How Kerala-born Nithya Raman travelled through art and activism in India to become mayor of US city

A quiet family home at Pazhayanaddakkavu in Thrissur is filled with joy. Relatives of forty-five-year-old Democratic leader Nithya Raman have been closely following election updates from across the world. Their eager waiting ended with historic news as Nithya secured victory in the Los Angeles mayoral election, making her the first Asian-American and South Asian leader to head the municipal government of the second-largest city in the United States.

Back in Thrissur, her grand-uncle Devanarayanan, a retired professor and former president of the Vadakkunnathan Temple Committee, along with his wife Pushpa, fondly remember her early childhood days. Nithya is the daughter of Devanarayanan's niece, Sudha. Born in Thrissur in 1981, Nithya's ancestral roots span two prominent districts in Kerala. Her mother, Sudha Kechery, comes from Thrissur and previously worked at the Indian Overseas Bank branches in Kechery and Thrissur. Her father, Venkitaraman, is an engineer from Thiruvananthapuram who worked at the state-run enterprise Keltron.

The family initially lived on Ramasamy Kovil Street in East Fort, Thiruvananthapuram, during her first two and a half years. When her father left for higher studies in the United States, Nithya and her mother returned to Thrissur. She attended kindergarten at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan operating at Nadananikethanam from LKG to Class 1. At six years old, the family moved to Burlington, Massachusetts, though her bond with Kerala remained strong. Nithya later obtained US citizenship at the age of twenty-two.

Her brother Akash Raman works in finance in New York. Her family ties also extend into Indian cinema. Popular South Indian film actress Abhirami is her first cousin, the daughter of Venkitaraman's sister Pushpa.  When Nithya was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2020, she proudly acknowledged her roots during her oath-taking ceremony, calling herself a daughter of both Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram.

Grassroots advocacy across Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru

After completing her undergraduate degree in social studies at Harvard University, Nithya returned to India to spend four meaningful years in the country. Driven by a deep interest in public service and human rights, she worked with non-governmental organisations in Delhi. During this period, she actively led movements to protect slum dwellers from forced evictions ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Her love for Indian classical art forms brought her next to Chennai, where she trained in Bharatanatyam at the famous Kalakshetra institute. In 2010, she expanded her civic work in Chennai by co-founding a non-profit urban research organisation called Transparent Chennai. The group used data to campaign for better public sanitation, mapped public toilets in impoverished urban neighbourhoods, documented bus routes, and fought against policies causing forced slum evictions.

That same year, her personal life came full circle in India when she married television screenwriter and producer Vali Chandrasekaran in Bengaluru. The couple had first met in 1999 while studying at Harvard University, where Chandrasekaran, who has family roots in Tamil Nadu, was also completing his education.

Bridging Hollywood support with urban reform in Los Angeles

Nithya completed a master's degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before settling in Los Angeles in 2013. She joined the city administrative office, preparing a detailed report on municipal spending regarding homelessness. In 2017, she co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, and later served as executive director at Time's Up Entertainment.

Her dedicated grassroots work propelled her into local municipal governance. In 2020, she made history by defeating an incumbent to win her seat on the Los Angeles City Council, and retained her position in 2024. Meanwhile, her husband built a successful career in American television. Chandrasekaran worked initially as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group before writing and co-producing popular sitcoms such as My Name Is Earl, 30 Rock, and Modern Family. His writing and production work earned multiple nominations for Emmy and Writers Guild Awards.

With Nithya winning the mayoral race, Chandrasekaran takes on the symbolic title of First Gentleman of the city. Raising twin children named Karna and Kaveri, the family maintains close connections to both civic administration and the local creative industry. During her campaign, Nithya focused on tax relief for the entertainment sector and received widespread backing from creative artists, describing Hollywood as a family affair.

A historic electoral breakthrough grounded in civic priorities

The mayoral contest saw two fellow Democrats compete for leadership, with Nithya running against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. Public opinion surveys ahead of the election reflected the strong focus of voters on local municipal challenges. Reducing homeless encampments was cited as a primary focus by forty per cent of likely voters, while thirty per cent highlighted public safety and another thirty per cent emphasised affordable housing construction.

Her victory stands as a proud landmark moment for her family in Kerala, the Malayali diaspora, and the broader Indian community worldwide.