My name is Ravi.
I’m Ravi (Sanskrit for ‘sun’). I was raised in a home of educators in Toledo, Ohio. Like my parents, I’m a life-long educator and I proudly live in Ward 7. When I had the opportunity to move to Washington, DC, I wanted to live east of the river.
I believe in the dignity of every person.
Why Run Now? Why This Race?
Democracy is only as good as what we make it together. Fueled by Trumpism, public education today is under attack. We are a nation in crisis and it hits right here at home in the shadow of a White House occupied by an ideology that is against education.
My History of Activism
My interest in politics blossomed in high school as I became active in student government and was elected student body president.
Life is a Journey
1982
Toledo, OhioBorn
2001
Graduated from High SchoolAt the Age of 19
2002
Congressional Intern, Office of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)
2002-2003
Led the Campaign to Re-Activate the University of Michigan NAACP Chapter
2003
Lobbied the NAACP National Board and Co-Organized NAACP/BAMN Delegation from the University of Michigan to Washington, DC for rallies at the Supreme Court in support of the affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court
9/4/2003
Diagnosed with HIV
2004
Graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s of Arts
2004-2005
Campaign Headquarters Manager for my Hometown’s First Black Mayor
2006
Earned a Master of Arts in Political Science from Brown University
2008
Selected as a Pre Doctoral Fellow in the Center for African American Politics at the University of Rochester
May 2009
Graduated from Brown University with a Ph.D. in political science
August 2009
Began Working as an Assistant Professor at Clark University in Worcester, MA
2011
Led the Effort to Re-Activate the Worcester MA branch of the NAACP and was elected President, the first openly gay president of color in NAACP history
2012
Began Working as an Assistant Professor and Stennis Scholar for Municipal Governance at Mississippi State University in Starkville, MS
2013
Lobbied the National Black Justice Coalition to investigate the murder of Marco McMillian, an openly gay Black candidate for mayor of Clarksdale, MS
2015
Co-organized the response effort to protest a rescinded Starkville Council Equality Resolution that originally extended health insurance to any household member of a city employee.
August 2015
After earning tenure at Mississippi State, I accepted a job offer at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
February 2017
Founder and Co-Organizer of the Black and Bold LGBTQ Awards, Virginia
2017
Selected as a National Mentor with the National Teaching Fellows and the Yale National Initiative Teachers’ Institute
August 2019
Began my current position as Chair and Professor of Political Science at Howard University