– By Ann Manoj, Communications Associate
As Rocket Learning’s product lead — and a mother to young twins — Meenakshi brings a deeply personal lens to building technology for early childhood education. In this conversation, she shares how her experiences as a parent shape product development, her views on safe motherhood, and her vision for empowering caregivers through intuitive, accessible design.
Q: To begin with, could you tell us about your role at Rocket Learning and what your day-to-day work involves?
Meenakshi: I lead the product team at Rocket Learning, which currently has around 20 members. On a day-to-day basis, our focus is on further developing the product, removing user pain points, and ensuring a seamless experience. We also explore new product ideas to serve our users and their needs better.
Q: Could you tell us a little about your journey as a mother? Is there a particular moment or lesson from early motherhood that has stayed with you?
Meenakshi: I’m a mother of twins who are about to turn three, soon entering Rocket Learning’s target age group of three to six years. I tried various popular engagement methods like cue cards, storytelling, rhymes, and songs. I found myself constantly Googling milestones and ways to support their development. However, I realised that while a lot of information exists online, it is often unstructured, especially for Indian contexts.
Most parenting advice tends to come from peer groups, family, or community wisdom rather than structured, easily accessible resources.
I often wished there was someone who could simply guide me on what exactly I needed to do at each stage. That pain point resonated with me and got me even more invested in Rocket Learning’s mission. Working here also helps me grow as a parent, learning from the content and behavioural frameworks we develop.
Q: How has your experience as a parent influenced the way you approach your work at Rocket Learning? Could you share a specific moment where your personal journey informed a product insight?
Meenakshi: I genuinely consider myself a core user of our product. I constantly observe the kind of language, rewards, and engagement strategies that work with my kids and apply these insights to our product development.
For example, when we were designing a rewards feature for parents, one key insight was how much children love animals, particularly dogs and elephants which appear often in nursery rhymes and more so they identify them with their names as one of their friend. We incorporated this by creating animal-themed badges with fun names, making the reward journey much more relatable and exciting for children.
Similarly, when developing a group-based puzzle feature, we drew inspiration from the popular rhyme “Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?” because it was familiar and engaging for young children.
We also realised, based on experiences shared by several new mothers at Rocket Learning — including my own — that it was important to address the well-being of parents themselves. This led us to introduce a module focused on mothers’ mental health, an area often overlooked in early childhood development programs. We believe that supporting a mother’s mental well-being is just as crucial as supporting a child’s growth.
In essence, my journey as a mother deeply shapes the way I think about user experience and product design at Rocket Learning.
Q: When thinking about ‘safe motherhood’, what does it mean to you personally? How do you see Rocket Learning’s work supporting mothers, particularly in the early years?
Meenakshi: To me, safe motherhood means taking care of both physical and mental health, not just during pregnancy, but throughout the early years of a child’s life. Balancing childcare with returning to work and managing a household requires tremendous energy and emotional strength. I believe mothers must maintain a good diet, exercise, and prioritise mental well-being.
It’s important not to over-stress about milestones, support groups of peers with similar backgrounds can be incredibly helpful during this time, offering both confidence and emotional support.
Q: What motivates you personally about building the parent and educator products at Rocket Learning? Is there a particular moment or milestone that felt especially meaningful?
Meenakshi: My struggles as a parent, particularly the lack of structured knowledge around early childhood domains like social-emotional learning, continue to motivate me.
Some of the most meaningful moments have come from hearing Anganwadi workers share stories of how parents now trust them more, after seeing children actively participate in Rocket Learning activities at the centre. Designing intuitive learning games for young children, many of whom may have never interacted with such content before, has been particularly rewarding.
The recent launch of Appu, our AI chat buddy, was another milestone. It required close collaboration across product, tech, and content teams to define pedagogical principles, user flows, and safety guardrails. Knowing that we are developing tools that can positively impact millions of children across India, not just a specific demographic, keeps me deeply committed.
Q: How do you see technology supporting and empowering caregivers, especially mothers, in the early childhood care and education (ECCE) space?
Meenakshi: Mothers often face a lack of time more than anything else. While there are many resources available, they are often unstructured and overwhelming. Technology — especially with the rise of generative AI — can help by creating highly localised, structured, and easy-to-follow daily guidance.
For instance, tech can suggest two simple daily activities for a parent and then track the child’s progress across various domains.
Localisation is also critical. When launching in Punjab, we realised that depicting Anganwadi workers in salwar suits, instead of saris, made a huge difference in relatability. Similarly, replacing a giraffe mascot with an elephant resonated better with children because elephants are familiar animals. Tech allows us to offer these hyper-localised, highly relevant experiences, giving mothers the right tools to spend quality, effective time with their children.
Q: What is a key product insight or principle that guides your work when designing for caregivers and educators? How do you ensure the product truly serves their needs?
Meenakshi: The core principle is always “users first.” We start with the assumption that users, caregivers and educators have the best intent. Our role as product developers is to remove barriers that prevent them from acting on that intent.
For example, understanding that many families share a single phone meant we had to time our content delivery when phones were most likely to be at home.
Similarly, building mothers’ confidence in supporting their child’s education is critical. Through behaviour campaigns and localised communications, we address these barriers systematically.
Finally, understanding behavioural differences — some users are more self-motivated, others peer-driven — allows us to personalise communication and build more effective products. In short, product design must always focus on removing access barriers and enabling users to fulfil their intent.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Meenakshi: Yes — I think it’s important to acknowledge the challenges mothers face when returning to work after maternity leave, especially in fields like product and tech that still tend to be male-dominated.
Workplaces must ease this transition, offer trust and support, and create environments where mothers can reintegrate confidently. When mothers feel supported, they can contribute their best, not just at work, but to the larger mission of organisations like Rocket Learning.