Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Meera Mahidhara. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Meera, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I have been running the nonprofit sect of HomeScreens since its inception in 2022. Through this experience, I have been able to grow significantly as a person and citizen. One of the main services of HomeScreens is to provide accessible resources to houseless communities in Los Angeles County. Volunteers work on an individual basis through events at local shelters were we talk, interact, and engage with houseless individuals. As the founder of this initiative, I have been able to find the empathy and humanity in individuals that often go unnoticed by society. During the end of 2022, I started interning at a women and children’s shelter where I was in charge of answering phone calls and working the desk. Every day from around 3pm to 7pm, I would get numerous calls from women asking if there were any available beds or rooms for them and their children. My response to most calls was devastating: that there were no beds or occupancy available, and my referral was nothing but a website with nearby shelters and contact information for them. What made me feel worse was that this woman, like many other houseless individuals, probably paid for cellular service to make that call, and would probably need to visit a local library to access the website I referred her too. The process was not sustainable. As a result of this, I spent the majority of my 2023 summer working on the development of an app that would allow houseless persons to reserve beds while not having to pay for cellular services. I hope to both give back to the community through this venture while also paying it forward to the next generation of social impact entrepreneurs.

Meera, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

HomeScreens is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that is based in Los Angeles. There are two main branches to the initiative, youth outreach and accessible resource networking. Since HomeScreens was created by the youth and have many youth volunteers, there is a large emphasis on engaging houseless youth with events and activities that will both stimulate growth in academics and confidence. HomeScreens holds workshops at local women and children’s shelters as well as transitional homes that focus on female empowerment, public speaking, and encourage children to pursue careers in STEM. Additionally, we hold health and wellness events in which we teach basic coping skills, CBT and DBT strategies, and how to deal with situational stressors. Our accessible resource network mainly comes in the form of individualized events at immediate care shelters. We speak with people of all different ages and address their personal needs by referring them to local resources and programs. Through HomeScreens, we are trying to address a portion of the houseless crisis by bridging the disparity between resources made for the houseless community and the houseless community’s ability to access such programs.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I would have the say that the most important trait that a person can have when starting a business, startup, or nonprofit is to be resilient. A lot of the time, you are going to receive hundreds of rejections before you hear back from one. When I was starting off HomeScreens, I was trying to get in touch with different shelters to host our services and events there. What was interesting was that I would conduct a professional and successful conversation via email with my potential partners, but once we decided to meet via zoom or in-person, they would immediately decline the offer. And I soon came to realize that this was due to my age. When HomeScreens was a nascent organization, I was still only seventeen years old and still in high school. As a result of this, many shelters thought that I was too inexperienced or immature to partner with them. I had to go through probably twenty rejections in this fashion until I landed my first partnership in the San Fernando Valley. Through this experience, I learned the value in resilience and determination. No initiative will be successful unless there are people who will take a rejection as a launching point for new opportunities.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

On the topic of resilience, I’d say that one of the most rewarding and challenging tasks as a young entrepreneur was funding the initial phases of the HomeScreens App. My quota was $15,000, and before starting the entrepreneurial sect of HomeScreens, I was used to sustaining the nonprofit part on small sums of grant and scholarship money. Through this experience, I had to learn to pitch to private investors, both ones that I knew such as family and friends, but also larger corporations who found value in my idea. Additionally, I applied to multiple scholarships and grants which helped support me with a few thousand dollars. Overall, though, this process was long and hard: there were many instances in which I would not hear back from organizations, or would feel shy to ask people for money. But overall, I learned that following a job through to the end is so worth it especially when you are passionate about the cause.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.home-screens.org/