Vermont’s Youngest State Rep Becomes Senator
Kesha Ram was sworn into the office of the Vermont State Senator on Wednesday, January 6th, 2021 at the age of 36 after having served as the Vermont State Representative from 2009 to 2016 for District of Chittenden-6-4. At the day of her swear in, the United States of America was under Trump’s coup plans with Republicans storming into Congress, Senator and the Capitol Federal Buildings in Washington. DC. That day, Ram stood in front of her favorite quote in the State House building and posed for a photograph in a white shalwar kameez suit to later post on her official Instagram and impart the effect the quote took that day on her:
“If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the Union and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont.” – Calvin Coolidge, 1928, Thirtieth President of the United States.
In another post from the same day, Ram explained her reasoning behind her attire: wearing white for the ones who came before her to make her getting sworn in possible, and for the departed ones since her culture wears white to signify death. She also chose to wear shalwar kameez instead of a typical suit “for those yet to come”, likely hoping to become a beacon of hope for those from the communities she represents.
Kesha Ram is a descendant of Rai Bahadur Sir Ganga Ram, an Indian Hindu civil engineer whose immense contributions laid the path for the urban infrastructure of the Pakistani city of Lahore in Punjab province. He is known as “the father of modern Lahore” due to his contributory work. Kesha Ram is the great grand-daughter of Sir Ganga Ram from her father’s side who fled to the US from India when, during the partition of India, his residential region became a part of Pakistan when Hindus were unwelcomed. Her Jewish mother too fled her hometown of Kiev, Ukraine to escape persecution under anti-Semitism. Kesha Ram is an American political leader who was born in Santa Monica, CA in August 1986 and was educated in Jewism from an early age and visited India several times, according to an article by The Times of Israel from 2013.
Ram attended the University of Vermont where she graduated in 2008 in BS Natural Resource Planning and BA Political Science with a Truman Scholarship. There, she held the position of student body president, having served in the position once before through an election in 5th grade. She later availed her Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2018. She was first elected to the Vermont House of Representatives at the young age of 22 for the University District and Hill Section of Burlington from 2009 to 2016. She served as the Clerk and Member of multiple committees between 2009 and 2016 during the Vermont House Rep tenure. At the same time, she has served as Legal Director for Women Helping Battered Women, providing advocacy for people of color and immigrants while serving on multiple community and council boards in Vermont.
The team at Media Quotient Inc. wishes Kesha Ram congratulations on achieving the designation of the Vermont State Senator.
Credit: Kesha Ram
