Her life advice: "A setback is never the end of the story. It's often just a different gate opening — you only need to be willing to search for it !"
Her life advice: "A setback is never the end of the story. It's often just a different gate opening — you only need to be willing to search for it !"
That's the philosophy Sireesha A V S has carried through every classroom, every counselling session, and every restart her life has asked of her.
Sireesha grew up in Nandikotkur, a small town in Andhra Pradesh. Raised among teachers, students, and parents in the school her father founded in 1974, teaching was not simply a career choice for Sireesha—it was the world she grew up in . To this day, her deepest joy comes from spending time with kids of every age, from infants just months old to young adults finding their way.
Her academic path reflects that calling: an M.Sc. in Mathematics, an M.Sc. in Psychology, a B.Ed., and, a PG Diploma in Family and Marriage Counselling , each degree added not for a title, but because life kept asking more of her.
She began her career teaching mathematics to 9th and 10th graders in a CBSE school in western India. She began to realize that academic teaching alone could not address what many students were going through.
They needed someone who could listen without judgment and help them navigate emotions, relationships and academic pressure.That realization pushed her to study psychology and counselling, reshaping the course of her career. Her mantra has always been, “Connect before correct.” And, as she puts it, “A smile is the gateway to connection.”
While teaching teenagers, she was deeply moved by how disconnected some children felt from their parents and teachers. It made her wonder how relationships between children and the adults around them could become so strained and what could be done to rebuild that connection.
That question became one of the driving forces behind her work today. But her path was rarely linear. After marriage, personal circumstances forced her to pause her teaching career , yet she never let go of her passion.
She completed her M.Sc. and B.Ed. through distance education while raising her children, teaching wherever and however she could. Years later, life asked her to pause again. This time, her two sons encouraged her toward a new direction : counselling. At the age of 45, she went back to college to complete her diploma in Family and Marriage Counselling.
From those repeated restarts came something lasting: "The Peepal Tree", an organisation "she founded" to work with teachers, students, and parents helping them build the emotional bonds that classrooms alone often can't.
Sireesha credits her journey to many people, her father's values, her mother's resilience, her children's grounding presence, her husband's steady encouragement, and mentors like child psychologist Smt. Jaya Pattabhiram, who believed in her at pivotal moments.
That's the philosophy Sireesha A V S has carried through every classroom, every counselling session, and every restart her life has asked of her.
Sireesha grew up in Nandikotkur, a small town in Andhra Pradesh. Raised among teachers, students, and parents in the school her father founded in 1974, teaching was not simply a career choice for Sireesha—it was the world she grew up in . To this day, her deepest joy comes from spending time with kids of every age, from infants just months old to young adults finding their way.
Her academic path reflects that calling: an M.Sc. in Mathematics, an M.Sc. in Psychology, a B.Ed., and, a PG Diploma in Family and Marriage Counselling , each degree added not for a title, but because life kept asking more of her.
She began her career teaching mathematics to 9th and 10th graders in a CBSE school in western India. She began to realize that academic teaching alone could not address what many students were going through.
They needed someone who could listen without judgment and help them navigate emotions, relationships and academic pressure.That realization pushed her to study psychology and counselling, reshaping the course of her career. Her mantra has always been, “Connect before correct.” And, as she puts it, “A smile is the gateway to connection.”
While teaching teenagers, she was deeply moved by how disconnected some children felt from their parents and teachers. It made her wonder how relationships between children and the adults around them could become so strained and what could be done to rebuild that connection.
That question became one of the driving forces behind her work today. But her path was rarely linear. After marriage, personal circumstances forced her to pause her teaching career , yet she never let go of her passion.
She completed her M.Sc. and B.Ed. through distance education while raising her children, teaching wherever and however she could. Years later, life asked her to pause again. This time, her two sons encouraged her toward a new direction : counselling. At the age of 45, she went back to college to complete her diploma in Family and Marriage Counselling.
From those repeated restarts came something lasting: "The Peepal Tree", an organisation "she founded" to work with teachers, students, and parents helping them build the emotional bonds that classrooms alone often can't.
Sireesha credits her journey to many people, her father's values, her mother's resilience, her children's grounding presence, her husband's steady encouragement, and mentors like child psychologist Smt. Jaya Pattabhiram, who believed in her at pivotal moments.
This story was told by Sireesha A V S and published with their permission by the What's Your Story editorial team.
