Bhavana Kunnath

Bhavana was born in India and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated summa cum laude from Oglethorpe University where she was an English and Comparative Literature major and a Communication Studies minor.

During her undergraduate career, Bhavana was deeply involved in academic research and extracurriculars earning her the James Edward Oglethorpe Award for scholarship, leadership, and character. She spent two years crafting her honors thesis on the treatment of gender and caste in South Indian Horror Comedy films to highlight how overlooked postcolonial film (sub)cultures can challenge oppressive dynamics. Her academic drive passion for research and writing resulted in her receiving the
Outstanding Senior in English Award. Outside of the classroom, Bhavana was the Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Tower Literary Magazine, a student representative on the Honor Council, a staff writer on The Stormy Petrel Newspaper, a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, and a member of the President’s Emerging Leaders.

In her professional life, Bhavana pursued her passion for advocacy as a freelance reporter and editorial assistant for Khabar Magazine and a legal intern at Moram & James Law. Through her work at Khabar, she not only reported on advocacy efforts and political events in Atlanta’s Indian American and broader Asian American communities but she also spoke with state representatives, ambassadors, consul generals, and Indian American leaders in a variety of fields to draw attention to issues that mattered to Georgia’ Indian American community. As a legal intern at Moram & James Law, Bhavana worked on employment-based immigration cases, citizenship applications, and asylum cases that allowed her to support other immigrants who came to America seeking the same dream that her family had and affirmed her commitment in community-based advocacy.

At Georgetown Law, Bhavana is a RISE fellow and Opportunity Scholar in addition to being a Blume Public Interest Scholar. She hopes to use her legal degree to pursue regulatory and litigation work that will also allow her to engage in immigration and asylum work pro bono.