I am a writer, editor, teacher, and activist living in Baltimore, Maryland, which has been home since immigrating here from India with my parents at the ripening age of one. For me, literature has always been a place both of refuge and reflection, where the questions of the world can be teased, pulled apart, and answered with new possibilities. If it involves books or writing, I’ve done it professionally: as writer, editor, teacher, publisher, librarian, and my current position as Literature Programs Officer for the Maryland Humanities Council.

I received my MFA degree in fiction from the University of Maryland, College Park, and have held editorships for a variety of literary magazines and outlets. I bring this mindset to my teaching, where craft is more than an academic exploration, but a living practice that helps us engage with our communities. I’ve brought these skills to several non-profits, organizations, and businesses through programming, workshops, copywriting and editing, creating marketing copy, videos, grants, press materials, technical documentation, and more.

I am deeply invested in applying storytelling values to racial justice work, not only in highlighting underrepresented voices, but also examining and utilizing how the craft of writing can itself be an act of breaking regressive narratives and imagining newer, fulfilling ones. I also work with several arts & racial justice organizations in Baltimore including the CityLit Project, Baltimore Youth Arts, and the Asian Pasifika Arts Collective.

I am also a bit of an A/V nut, having moonlighted as a wedding DJ in my twenties. In 2020, I fulfilled a small dream by co-hosting and producing the podcast Diasporastan.