Jay Parekh - Social Investment Council Member

Tell us about yourself!  Where are you from and what do you do for a living?

My name is Jay Parekh and I’m originally from Syosset, NY.  I currently work as an Associate at a private equity firm called General Atlantic, specializing in investing in growth companies.  At General Atlantic, I help with investment idea generation, new investment due diligence, and portfolio support for companies in the media, Internet, and consumer sectors.  Its a challenging and rewarding job with great colleagues and a stimulating atmosphere.

Why did you get involved with Echoing Green and our Social Investment Council?  How have you been involved?

I originally became aware of Echoing Green and the Council through my employer, General Atlantic, which helped found Echoing Green [20] years ago.  Echoing Green stood out to me as a unique bridge between the kinds of things I was doing at work – helping fund new and growing enterprises – with a personal interest I had in effecting social change.  At Echoing Green, one of the things I do is help fundraise for the annual Be Bold cocktail event.  I also help out an Echoing Green Fellow based in Austin, TX, Maile Broccoli-Hickey, with strategic planning and financial analysis for her amazing organization, English at Work.

What is your social change passion?

My social change passion is education.  It didn’t start off with a social change angle—instead, it began with something as small as helping friends better understand course material in my economics classes as an undergrad, and realizing what a great feeling it was to be the spark helping the “light bulb” go off in someone else’s mind.  In the past two years, this interest in education has evolved towards social change through my mentor / volunteer work with Streetwise Partners, an organization helping un/under-employed low income individuals in NYC attain computer and job skills.  Through Echoing Green, I’m also working to help an Echoing Green Fellow’s education-oriented organization with strategic planning and financial analysis.

Who is your hero?

My hero is without question my father.  He is the most selfless and heartful person I have ever come to know in my life.  The sacrifices he has made for both friends and families through the years are countless, but what I find most inspiring is his ability to forgive, forget, and always be kind hearted and generous with his time and money even to those who may have slighted him or never reciprocated.  He sets an example for me every day and I only wish more of the world knew what an amazing person he is.

What is your favorite song/movie/book of all time?

My favorite book would be Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies.  I’ve never been a big reader of short stories, but she has a unique ability to quickly but carefully create a backdrop and deep characters, tell a meaningful story, and then lift the reader out of the world, in sometimes no more than ten pages.  Every phrase, every word, every punctuation mark becomes that much more important – and she does it with an comfortable facility such that I never believed she needed even one more word to accomplish what she set out to do.