Visionary executive director, dancer, choreographer, educator, and notary public with 15 years of experience in arts education and non-profit organizations. Extensive background in senior project management, grants administration, and arts program development. Administrative and artistic work rooted in DEI, culturally responsive pedagogy, and social justice to bridge communities of color through art. Over 25 years of dance training and performance experience in several world dance forms. Develops and presents full-length cross-cultural, educational, and multidisciplinary productions and curricula.


Career Highlights & Accomplishments

Executive Director
Kalapriya
2024-Present


Senior Program Director
Interim Executive Director

Arts Horizons
2016-Present

  • Managed annual portfolio of 200+ arts programs and a diverse roster of 100+ teaching artists & performing groups

  • Secured $400,000+ of grant-based programs through NYC city agencies & several corporations

  • Developed innovative arts education programs centering culturally responsive pedagogy, linguistic diversity, wellness, & social justice

  • Bolstered board involvement through initiatives for organizational restructuring, consultant contracting, & debt reduction

  • Set yearly organizational budget, assessing quarterly goals, and leading strategic planning for capacity building and expansion


Co-founder
Artistic Director

Daya Arts
2017-Present

  • Established in 2017 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to bridge diasporic communities of color through cross-cultural and educative artistic productions rooted in West African and South Asian visual and performing arts

  • Organized two sold-out showcases of South Asian LGBTQI+ artists at BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance and produced three evening-length dance-theater works

  • Raised $15,000+ towards public events, charitable donations, & artistic productions


Adjunct Dance Faculty
Marymount Manhattan College
2020-2021

  • Introduced third-year dance majors to technical, aesthetic, and cultural aspects of Bharatanatyam (Indian classical dance) with direction applications to their own practice

  • Designed novel exercises with composer Moira Lo Bianco to hone musicality through non-Western choreographic and musical structures

  • Mentored several final-year students for their final choreographic projects and provided teaching artist training


Teaching Artist
NYC Public & Charter Schools
2015-Present

  • Providing strategic leadership, management of day-to-day operations, and cultivation partnerships in support of mission-driven work to bolster earned income & contributed revenue

  • Developing robust arts education programs rooted in South Asian art, culturally-responsive pedagogy, & social-emotional learning

  • Supervising curation, planning, and execution of artistic performances, studio classes, and community events

  • Specialized in arts education residencies integrating science, reading comprehension, poetry, & Indian classical dance

  • Focused on providing culturally-responsive programs to diverse and underserved student populations in public & charter schools located in Bronx, Brooklyn, & Queens

Languages

English (Native/Bilingual Fluency)
Tamil (Native/Bilingual Fluency)
Spanish (Full Professional Proficiency)
French (Professional Working Proficiency)

Skills

Adobe Creative Suite
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, & Acrobat DC

Microsoft Office Suite
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, & Access

Industry-Specific Apps
Blackboard, Canva, OpenTable, MindBody, & SPSS

Affiliations

Advisory Board Member (2023-Present)
Berrie Center @ Ramapo College of New Jersey

Committee Member (2019-2022)
DEI Working Group, Kennedy Center

Certifications

Notary Public (Valid until 2027)
State of New Jersey

Affirming LGBTQIA+ Identities in Schools (2023)
New Jersey Division of Civil Rights

Non-Profit Organizational Capacity Building (2023)
New York City Council

Incubator for Arts & Culture Leaders of Color (2022)
New York Foundation for the Arts

Education

M.A. – Performance Studies (2015)
New York University – New York, NY, USA

M.A. – Bharatanatyam (2010)
University of Madras – Chennai, India
First Class Outstanding

B.A. – Behavioral Neuroscience & Spanish (2008)
Boston University – Boston, MA, USA
Magna Cum Laude & Dean’s List