Tanya Mehta (Al. 2022-24) left Brighton College with a deferred university place and plans for a gap year. Twelve months later she is leading a fast-growing health-tech start-up which has the backing of Google.
Tanya’s journey was recently featured in The Times, highlighting her unconventional path from school leaver to the founder of a successful venture-backed start-up.
Tanya had initially intended to pursue a career in medicine. Yet it was during the College’s Year 12 entrepreneurship competition that a different path began to take shape - one that would ultimately redirect her ambitions from hospital wards to the start-up world.
What began as a vague idea around a health and fitness app for women eventually sharpened into something deeply personal - addressing the challenges of menstrual pain through nutrition. Drawing from her own experience managing symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome, Tanya created Papaya - a zero-waste meal plan service tailored to women’s hormonal health.
Tanya recalls that the early months were far from glamorous. “Every day I was too scared to start working on my business even though I knew what I wanted to do,” she says. With little structure and mounting self-doubt, Tanya found herself taking a bakery job and even considering travelling, until she applied to Kickstart Global - an accelerator for student founders. “I thought, ‘I need to be put in an environment with other people that are doing the same thing.’”, she said.
That decision proved pivotal. Surrounded by a community of like-minded entrepreneurs and supported by masterclasses from leading start-up founders, Tanya refined her vision and grew Papaya from a concept into a viable business. By the end of the year, she was managing a 200-person waiting list, cooking and delivering meals herself across London. Her dedication paid off when Papaya won Google HQ’s Health Tech Vertical prize - recognition that put her on the radar of major investors and mentors.
Now preparing to begin a deferred place at the London School of Economics to study accounting and finance, Tanya’s focus remains firmly on scaling Papaya. “The year turned into a whirlwind,” she reflects, “and it was not what I was expecting—but I would do it again and again. Taking risks is important.”
This is not just a story about entrepreneurial success, but rethinking the expectations placed on school-leavers. For Tanya, the gap year was not a pause - it was a launchpad.