20 years helping colleges design for the whole student. Weekends guiding walks through Brooklyn's most wondrous block, writing poetry, and chasing the city's most delightfully niche programs.
Priya brings two decades of higher education expertise and a genuine love for New York's cultural fabric to everything she does. At NCII, she helps community colleges advance redesign efforts — from guided pathways to student financial stability — with a practitioner's lens and a researcher's rigor.
In Brooklyn, she's equally at home leading a slow walk down Eastern Parkway, identifying cherry varieties at the Botanic Garden, or attending the Rat Academy "just to see what it's like." Born in California, trained at UC Berkeley and Cal Poly Pomona, now deeply rooted in Brooklyn.
Priya works as an independent consultant and strategist in higher education — available for engagements of all kinds. With two decades of hands-on research, practitioner development, and systems-level thinking, she brings analytical rigor and human-centered design to every project. She maintains an ongoing advisory relationship with NCII while remaining open to new partnerships, collaborations, and speaking opportunities.
Partnering with faculty, staff, and administrators to advance institutional redesign. From diagnostic assessment to implementation support — helping colleges create structured, student-centered pathways.
Embedding basic needs support and affordability into institutional design. Author of NCII's Student Financial Stability Resource Series.
Translating institutional data into actionable strategy, bridging evidence and real-world implementation.
Developing guides and frameworks that equip college teams to lead change from within.
Thoughtful, evidence-backed presentations on student success, equity, and institutional design.
An ongoing advisory and consulting relationship with a national organization serving 500+ colleges in 45 states. Contributes strategic direction across guided pathways, student financial stability, and practitioner resource development — while maintaining an independent practice open to broader engagements.
Led professional development programming and applied research to support institutional improvement across California's community college system.
Began her higher education journey at Mt. SAC — first as a proud student, then as an institutional researcher and instructor. This ground-level perspective continues to shape how she supports colleges and the students they serve.
Trained docent guiding visitors through one of the country's great art institutions, bringing the same attention to context and story that defines Priya's professional work.
A volunteer guide who knows the difference between cherry varieties and which magnolias bloom first. Leads visitors through the garden with naturalist wonder.
Leads public neighborhood walks for the Municipal Art Society. Her signature: a single block of Eastern Parkway that holds the Brooklyn Museum, Botanic Garden, Mount Prospect, and Public Library — explored slowly, together.
A devoted reader and sharer of poems. Priya curates poetry that finds the lyrical in the everyday — nature, city life, and the overlooked. Her Instagram is a living anthology of the verses that move her.
Priya serves in a contract role with BKCM helping project manage and shape their Indian Classical music programming — intimate concerts, workshops, and celebrations of Diwali, Holi, and other cultural milestones throughout the year. A natural extension of her Brooklyn roots, her South Asian heritage, and her son's four-year journey as a piano student at the school.
Priya is available for specialty group tours on an ad-hoc basis — ideal for small groups, corporate outings, school visits, or social gatherings. With sufficient lead time, she can also be commissioned to design bespoke tours tailored to a specific theme, neighborhood, institution, or audience. Reach out through the contact form to discuss.
Priya's Instagram, @onomatopriya, is where professional curiosity meets personal wonder — poems from the garden, observations from the museum floor, and the occasional Rat Academy dispatch.
@onomatopriya"A living record of what catches my eye — poetry, petals, and the city in all its strangeness."
Priya is not a poet — she's something rarer: a devoted reader who finds the exact poem for the exact moment. Her Instagram, @onomatopriya, is a living anthology: verses about nature, Brooklyn, slowness, and the overlooked corners of the world.
Below, a poem Priya loves — drawn at random from her curated collection. Every poem here earned its place.
The handle onomatopriya is itself a small poem — a word that sounds like what it is. Her name, made lyrical.
Whether you're exploring a consulting engagement, want to book a tour, know of a delightfully niche NYC program, or simply want to say hello — Priya would love to hear from you.
Priya also loves hearing about unusual NYC programs, academies, and civic initiatives. If you know of a Trash Academy equivalent she hasn't attended yet, that's a great opener.