Biography

Pallavi Rudraraju (they/them) is a non-binary Telugu performer, activist, and non-profit professional from the DMV. They are an incoming first year graduate student in the Asian American Studies M.A. program. For the last 5 years, Pallavi has worked in D.C. and Virginia as a youth practitioner at Asian American LEAD serving low-income AAPI youth and at the Human Rights Campaign as a nonprofit program manager advocating for LGBTQ+ youth and educating youth-serving professionals on intersectional LGBTQ+ inclusion nationally. They graduated from The College of William & Mary in 2017 with dual self-designed degrees in World Performing Arts & Cultures and Asian Pacific Islander American Studies, the latter which they played a part in establishing as an official academic program, now department, at the institution. Pallavi is driven by an innate sense of justice and the belief that a world full of joy and free of suffering is possible. Outside of their professional and academic work, Pallavi is a lover of anime, singing, dancing, and working out.