Sheila Sri Prakash talks about how she was selected as a woman practitioner working in sustainability by European universities which acknowledged what she called her ‘strength in focus’. She further recalls how 1987 was ‘the year that demanded shelter houses’, when Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) commissioned her to take on ‘incremental housing’ projects that nobody else in the field was willing to take up at the time. She talks of how it led to the moment she was caught off-guard by an invitation to be part of the Design Innovation Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF). She soon decided to expand her ‘reciprocity concept’ (a term she coined to describe building an equal system of collaboration) at the urban level. She explains how the mistrust amongst NGOs, corporates, government, and people is not conducive to the way forward. Through her projects, she created moving-breathing spaces that were in harmony with the ecosystem all the while teaching at Harvard University as a Visiting Professor. Talking about the WEF, she chronicles her journey around the world, later shifting her focus to Natural Resources. 

In 2019, she started ‘The Reciprocity Foundation’ where she worked on the collaborative clean-up effort called ‘Namma Beach, Namma Chennai’. She speaks of the latest projects that the foundation is working on, primarily with a focus on children. She speaks of her project aspirations in the intersection of sustainability and business design as well as in continuing education. She closes by stating the importance of sustainability audit mandates as she recalls infamous examples of the past.