Born in New Delhi, Anupama Nadella is an Indian-American woman known as the wife of Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft. She has been the rock behind Satya Nadella’s journey as a powerful business executive. She gave up her professional career and stayed a homemaker to support their child Zain who suffered from Cerebral Palsy.
Source: AmoMama
Education:
Anupama did her education at the Hyderabad Public School and went to Manipal University to study architecture where she was a junior to Satya Nadella. They knew each other from their time in college and got married in 1992 and had 3 kids. The couple lost their son Zain Nadella in 2022 when he was 22 years old.
Source: Seattle children’s
Family Background:
Her father, KR Venugopal, was an Indian administrative officer and worked under former Indian Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. During his tenure as an IAS Officer, he played a key role in the implementation of the ‘Rs 2 per Kg rice’ scheme for the poor and underprivileged in India.
The turning point in her life:
After the couple got married, they were expecting their first child together, Anupama experienced a strange stillness in her womb and the couple decided to get it checked, and had to get a cesarian surgery. They had a baby boy who would suffer major complications throughout his life because of asphyxiation in the womb.
While opening up about this difficult time in their lives, Satya Nadella wrote in his book, Hit Refresh, about how the birth of their child affected them, “Over the course of the next couple of years we learned more about the damage caused by in utero asphyxiation, and how Zain would require a wheelchair and be reliant on us because of severe cerebral palsy. I was devastated. But mostly I was sad for how things turned out for me and Anu.”
Source:WikiBio
When speaking about his wife, he stated that she has been a supportive mother and wife who brought the family together and sacrificed her professional career to raise their child. He lauded Anupama for her dedication and immense emotional capacity to deal with the situation and take on the responsibility of a homemaker.
Motherhood for her:
Anupama stated that being the mother of a child with special abilities has changed her life completely and taught her to be kind to herself and others as well. She is a dog lover and belives that pets help children connect better with the outside world. The family has a dog named Winston.
Source: Good Housekeeping
In a piece in Good Housekeeping, Anupama opened up about her motherhood, and how it was at times emotionally draining for her to be dealing with people and their opinions and she said, “Having a newborn is hard; it’s a long, 24-hour day. When the baby is fragile and has medical needs, it stretches out even more. Questions such as Did I do something to cause this? and Am I doing enough? creep up. These doubts make you judge yourself harshly and feel judged.”
Philantropy work:
Anupama has donated an amount of 2 crore rupees to the women and farmers in Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh to help the government with providing them with better amenities. She also donated 2 crore ruppes to the Prime Minister’s relief fund during Covid-19. She is also closely associated with Seattle Children’s Hospital, doing her bit to improve children’s health.
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