Abhisha Gulati had already published a book, earned one of India's most competitive scholarships, presented at Harvard and begun building a mentoring practice that has since helped hundreds of young women, queer individuals and allies reach universities they once thought were out of reach.

Gulati is difficult to categorise — study abroad mentor, social entrepreneur, evidence-informed poet, psychology researcher — but the through-line is consistent: she finds systems that exclude people and builds pathways around them. Her work sits at the intersection of education, mentorship, storytelling and community-building, and it is driven by a conviction that access is the most powerful form of equity.

The Academic Foundation

Gulati's formal education begins at Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, where she completed a BA (Hons) in Psychology. The choice of psychology was not incidental — it would later inform her approach to mentoring, her research work and even her poetry.

From Delhi, her trajectory moved outward. She was admitted to the London School of Economics for a Master's degree, backed by a JN Tata Endowment Scholarship — one of India's most prestigious awards for postgraduate study abroad, one of a select number awarded each year. She was also admitted to the University of Oxford for a Master's programme, a rare double admission that speaks to the strength of her academic profile.

But Gulati's path was not conventional. She chose to step away from Oxford — a decision that, by her own account, was driven by a desire to create impact closer to home rather than follow the expected trajectory. It is the kind of choice that is easy to second-guess from the outside but reveals something important about her priorities: institutions are tools, not destinations.

Harvard, Research and the Global Network

Gulati attended the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) on a full scholarship and presented at the Harvard Asia Conference in 2024. These are competitive, application-based platforms that bring together young leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region — and they placed Gulati in a network that would shape her mentoring work.

Her research career includes positions as a Research Assistant at Penn State University's Culture, Health and Emotions Lab and at the University of Georgia — roles that grounded her in the rigour of academic inquiry. She has also been part of the McKinsey Forward Program, adding a strategic and corporate dimension to a profile that is otherwise rooted in social impact.

At Starbucks India, she led social impact initiatives — reportedly handpicked for the role by the company's Asia Pacific President. The combination of corporate social responsibility experience and academic research gives Gulati an unusual vantage point: she understands both the institutional language of impact and the on-the-ground reality of the communities she serves.

The Mentoring Mission

Gulati's most visible work today is in study abroad mentoring. Through platforms like Topmate — where she was recognised among the Top-Rated Experts of 2024 — she works with students seeking admission to global universities. Her mentees have been placed at institutions including Cambridge, UCL, King's College London, LSE, UPenn and the University of Minnesota.

What distinguishes her mentoring from the crowded Indian study-abroad advisory space is focus. Gulati works specifically with women, queer individuals and allies — communities that face additional barriers to accessing global education, from financial constraints to cultural resistance to a simple lack of visible role models who have walked the same path.

Her stated vision is ambitious: to help one million women, queer individuals and allies access opportunities and pursue goals that were previously out of reach. It is a number large enough to sound aspirational, but Gulati's track record suggests she treats it as a planning target, not a tagline. The infrastructure — mentoring platform, research credibility, institutional network — is being built to scale.

Evidence-Informed Poetry

Gulati published her first book — 'She is an Enigma: Forty Poems, Infinite Mysteries', a poetry collection released through Notion Press. The book marked the beginning of a creative practice that would evolve into something more distinctive: what Gulati calls evidence-informed poetry.

The concept — poetry that draws on research, data and lived experience to address social issues such as gender justice — was featured in the Deccan Herald in January 2026. It is an unusual intersection: the rigour of academic evidence meeting the emotional reach of verse. Gulati has performed her work at over 40 stages, including IIT Delhi, Lady Shri Ram College, DTU, Delhi Haat and Pragati Maidan.

For Gulati, poetry is not separate from her mentoring or research — it is another medium for the same message. Where a mentoring session helps one person navigate an application, a poem can shift how an audience thinks about who deserves access, who gets to dream and what equity actually looks like in practice.

The Road Ahead

The JN Tata Scholarship, the Harvard presentations, the published book, the Starbucks and McKinsey affiliations, the mentoring practice — these are building blocks, not a finished structure.

The next phase will likely be defined by scale: whether Gulati's mentoring work can grow from a high-touch model into a platform that reaches the kind of numbers her vision demands. The ingredients are in place — credibility, network, a clear audience and a message that resonates. What remains is execution at a level that matches the ambition.

Success, as Gulati has put it, is not only about the opportunities we receive — it is also about the opportunities we create for others. By that measure, she is already well ahead of where most people stand at any age. The million-futures goal is still distant, but the direction is unmistakable.

Sources and editorial references

This profile draws on independently verified public sources. Claims have been cross-referenced where possible.

  • Deccan Herald — Abhisha Gulati: Evidence-Informed Poetry for Gender Justice (January 2026): deccanherald.com
  • Amazon — She is an Enigma: Forty Poems, Infinite Mysteries (Notion Press): amazon.com
  • Topmate — Top-Rated Experts 2024: topmate.io
  • LinkedIn — Abhisha Gulati: linkedin.com
  • Global Cover Story feature — Abhisha Gulati (LinkedIn, August 2026)