An Indian-American wants to be the mayor of her hometown in Virginia

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After sitting in the town council of Blacksburg, Virginia, for several years, Krisha Chachra is ready to be the mayor of the town.

Chachra was born and brought up in Blacksburg and has called it home through all of the phases of her life.

Elected to Town Council in 2009 and is currently serving her second term, according to her election website, Chachra became the first Indian-American to serve as vice mayor from 2013 to 2015. She currently serves on six town committees. Among her biggest accomplishments as a councilwoman, Chachra says, was the building of a better relationship with the businesses at the shopping center in town, First & Main, soon after which, Mayor Ron Rordam appointed her the official liaison to it, a Collegiate Times report says.

On the Board of Smart Beginnings, which works with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, Chachra has been the president of Up on the Roof, a mixer for young professionals, for the past 10 years and claims that the event has been one of the best things she has done for the community.

Chachra believes that Blacksburg could do a better job in establishing personal relationships with citizens and get to know their issues on a personal level.

“I think that we have to show enough interest in people so that they feel that there is a trust that’s established between the town and the community,” Chachra told the Collegiate Times. “It needs to change from ‘no’ to ‘how do we get to yes’.”

She plans to implement the liaison model she worked on with First & Main, in each of the town’s neighborhoods since each shopping center has already received an official liaison.

“I want to get the experts in the community or people who have the expertise in some way on issues that they know a lot about to the table to solve problems with us,” Chachra told the Collegiate Times adding that it is time to think outside of the box.

According to her election website KrishaChachra.com, she holds degrees from William & Mary and American University and was appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe to serve on The Board of Visitors at Radford University. Previously, she was appointed to Virginia’s Board of Psychology by former Governor Mark Warner before living in Honolulu, HI where she taught communication and journalism courses at Hawaii Pacific University. In addition to her council responsibilities, she is an active volunteer in the community and served on the YMCA Board and the New River Community College Foundation Board.