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Maruthachelvi KothandaramanIndian Community Relations and Hospitality
Hailing from an academic family - with both her parents involved in community service - Maruthachelvi has always been willing to serve the community in her best capacity. Her father, Dr. Pon.Kothandaraman (Portko), former vice chancellor of Madras University, and mother Dr. K.Poongothai, Naturopathy and Magneto therapy doctor, has always been an inspiration in her life. Both of them were involved in serving the community through various means and also committed as loving and caring parents all their life till date.
She was trained in Classical Indian Music by Vidhwan A.S.Ramanathan at Naadhan NunKalai Mandram, Adyar, Chennai. Although she had opportunities during her childhood and did perform in National Media - the All India Radio, Sun TV, etc. - education has always been the primary focus and beyond high school she was off from being a performer. That did not stop her from enjoying, watching, and listening to dance and music, and she was a consistent music blogger through her college days.
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She lives in Bentonville, Arkansas with her husband, Arulkumaran, and two lovely boys, Mani and Iniyan. Called fondly by everyone as “Selvi," she graduated in B.Tech. ECE from SRM University, India and got placed in campus at her first IT Job with Wipro Technologies and later worked for Walmart in Bentonville. She is passionate about singing, blogging, painting, cooking, spending time with children, and volunteering. She believes that nurturing children from a young age is critical. She is very inclined towards maintaining the identity as an Indian in a foreign land and she strives to keep the same spirit in her kids.
Having been raised in an environment which spoke in volumes about being selfless and caring for the community, it is quiet obvious where she picked up volunteering and being involved in selfless service. Prior to collaborating with Ra-Ve, she served two terms in another local non-profit organization as Secretary / BOD. Currently she is associated with Ra-Ve and also volunteers in teaching native language to local kids in addition to nurturing her own. She loves meeting people and sharing information and supporting others in every possible way.
Selvi has been very inspired by the idea of Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation to help local talents, especially nurturing younger generations in Indian art forms. Hence after the second child and resigning her full time IT job, she believed in giving back to the community in her own ways.