Pratiksha Solanki, a social entrepreneur and CSR consultant enjoyed talking to people and understanding them from a very early age. Having blessed with the value of compassion and interest in learning about human behaviour, she had never thought of it shaping up into her career. Speaking about her journey she further mentions,

Hardships in my family kept arriving since I was an infant. My elder brother suffered from polio. We moved from Rajupura, a small village to Vadodara and lived in the slums of Makarpura till I was 10 months and my mother who worked in Air Force hospital as nurse was allotted a quarter. Gradually things started settling down and my younger brother was born when I was three. After six months of his birth we found out that he had a blood disorder called Thallassemia Major. That broke down my parents. Seeing them in pain as a child made me more compassionate and understanding. At the age of 12 I started helping my father in organizing the blood donation camps and diabetic camps.When I was fourteen, I got selected as a State level player for Kho Kho and Kabaddi. I was appreciated for my achievements but all was in vain as I used to come back home to my brother who was in critical condition. After fighting for twelve years, we couldn't save him. The struggle of my family continued but we kept trying to fight back what destiny was throwing at us. being unknown to my truest passion, I chose to lead my further studies in commerce stream. I started supporting my father in his business in my graduation years but wasn't doing well academically. All I cared about was not my career but family then.

Career development as a social worker.

Life started getting a little better when my elder brother joined the business post completing his studies and I got space to find where I belonged. So I enrolled for IRPM PGD course from MS University. This came out as major turning point in my journey. Within a few months I got an offer from Faculty of Social Work to work in research project of CIRSD as field coordinator. I happened to accept it. This one decision made me feel that it's what I'm meant for as it gave me the sense of fulfillment and I felt determined to develop my career in social work. I later got an opportunity to work with Life Line Foundation and within fifteen days of my joining I was sent to Mumbai to arrange a road map conference. I stepped out of my city for the first time and had to be alone. The new city gave me heebie-jeebies. After having faced my own share of whammies in Mumbai, I had learnt a lifelong lesson of being bold enough to be open to the challenges of life. After working for a coulpe months with Lifeline, I got another opportunity in Shroffs Foundation and I decided to go along with that. I was glad to be back to my old city and went to hit the first day with all the zeal. Again it served me with new challenges and even broke me down enough to write my resignation a few times, but I managed to handle myself and stand strong. Gradually when the ice broke between me and my boss, I started learning a lot. I worked there for three years and it was a very smooth journey with collegues and the beautiful culture of Shroff's Family organization.

I was enjoying my working life there. The other day, some government openings came in. My freinds couldn't stop insisting me to give an attempt and so I did. I cleared the written exams and Group Discussion and the interview later. I was one of the four girls shortlisted for the project. As I was asked to submit my acedemic records and other documents, I did the needful. The next day I got a call asking to take my file back from Gandhinagar. It left me astounded. I went there and found out that only MSWs are eligible for the post and I had done a PGD so they refused to consider it. After a few days of grieving, I decided to get a degree for the profession I was inclined towards which is my passion and life. To resume the studies was quite a task for me but I was firm with my decision and resigned form my job to get an admission for MSW in Anand. I learnt another lesson from life then, there's no age for learning and one must keep moving forward. I got an offer to work with United way of Baroda before my studies were completed. With the completion of MSW, my mind was inclining to work in corporate HR. My heart beats for community work and my brain was forcing me to opt for industries. The dilemma continued until I met a person from industry who brought me the light of guidance and convinced me to follow my heart and I finally joined United Way of Baroda.

Starting a consultancy and helping NGOs and other companies.

One fine day I happened to meet Mr Sheta, CEO of Shroffs Foundation. He then called me to be back at Shroffs and I couldn't resist rushing there. As they did not have any specific opening in Vadodara, they posted me as EA to CEO. Sheta Sir was suffering from Cancer so within a year's span I had spent with him, he taught me how to run an NGO and other projects. I wasn't enjoying work post his demise and thus I requested to move and I was then transferred to the hospital wing. This again served me with challenges as medical terminology was alien to me. Although I was at Shroffs but still kept missing working closely with people. So I finally took a strong stand for my own sake and decided not to work under any organization and rather start my own consultancy and provide my learnings and expertise to the NGOs and other companies. At present, I am working as a Consultant with three NGOs i.e. Udayan Care, VYOM, Sanidhya Foundation and two companies, Zytex and Smart HR Solutions. I am utilizing my best knowledge to contribute to the making of sustainable projects.

I followed my passion always and never gave up in any condition neither did I put breaks on my learning attitude. All of this helped me in becoming a better individual. Today I am catering to 107 young girls for their career and better life ahead. I would feel accomplished only when at my death prayer, each person who joins would come for one reason and feel that a good person has left the world. Till then I will keep moving to bring difference in lives i touch.