When Manjari Gupta moved to Washington state in 2008, it was for her husband’s job.

He had been working for Microsoft Corp. in Hyderabad, India and was relocated to the company’s main campus in Redmond.

The couple initially rented a place in Bellevue, uncertain about whether they wanted to stay in the United States. It wasn’t until October 2013 that they finally took the plunge for more permanence — buying a house on Redmond Ridge. And last month, the two took things one step further and became naturalized U.S. citizens.

Gupta said one of the reasons they decided to become citizens was so they could vote and participate more fully in the government process.

“To be a U.S. citizen is a big deal,” she said.

Prior to becoming an official American, Gupta was already living her version of the American dream: she had started her own business.

Since February 2014, Gupta has been running and operating Redmond Ridge Montessori — a half-day preschool for children from about 2 and a half years old to 6 years old — out of her home. There are three teachers total (including Gupta) and they have nine students.

Gupta said she started the school because she wanted more academic-based childcare for her older daughter — who started kindergarten on Tuesday. She opened the school to give other families the same opportunities. Currently, Gupta’s school is at capacity and the students come from throughout her neighborhood, she said.

In her former life, Gupta did her post-graduate work in computer science and taught the subject to middle school- and high school-aged students.

When she and her husband first arrived in the United States, Gupta decided she wanted to work with a different age group so she earned her child development associate credential and went to work at the KinderCare daycare center in Factoria before opening Redmond Ridge Montessori.

“It’s been going great,” she said.

For Gupta, contributing to society is just part of what it means to be an immigrant. As an immigrant, she said she does not agree with the anti-immigration rhetoric being discussed by politicians. Gupta said people who come to this country do well for the United States, using Satya Nadella — Microsoft’s Indian American CEO — as an example of an immigrant succeeding in the country.

“It is a benefit for the country,” she said.

Gupta said immigrants often bring the best parts of themselves and their home countries with them to the United States and that is a good thing. She said it is important to meet and learn from people who are different from you, adding that when she and her husband became naturalized citizens, they were among 52 individuals who came from 24 different countries.