Photo by Lesley Mason
“I am committed and connected to Ann Arbor. I want my children, and all residents, to flourish in our city.”
I am an immigrant, I am the daughter of Indian immigrants, and I am the granddaughter of refugees, who were forced to flee Burma and Pakistan during the violence of India's partition. My family moved from England to Ann Arbor when I was 3 years old, and I grew up here. Ann Arbor welcomed us with open arms, and we fell in love with this diverse, inclusive community
My parents have worked as pediatric mental health professionals at University of Michigan Medicine since 1988, and they taught us to fight the stigma of mental illness. They also emphasized the importance of civic engagement, of fighting discrimination of all kinds, and working towards a better society. My upbringing taught me that the more diversity there is in a room - of opinions, backgrounds, and otherwise - the more effective and innovative solutions are to problems. I learned at a young age how to bring people together over shared values and how to work together to find solutions that benefit everyone. I’ve used these skills as a community organizer over the last decade, and will continue to use them as a City Council Member.
I graduated from Albion College with a dual degree in Political Science and Sociology, and earned my Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan School of Social Work (Go BLUE!) with a focus in Social Policy and Evaluation.
As a community organizer, I have spent my career building effective coalitions that get things done. Over the last decade, I’ve served as the Clinic Director for an American Indian/Alaskan Native health clinic, worked on health policy initiatives to implement the Affordable Care Act, fought for collective bargaining rights, and organized around immigration reform and other civil rights issues. In 2018, I returned to the University of Michigan to earn my Lean Six Sigma. This has helped me to continue the work I love of helping organizations and institutions operate more efficiently, effectively, and in greater alignment with their values, mission, and vision.
Today, I work as the Deputy Director of Detroit Disability Power, an organization that helps individuals, businesses, organizations, and municipalities across Southeast Michigan become more accessible and inclusive. I also teach policy analysis and community organizing graduate-level classes as an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, and I am a proud member of the Lecturers Employee Organizing (LEO) union.
I met my husband, Michael, while I was working for labor unions, and he was working for the Michigan Democratic Party. We married in 2018, and then settled in Ann Arbor with my parents while we saved up to buy a home. In 2020, we bought our first home on the southeast side of Ann Arbor in the Turnberry neighborhood. We are fortunate to be raising our two young boys, Noah and Isaac, in this wonderful community.
I have a long and varied history of public service and community engagement, beginning with an internship at Amnesty International’s LGBTQ OUTfront program. Since then I’ve fought for criminal justice reform, combated anti-Asian American sentiment, and worked on a variety of progressive policy issues. These experiences motivated me to choose a profession focused on public service.
In December 2020, I was appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to be the statewide Chair of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission. In this role I advocate for the full participation of Asian Americans in our great state. With Ann Arbor having one of the largest Asian American populations in Michigan, this role has helped me connect with community leaders and uplift community voices on an array of important issues.
I also serve as an Ann Arbor Human Rights Commissioner. With the help of the commission, I assist with ensuring that everything we do as a city protects and advances the human and civil rights of all of our residents. Issues I have helped the commission work on include removing the 180-day limit previously imposed on filing a complaint of discrimination so we can function in a way that is more trauma-informed; the city’s new Fair Chance Access to Housing ordinance aimed at ending housing discrimination against people with criminal backgrounds; the ban on gay conversion therapy aimed at protecting LGBTQ youth; and the city’s new ban on race-based hairstyle discrimination.