We found love in a hopeless place. Well, not exactly… but sort of!

S&S’s journey began in Tempe, Arizona, during the summer of 2021 when both Stephen and Sanjana were accepted into W.P. Carey’s School of Business MBA Program. Sanjana arrived from Mumbai with a clear vision for her future: secure a Finance internship at Amazon, convert it into a full-time offer, and eventually return to India. Stephen, on the other hand, had a more open-ended plan—get the MBA and figure out the rest along the way.

Life has a funny way of upending plans.

They first crossed paths in the MBA classroom. Stephen was hard to miss—he alternated between the same four W.P. Carey polos and occasionally strolled in five minutes late. Sanjana, who had to walk to class while Stephen had the luxury of driving, made it a point to give him tips on how to be on time. Meanwhile, Stephen often found his way to her seat, hoping to snag a bite of her homemade Indian lunches and snacks. This playful back-and-forth quickly evolved into a mutual agreement: Stephen would pick up Sanjana from her apartment and drive them both to school (on time), and in exchange, Sanjana would make him lunch.

With each ride, they began to realize how much they had in common. What started as a convenience turned into a genuine friendship. School drop-offs soon included rides home, and those rides started adding grocery store stops.

As their bond grew, gym sessions were added into the mix, which then led to friend hangouts. The culmination of this growing connection came in March 2022 with a trip to San Francisco with a group of friends.

As the saying goes, "You don’t really know someone until you travel with them." After that trip, both Stephen and Sanjana knew they were ready to take their relationship to the next level—though Stephen still had to meet the rest of the Indian Mafia gang!