Sailaja Joshi's Academic Experience

Sailaja Joshi began her academic career at Northeastern University majoring in International Business with a concentration in Marketing, Finance and German. As part of her degree program, Sailaja spent two years overseas at Northeastern's German partner school, the European School of Business. In 2006 she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Intentional Business from both Universities with honors.  Her thesis project at the European School of Business was titled Global Differences, Perception or Creation: A look at the economic development of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) Nations and the subsequent impact on the marketing approach by Multinational Corporations.

In 2007 she began her journey of becoming a Consumer Anthropologist and joined Harvard Extension School's Masters program in Anthropology. During her time at Harvard, she has researched topics ranging from the influence of endorphins on consumer behavior, the sari as 'social skin,' and more recently she has conducted extensive research on Asian-Indian American women. Her current research is titled DESIred Beauty: A study of the emerging ideals of beauty among Asian-Indian American women."

Sailaja has provided extensive support to Harvard professors as both a teaching assistant and research assistant. In 2011 she worked with Jim Harrison as a teaching assistant for his class Race in the Americas. In 2010 she provided research assistance for Joan Johnson-Fresse for her book on BRICs in Space.