From Delhi’s slum protests to Los Angeles mayor: The making of Nithya Raman

Nithya V Raman, born in 1981 in Thrissur, Kerala, spent her early years in Thrissur before moving back to her hometown after her father returned from the US for higher studies. At the age of six, she relocated to the US and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts. Nithya earned a degree in social studies from Harvard University, where she met her future husband, Vali Chandrasekharan.

She returned to India and started working with NGOs focused on slum dwellers in Delhi, leading anti-eviction movements ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This experience culminated in the founding of Transparent Chennai in 2010, which advocated for sanitation improvements in slum areas using data-driven methods. In 2013, she returned to Los Angeles, where she began her career with the city administrative office.

After working on a report about homelessness expenses, she established the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in 2017. Her efforts in addressing homelessness propelled her into local politics. In 2020, she made history by unseating the incumbent David Ryu to become the first challenger in 17 years to win a seat as a Los Angeles City Council member.

She successfully retained her District 4 seat in 2024, marking her as the first South Asian woman and first Indian-American mayor in Los Angeles history.