Aditi Arya Instagram – An assortment of stuff I swear I did entirely by myself (more or less): 1. Cut and colored my own hair in this picture (YouTube helped) 2. Lifted this AC a floor up and Installed it with nothing but a Swiss Army knife (YouTube helped) 3. Stood on stage to debate with some really articulate whiz-kids (Rory helped) 4. Finished painting a portrait of my now husband back when I missed him during those long distance New York days (YouTube tutorials helped) 5. Found myself an exceptionally loving Devar (he and his brother helped) 6. Co-designed a hard seltzer variant (with Avi) 7. Did many sparkly gel extension manicures 8. Made my own KKHH Tina balloon pillow with waste fabrics for a theme party 9. Got myself an internship and a full-time consulting job offer in New York without referrals after months of studying and scribbling on A4 sized sheets (consulting club mentors and peers at Yale SOM helped) 10. Scribbled around random digital art that I don’t exactly hate Now for a few people who’ve wondered how I got my MBA admission: I got a merit based scholarship, got LORs from my seniors at work from almost a decade ago, had a decent gmat score and interviewing skills. I DID NOT need to ask for favors from anyone but self prep courses from gmatclub and Prashant Tibrewal as my counselor helped. Now I’m not glorifying DIY culture and most of my DIY achievements seem mediocre when compared with those who like taking help. I too take help regularly and there’s no shame in that. But for the things that I’ve earned myself, I’m not too fond of being discredited. It’s kinda unfair. Many people can be many good (or at least average) things all at once. We should let them be. It’s not nice to judge people simply cause they seem unusual or do things we don’t understand. Cheers, peace and love.