ABOUT US

Subrata's Story

Subrata grew up in Kolkata, India spending much of his childhood breakdancing to Michael Jackson -- please ask him to show you! He studied Computer Science at National Institute of Technology in India, before moving to the United States to attend graduate school- first at the University of Georgia for Artificial Intelligence and then Emory University for his MBA. As a technology executive, Subrata works to make products successful from ideation to product launch, working to scale businesses and build winning teams. He's spent almost all of his adult life in North America - on both the East and West US Coast and Canada. Subrata loves to travel and has been to 46 countries - Antigua will be his 47! He also loves staying active - his favorites are running, skiing and hiking. In fact, he is running the New York City Marathon with Darlene just 10 days before the wedding.

Darlene's Story

Darlene was born in Michigan, but grew up in Charlotte, NC. While in high school, Darlene kept herself busy with studies in the International Baccalaureate program, she also was a student athlete trainer for the football team, a cheerleader for Charlotte All-Stars and played softball. Darlene got her both her undergraduate (Computer Science) and masters degree (MBA) from North Carolina State University. She's spent her career mixing business and technology with a particular focus in Sales Engineering - building amazing pre-sales teams to understand and sell to real customer needs. She is a die-hard Carolina Panthers fan and was super excited to attend Super Bowl 50 with Subrata in spite of the outcome. After spending almost 25 years in North Carolina (Charlotte & Raleigh), she spent a year in the big city of New York City. She's now loving the West Coast and San Francisco weather. She also LOVES travel and wants to see everything this world has to offer.

Our Relationship

Subrata and Darlene started out as colleagues, both working for Informatica. Actually, Subrata worked to help Informatica acquire the company Darlene worked for in Cary, NC called StrikeIron. The two remained colleagues/work friends until Darlene took a new job (also with a headquarters in California) that brought her to the West Coast more often (she was living in NYC). They went out for a coffee while she was in town... which turned into a dinner... which turned into many phone calls, text messages and visits. They continued their relationship long distance with Subrata in San Francisco and Darlene in NYC for over a year before Darlene finally made her way home to the West Coast. Subrata and Darlene bonded over their shared love of technology, travel and overall adventure... and now the rest is history! They both consider this to be "Life 2.0" and are so excited to have found such love and happiness in each other.

The Proposal

May 2017 | Maui, HI

From Darlene's point of view:

In May of 2017, we took what I thought was a normal vacation to Maui, Hawaii. We arrived at the Four Seasons Resort in Wailea and I was so excited, because the hotel was beautiful and the staff was so incredibly nice and helpful from the start. Subrata was acting just a little bit strange as soon as we got there - and he immediately went to the concierge to inquire about going to the sunrise at the top of the Haleakala Volcano. Turns out you now have to have a reservation to get to the top at sunrise and none were available -- either going up direct or with a tour. Subrata started freaking out -- little did I know that his plan revolved proposing at this beautiful sunrise. The Four Seasons concierge was super helpful and recommended that we go for sunset. I liked this plan, it didn't require us to wake up at 3 am and we could go later on in the week since we didn't need a reservation. However, Subrata was insistent that we leave for the sunset immediately and see it that evening. I was a little annoyed, because I really just wanted to relax by the pool with a fruity drink, but I kind of thought that something was going on, so I went along with the plan.

It was nearly a two hour drive to the top of this dormant volcano. We probably saw 10 different ecosystems and felt the temperature drop at least 35 degrees (from over 90F to near 55F) as we drove up into and through the clouds. We're lucky the hotel packed some blankets in the rental car for us!

At the top, we were literally on top of the clouds and found a place out of the way to watch the sun set. It was breathtaking, as you can see below.

From the time we got up to the top, Subrata was acting a little nervous and was carrying around a backpack (which I found weird, because the car was only a few yards away). Just after we sat down, to watch the sunset, he started fidgeting in his pocket (he couldn't get the ring box out!) and suddenly turned to me and got down on one knee. Of course, I said "yes" and started crying immediately. I wish I could tell you all of the sweet things that he said and that I had some amazing response. But, we both have no idea what we said, because we were too caught up in the emotions. But, I know it was very real, very sweet and just perfect. I am very lucky to have this man in my life- he makes me so very happy.