I started coding when I was 13, and I was also obsessed with art and design.

Today, I’m the founder and CEO of tech company Lightspeed, and also the founder of cultural non-profit Never Apart.

Everyone has these passions when they are kids – and sometimes they get forgotten. I’m here to tell you that your passions are important. Your passions are your secret ingredients. Igniting them can make your life complete.

All my life I’ve been surrounded by passion promoters.

My aunt was a famous painter in Africa
My grandmother was a seamstress
My family published a daily paper in India
My father was a welder, designer and DJ

Instincts Lead To Ingredients

A lot of people wouldn’t have thought that an arts degree would have helped me in life. After spending my teenage years refining my craft as a software developer, Computer Science seemed like the obvious path. But after one year in Comp Sci, i left the program, only to return to university to take up art history and religious studies.

I hungered for a way to dive deeper into the arts. Members of my family have always followed their heart in their love of culture, and i did the same.

After a year of software, statistics and calculus, my mind was being nourished by the philosophers, the painters, the prophets and the poets. I had the instinct to find these things, these ingredients. I knew their value and that I would be able to apply them to my career.

Those years of exploration didn’t mean i stopped programming
And starting Lightspeed didn’t mean i stopped loving culture

Over the years my studies led me to explore writing and music production, as well being drawn to the visual arts. I drew upon all of my interests in building Lightspeed. From the visual design of the software to the psychology of creating intuitive user interfaces, to learning how to connect with customers through communications, to creating a work environment where my employees could do the best work of their lives, I had gained much from my degree.

My instincts had led me to the ingredients I would need to build Lightspeed, a company infused with culture just as much as code.

Ingredients Unleash Your Dreams

As much as I had used everything I had learned in my studies while building Lightspeed, there was still more that I wanted to do with the arts.

When Lightspeed outgrew its office, the natural path would have been to sell the building as we planned our move to our new headquarters. Decisions on what to do with your abilities are a part of life, and often we have a career that leaves much of us left on the table. Many often wonder ‘what if’ I followed my passions. I was faced with the same question. Would it make sense for me to entertain a passion project while running a passionate software company of 500 people in 9 cities? Could I fulfill the dream of creating something that purely celebrated my belief in art?

The answer was yes. When the time came to sell the building, i knew that its new purpose would be a cultural centre called Never Apart, whose mission it was to create a new cultural awareness and inspire people.

I wanted to use art, music, film and dance to celebrate diversity and bring positive change and unity. Taking this risk allowed me to bring new purpose to my secret ingredients and unleash another dream, and most importantly, unlock the creative secret ingredients of our artistic collaborators.

After studying culture and thinking about the impact it had had on my life, after seeing how it could move people, I took the risk and created Never Apart, a non-profit that celebrated all forms of expression. I unleashed my dreams, just like my family of passion promoters.

Always Celebrate Your Secret Mix

Never Apart is a non-profit run like a tech startup.

In just 8 months, a small, diverse team has created a cultural phenomenon that has transformed the 12,000 square feet of the former Lightspeed office into a house of packed art exhibitions, film screenings, artists talks and live music events.

Never Apart houses a vinyl archive of 10,000 records, a dj mixing room, a theatre, a pool and garden for outdoor gatherings and multiple galleries including two permanent installations called the Sun and Moon Rooms.

For such a small team, the impact on the community has already crossed borders by inviting international guests and exporting local talent. We have educated our growing community on social and environmental issues and united a diversity of people, putting a spotlight on the marginalized such as the transgendered and intersex communities.

Everything that we and our collaborators create is made possible by adopting the lean methodologies and tools used at tech startups. Tools such as Slack and WordPress. Everything we create is shared through our monthly online magazine and social media, the keys to taking Never Apart’s culture global.

None of this would be possible without the startup smarts that come from running Lightspeed. The strategies that have made Lightspeed an industry leader have been injected into Never Apart’s DNA, giving it that entrepreneurial edge to bootstrap the impossible with limited resources and share it with the world.