Khyati Kapur has heard the words “you're too young” more times than she can count.
At 16, when she started mentoring on Topmate, people questioned whether a teenager could possibly add value to anyone's professional journey.
She was nervous. She started for free.
Her very first paid call earned her 50 rupees for an hour — and she was on cloud nine.
The first ₹50
That first call changed something in her.
She realised she had genuine value to offer, built from four years and over 25 Model United Nations experiences.
She poured everything into every session.
Slowly, the bookings came. The reviews came. The credibility came.
Today she is among the Top 1% of mentors on Topmate — not despite her age, but because of the depth she brought to it.
A dream she thought she had to let go
But mentoring was just one chapter.
Khyati had always dreamed of studying abroad. For a long time, she let that dream go — it felt too expensive, too uncertain, too far away.
Then something unexpected happened.
A UK Russell Group university — the University of Southampton — announced its first ever international campus in Delhi.
Same degree. Same global experience. But close to home.
She applied with hope but no expectations.
Her family was not immediately on board — they wanted a government college seat, and the fees of ₹40 lakh felt like an impossible full stop.
But Khyati kept going.
She wrote her application, sat through the interviews, and stayed true to who she was.
Then one day her phone rang.
Khyati was awarded a full Presidential Scholarship covering all three years of her studies.
She had not imagined joining a UK university without leaving India.
She had not imagined a full scholarship either.
But she had kept going anyway, and the opportunity found her.
Then came 55,000 applicants
Another test of that same clarity came next.
Out of 55,000 applicants for a competitive programme, only 5 were selected.
Khyati was one of them.
Across three rounds — problem identification, business thinking and an AI interview — Khyati focused on clarity rather than complexity.
Simple beats complex
Across three rounds — problem identification, business thinking, and an AI interview — she did not try to impress with complexity.
She focused on clarity.
She spotted a small but meaningful gap that others had overlooked.
She built before-and-after scenarios instead of simply pitching ideas.
And in the AI interview, she did something most people never think to do — she deliberately guided the conversation toward the questions she was best placed to answer.
Simple beats complex when your clarity is undeniable.
Too young was never the point
Khyati Kapur is building, learning, and sharing every step of the process — and proving that age is never a reason to shrink your ambition.
The teenager who once wondered whether anyone would pay for her advice became a Top 1% mentor.
The student who thought studying at a global university might be financially out of reach earned a full Presidential Scholarship.
And when 55,000 people applied for the same opportunity, she trusted clarity over complexity and became one of just five selected.
AUNUA Youth Ambassador
At AUNUA, we are proud to have Khyati Kapur as one of our Youth Ambassadors, and inspired by a young woman who turned self-doubt into a scholarship, and nervousness into a Top 1% mentorship record.
She was told she was too young. She kept going anyway.