At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Priya Sengupta for an exclusive interview with us. Priya is an Entrepreneur and Founder & CEO at LifeVitae. Let’s learn more about her background, journey and her advice for our community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Priya:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
My journey has been guided by a simple belief: talent is universal, but opportunity is not. My time at IIT Kharagpur and IIM Lucknow showed me how profoundly people can grow when placed in the right environment.
In my early twenties, just as my career was beginning, I met with a serious car accident that resulted in a spinal fracture. Until then, I had been an A-grade student with a promising, high-paying job offer. Suddenly, I was unable to work, and the employer understandably moved on.
That experience fundamentally changed my perspective. It taught me that grades and job titles are poor measures of resilience, adaptability, and human potential. I rebuilt myself and went on to spend two decades working across consulting and academia.
During this time, I encountered many capable students who felt defined by their marks and confined to careers misaligned with their strengths and passions. That observation stayed with me.
Eventually, I chose to study entrepreneurship at the Singapore Institute of Management and founded LifeVitae, with the aim of helping young people understand their true strengths and make informed career decisions beyond just grades.
‘LifeVitae’ is such a unique name; talk us through it. What problem are you solving?
The name LifeVitae is inspired by the concept of a Curriculum Vitae. While a traditional CV captures scores and achievements, LifeVitae seeks to capture lived experiences.
We address what I call the “single-metric crisis” in education — the over-reliance on marks as the dominant indicator of ability and potential. Too many young people make life-altering decisions without truly understanding their own strengths, preferences, and possibilities.
LifeVitae is driven by the mission of democratising career guidance. Meaningful, structured guidance has historically been accessible only to a small segment of students. Our platform uses AI-based algorithms aligned with the UNESCO Life Skills framework to understand an individual’s strengths, interests, and experiences. This enables students to make thoughtful career choices grounded in self-awareness rather than societal pressure or guesswork.
What differentiates your work from others in the field?
Our core differentiator is depth and contextual relevance. Many career guidance tools rely on off-the-shelf AI models that often produce generic or Western-centric recommendations detached from local realities.
At LifeVitae, we have built a hyper-local, proprietary ecosystem from the ground up. Our databases and algorithms are mapped specifically to the UNESCO Life Skills framework, ensuring our guidance is evidence-based and contextually grounded.
With over six million in-house data points, updated daily by a dedicated internal data team, our system continuously evolves with live intelligence. We are not merely a recommendation engine; we are building long-term, context-aware career guidance.
Most importantly, we measure success by student impact. In an industry where the paying customer and end user often differ, we remain accountable to the individuals whose life trajectories we influence. This philosophy shapes every architectural decision we make.
Despite the challenges, what keeps you going when things get tough?
I do not view challenges as roadblocks; I see them as problems that can be deconstructed and solved step by step. When progress feels slow, consistency becomes my anchor.
What truly sustains me is the responsibility inherent in the work. When I think about a 14-year-old in a small town who may never receive structured guidance, the mission becomes deeply personal. Behind every data point is a person trying to build a future. That perspective makes disengagement impossible — the work simply feels too important to leave unfinished.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned in life?
First, integrity is non-negotiable. Shortcuts may deliver temporary gains, but they erode trust and long-term impact.
Second, resilience is not a detour in one’s journey; it is where the most valuable capabilities are forged. My recovery after the accident in 1998 reinforced this lesson profoundly.
Third, learning must be lifelong. Every new phase of life demands the humility to unlearn, restart, and evolve.
How do you define leadership in today’s evolving world?
Leadership today is best described as empathetic accountability. It is no longer about authority alone, but about cultivating environments where teams genuinely feel connected to the mission.
It also requires cross-functional engagement. On any given day, I may work with data scientists and later collaborate with marketing or content teams to communicate the human dimension of our work.
As a leader, I am deeply mindful of my employees’ livelihoods and approach financial risks with caution. However, when it comes to long-term vision and direction, bold decisions are sometimes necessary.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Success, to me, lies in aligning clear thinking with a strong sense of purpose. It requires intellectual humility, continuous learning, and the courage to restart when circumstances change.
Equally important is resilience — the ability to take complex problems and break them into manageable steps. Ultimately, meaningful success emerges when one moves beyond external validation and focuses on growth, contribution, and impact.
What advice would you give students and young professionals?
Avoid forcing yourself into predefined templates. The world often promotes “safe” paths driven by trends or convention. Instead, focus on what I call your internal data — your strengths, interests, and lived experiences.
Develop self-awareness early. Do not wait decades to realise you are in the wrong room. Use structured tools, seek early guidance, and remember that careers are fluid journeys, not static destinations.
What makes your journey satisfying or exciting today?
The deepest satisfaction comes from witnessing the shift from success to significance. There is something profoundly rewarding about seeing clarity replace confusion — when students discover possibilities they had never imagined, or when parents rethink their definition of success.
What excites me today is the platform’s evolution. We are developing an Agentic AI system designed to function as a constant, conversational companion — akin to a wise, trusted friend for hundreds of thousands of students. This transition from delivering reports to building relationships represents both a technological and human breakthrough.
What legacy do you hope your work creates?
I hope our work contributes to dismantling the notion that a human being can be defined by a single number.
If LifeVitae helps foster a world where individuals are recognised for their resilience, skills, and lived experiences — and where fewer people feel constrained by early decisions — that would represent a deeply meaningful legacy.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
