Chitra Raman

Chitra Raman began her career in India with the organization that is now the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). She married and immigrated to the United States in 1985.  Perhaps because she began her job search with an identity reduced to “resident alien,” a writing position initially proved elusive. Her foot found a door in 1986 when she joined Focus: HOPE, a Detroit-based nonprofit, as a proposal writer. A year later, she was promoted to a management position.  In that capacity, she steered one of their training programs out of chaos and flagging morale to national accreditation.

Chitra opted to work freelance after her daughter was born and subsequently diagnosed with autism. She completed a Bachelors degree in Journalism from Wayne State University, graduating with honors. As a freelance writer, she continued to work with Focus: HOPE while completing an assignment for  Citizens for Better Care, a grassroots agency working on improving nursing home care for the elderly.  Chitra subsequently wrote for The Gale Group, publishers of print and electronic reference materials.  She has been published in Horizons, the Autism Society of Michigan quarterly; Exceptional Parent Magazine; India Abroad; and The Detroit News.  Her paper titled Karma and the Inner I was well received at the 2004 WAVES Conference at Washington D.C.

More recently, Chitra served on a year-long strategic planning committee formed by the Michigan State Department of Education in order to formulate best practices for the education of children on the Autism spectrum.  Working separately with the local school district, she devised a creative teaching format to make the elementary school science curriculum more accessible to different learners.

Chitra’s reading interests include anthropology, philosophy and religion, astronomy, the environment, and women’s issues.  Her eclectic taste in music includes Hindustani, Carnatic, Western Classical, and World Music.  But her principal interest lies in supporting her musically talented daughter, who has won district and state honors in vocal music, as well as outstanding ratings at adjudicated piano festivals over the past three years. 

Chitra lives with her husband, a systems manager, and their daughter in the Metro Detroit area. She may be contacted at  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Last update : 04-05-2010 08:25

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