Nisha Vora was unhappy. A high-achieving daughter of Indian immigrants in California, Vora was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard Law School. After graduation in 2012, the newly minted attorney landed what many would consider a plum job in corporate law, but she found the hours long, the work uninspiring.
What to do? Two years in, she decided to take an around-the-world backpacking trip with her partner, fellow HLS graduate Maxwell Chapman. They journeyed through Europe and Asia, including a trek through the Himalayas and visits to Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.
Vora decided to reset. She would continue in the law, but this time at a New York City nonprofit helping low-income tenants. Better, but still not quite right. “I started thinking about what actually makes me happy,” she said. “The answer always came back to food.”