bringing things to where people can access them, if you could redesign the entire learning system from scratch, what would it look like?
It would have a couple of different pieces to it, a couple of different moving parts. First of all, normalizing the idea that education is a two-way street. Growing up, I used to think that the teacher knows all and I know nothing, and it is a one-way transfer. What I’ve realized, especially being an educator myself. I’m only eighteen years old. I have so much more to learn, but I’m still learning from the students who are 8 years old and 9 years old. That fluid interconnected system is what we need, and we need to build on top of that.
As a whole, the world is very interdisciplinary. We sometimes think that you can only be in the arts or in STEM. You can’t do everything all at once. Breaking that down and having those classes or having that education where the students are creators, especially in STEM. STEM is all about creation, but it’s about storytelling as well. When I have my students learn quantum computing, the first thing I make them do is go teach others by writing their own blog article.
You are learning how to write, how to communicate, and teach others. When you teach others, your own information gets even stronger. If I had to redefine the learning system, I would say that, as education gives us confidence, we also need to know that we need to have the communication to be able to say what we’ve learned and to hone in on what exactly matters and what we’re learning and combine all those fields together.
Do Not Keep Your Hopes High, What?
It’s so funny because it reminds me so often that the age-old adage of knowledge is power, but always when it’s shared. Otherwise, great on you. Whatever, but you must be carrying a salt shaker. What’s a piece of advice that you’ve gotten and you’re glad, you said, “Pfft,” and you ignored it?
Be more realistic. I’ve gotten that one a lot. I still get this. This is a dream that everybody has, or this is something everybody wants to do. Don’t keep your hopes high. The only thing keeping me going is keeping my hopes high. Any day, I would take the disappointment of not reaching a goal rather than not even having the goal in the first place. I’m happy to be able to be like, “I am not realistic and I’m proud of it.” I do think my life is sunshine and rainbows. That’s fine. You can be like that.
There’s a whole thing, too. If we’re all truly in fact connected, there’s a magnetic frequency. Frequency to frequency, you’re going to magnetize to you that which you are at the same level of, and high, happy, and positive is way higher than negative. You bring to you what you put out there. That is a universal law.
It’s so strong. It matters.
I’m going to say, whoever you people are, shame on swooping and pooping. We usually use the term swoop and poop during a brainstorming session when someone is going and all the things it could be and somebody goes, “Well.” They Eeyore it. As the kids used to say, “Don’t yuck on my yum,” but it’s true. If my daughters are tuning in, they are rolling their eyes, going, “Mom, shut up.”
I haven’t heard that one.
Sit Down And Stay In The Moment
I know. That’s me thinking I’m so on the pulse. Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self?
I would probably tell my younger self to tune out everything around me, sit down, and stay in the moment. A lot of the time, especially as someone who was an early founder and who wants to get away from this idea that “This is not going to go anywhere. You need to redefine what you’re doing. You’re too young.” All these things. As somebody who is navigating that space, a lot of the time, I always kept thinking the next step, “I need to do this. I need to do that.”
If I have this opportunity, then the next one has to be something better so that I stay on the radar. Over time, what I realized is you can plan for the next steps, but also savor the moment and be like, “In this moment, I’m so proud of everything that I’ve done. I’m so proud that I found something that I’m passionate about. I’m in a field that’s not that easy to succeed in. I am trying my best.”
A lot of people and a lot of women, especially, need to hear that what you’re doing on a day-to-day basis is already insane. It’s already something for anybody to be inspired by. Telling myself that over and over again and waking up and thinking, “There is nothing wrong with the path that you’re on.” That’s the only advice.
You’ve already helped so many people who are tuning in with that piece of advice. There are so many people who’ve given up, or they’ve been bruised from trying so hard, and to your point, facing so much of the bias that has existed. At the end of the day, believe.
It also comes from the network that you have. That’s why I’m heavily into mentorship, and even mentorship, whether that comes through your family or your friends. You need to create a network of people. Even when you don’t believe in yourself and you’re like, “I quit. I can’t do this anymore,” which I’ve said so many times. My parents and my brother have always been like, “If I know anybody who can do it, you can.” That inspiration and that hope, even when you don’t have the validation to support it, that’s what takes you to eventually reach the benchmarks that you want to reach.
The inspiration and hope you get from other people will help you reach the benchmarks you want to reach. Share on XIt’s true, and you’re like, “I got this,” and everyone thinks they do.
Give it another try. Try one more time.
What’s the harm?
Exactly.
Episode Wrap-up And Closing Words
Akshita, thank you so much for sharing your energy and positivity, but more importantly, your intelligence, smarts, grace, and politeness. I can tell you now, people will bookmark this because it’s such a healing message. It gives such inspiration in a world where people are feeling a little uncertain and not quite sure whether it’s going to all work out. Is AI or quantum a friend or foe? It is and it can be a friend. It can also be a foe, but it depends on you and what you do with it. At the end, you always have an advocacy. Thank you. I look forward to continuing the conversation.
Thank you so much, Kate.
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KB Takeaways
If you’re not inspired and energized by my conversation with Akshita, you’d better check and make sure you haven’t died. She is a finalist for the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year, and it’s no surprise why. When you hear her, when you see her, and I’m going to use other parts of her field, everything that makes Akshita who she is makes you so excited for the future, at least it does me.
My takeaways, one, in a way, it’s more for those of us who are dealing with younger generations and the notion of where we have a tendency to swoop and poop as it were or to say, “Don’t get your hopes up.” I don’t know if some of our realism is necessarily as helpful. Is it for us, or is it making us feel less guilty because we haven’t done as well or haven’t achieved certain goals? We ought to focus on lifting up in a realistic way, but you’ve heard through the comments. It makes a big difference.
Two, it makes them more accessible. Things like quantum, which is truly, that’s what’s going to be day rigor. I just know what it is. The positive impact that it can have is immeasurable. Rather than being afraid of it and not shutting down and not learning it, be curious. Light touch. As Akshita said, what’s the worst thing? You take a misstep, and then you go back and you try again. I loved that piece as well. In terms of intelligence, in general, there are many types of intelligence. I know on the outset that simply such a trite comment, but we forget that.
When we are working with younger generations of students, please don’t underestimate them. As a person, my entire life has been underestimated simply because I’m effusive. I can be funny. I am expressive and have always been taken for someone who’s a little bit less than, a little bit stupid. Believe me, old controller. Be sure to celebrate the differences in each other and our intelligences. Let’s see what a little curiosity can help us lead to. With that, I’ll leave you, and I look forward to continuing the conversation with someone I’m not going to tell who.
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About Akshita Tiwari
Akshita Tiwari is an incoming second-year computer science student at the University of Virginia and the co-founder of qMe, a global venture making quantum computing education accessible to students of all ages. Her work has been featured on NBC4 Washington and published in The Quantum Insider, where she writes about the urgency of early exposure and passion in quantum learning. She is also the author of a quantum-themed picture book for children and has conducted research in quantum computing, with her work published through IEEE. From teaching first graders to global university students, she is a strong advocate for equity in education, particularly for women in color.
In 2025, she became the youngest keynote speaker in the history of the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council Gala, speaking on access, innovation, and the future of emerging technology through quantum metaphors, while also being nominated as a finalist for multiple award categories.
This summer, she is building Proco, a high-trust professional networking platform, as a venture fellow at the Darden i.Lab at UVA. When not working on her entrepreneurial side, she loves dancing and finding new fun fashion!