Q&A: Padma Lakshmi donates to provide equal opportunities

Padma Lakshmi's career has been filled with highlights, from creating the Hulu series “Taste the Nation” to hosting “Top Chef” to writing a best-selling memoir and numerous cookbooks. But one of her life's “seminal moments,” she says, was decidedly lower-profile.

When Lakshmi visited Shanti Bhavan, a boarding school in her home state of Tamil Nadu in India, in 2012 and found herself surrounded by 250 of its students, it was a moment that still moves her today.

“When I look at those children, I see my younger self,” she said. “I easily could have been born in a family like theirs."

Ajit George, Shanti Bhavan’s director of operations, said the school is grateful for Lakshmi’s personal donations and the corporate donations she seeks in return for her speeches. Her visit to the school still inspires the students, who come from households in poverty, earning less than $2 a day.