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Aishwarya Kumar
"From urban planning in India to innovation in Elk Grove City."
During my final year of undergraduate studies in urban planning at CEPT University in India, I was working on a thesis with a focus on urban governance patterns in Indian cities.
After graduation, I was still curious about governance practices in different parts of the world, and this led me to the University of Pittsburgh where I studied public administration. While there, I interned for the Quaker Valley Council of Governments through the Local Government Academy’s Municipal Intern Program and was inspired to join public service. Today, I am a management analyst in the strategic planning and innovation department of the City of Elk Grove, CA. Among other exciting projects, I am working on revamping our performance management program and developing an innovation program for the City. Prior to this role, I was with the City of Decatur, GA, where I worked on projects related to micro mobility, performance measurement and municipal benchmarking, budget analysis, ethics review, recruitment, and employee benefits administration.
With the support of my former supervisor (who is also my mentor), I entered the fulfilling field of local government full-time, as an international student. I hope to see more organizations working on visa sponsorships to recruit for talent, especially for the positions that are getting increasingly hard to fill. As a “nonresident alien”, I am always amazed by how welcomed and supported I feel by the community and by my colleagues in local government. Instead of being othered, very often I am invited to participate in events and meetings and encouraged to share my perspective.
