Rooted in Experience

My name is Harini Aiyer and I'm running to be the next State Representative of Middlesex 17th.

Growing up in Chennai, India with progressive parents passionate about education, I was raised to strive for excellence and dedicate my skills to my community. After achieving my Bachelor of Science at the University of Madras, I joined the PhD program in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Kentucky, followed by two postdoctoral fellowships in cancer prevention.

While at Georgetown I experienced immigration-procedural gaps and medical debt that pushed me to become unhoused when I was later laid off. I overcame this adversity with the help of my community, social safety net programs like Unemployment Insurance and the Affordable Care Act, and sheer stubbornness. While sleeping on a friend's couch, I founded my first company.

My experience falling through the guardrails in the system has instilled a passion to re-write policy so our hardworking neighbors will not suffer the humiliation and pain that I did.