Chanda joined RACC in August of 2020 after spending nearly a decade away from her native Pacific Northwest (this time around) in Boulder, Los Angeles, and New York City.

Having a passion for advocacy, she has spent most of her career working in the non-profit and education sphere. She believes in promoting equity, access, and inclusion in public schools for all children. She believes the arts are a crucial gateway to exploring ones dreams, innovative spirit, and the arts help foster empathy and compassion. Chanda believes community engagement enables us to build bridges to create lasting connections which champion diversity and personal growth. She believes we can and should always grow, lean forward, and be willing to take steps that might seem uncomfortable to get to where we should be.

Having been actively engaged in Participatory Budgeting while residing in NYC, she hopes that this form of grassroots democracy will take a foothold in Oregon and enable people to see how they can make a difference on the local level.

Chanda received her Masters of Philosophy in Literature/Politics from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. When not scouring for new gluten-free vegetarian recipes, she enjoys watching SciFi, is a self-described political junkie, loves spending time with family and friends, listening to jazz, reading & writing, and plotting her next travel adventure. Joshua Tree National Park and Berlin are two of her favorite places. She lives in SE Portland with her family, including her chocolate Labrador, Whisky Drake and two cats, Artemis and Apollo.

(she/her)