, a leading non-profit organization with the mission to create a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality, she is acutely aware that the power of education could break cycles of poverty and inequality around the world.
She spent her childhood in a developed country where she had access to decent education, unlike her mother, who grew up in India."We came from a family where child marriage was quite the norm," she said. "My grandmothers were married at the ages of two and 14." Murali's mother rebelled against her family's wishes and began taking classes by herself in their community. Later, she joined the Indian Army as a nurse, which became her ticket to go to the U.S. on a nursing visa.
"I think a lot of what defined the early part of my life was just... I kind of kept my head down and studied all the way through," she said. "You know, collecting degrees, demonstrating competencies, and realizing that I have the privilege of choosing how I apply those skills in a very different way than had."
The parents would ask her for basic needs like having a light set up on their street so it would be safer for their kids to walk around at night, or for a school to be built closer to their community so they don't have to travel so far. "I'm sort of at the point where I believe that these basic rights should be a given, and the moves we have to make must be bold to make them happen," Murali continued. "So I think there's a level of boldness that has come in this part of my career that probably allows me to push Room to Read a lot faster than it has been in the past."