about

Rajani Gudlavalleti (she/they) a South Indian Asian-American queer woman, is a consultant, facilitator, and writer who revels in explorations of racial equity, social policy, and harm reduction. Their name is pronounced as: RUH-juh-nee good-LOVE-uh-leh-TEE.

After receiving Critical Race Theory (CRT) education and training, Rajani served as a lead consultant with Baltimore Racial Justice Action. For four (4) years, she provided research and facilitation services to progressive movement workers seeking to effectively apply racial equity theory to organizational functions and politically strategic projects. She has facilitated over a hundred (100) multiracial discussions to advance anti-racism, primarily advising predominantly white institutions. In this experience, Rajani built an expertise and passion for curating pro-Black solidarity groups of multi-racial POC, non-Black POC, and/or APIA POC.

Interwoven with her racial equity work, Rajani built professional and academic experience in (and a firey passion for) harm reduction programs and policies. Rajani co-led Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition for seven (7) years to advance the organization’s development into a resource for public health training, services, and advocacy grounded in ending the racist drug war. Prior to joining BHRC, they led program evaluation consulting projects for Baltimore City’s health and social services departments, Maryland Department of Health, and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Rajani’s career has also included supporting grantees of private philanthropic institutions. They supported the operations of over 40 corporate philanthropy funds as an associate at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and coordinated the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program at Open Society Foundation’s Baltimore site. This early career experience provided Rajani insight to nonprofit organizational sustainability, effective fundraising, and multi-sector partnerships.

Rajani earned a Masters in Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Sociology and English Literature from Willamette University. In 2023, she joined the National Harm Reduction Coalition’s Board of Directors and currently serves as board co-chair. She is a 2024 Roots. Wounds. Words (RWW) Writers’ Retreat for Storytellers of Color Fellow for creative non-fiction. Her creative writing can be found on Substack.

publications

Gudlavalleti, R. (2025, April 19). knots: a collection. Order your copy today!

Gudlavalleti, R. (2025, September 1). A Wednesday Drive. The Faoileánach Journal.

Gudlavalleti, R. (2023, April 1). Putting my body on a Mumbai train. Panorama.

Gudlavalleti, R. (2021, August 27). Gather in compassion to support our loved ones who use drugs. The Baltimore Sun. 

Gudlavalleti, R., & Sullivan, S. (2021, March 23). Treat drug use as a health issue, not a criminal one: Decriminalize paraphernalia.  The Baltimore Sun.

CityLit Project. (2021, April 30). CityLit Presents Baltimore AAPI Writer’s Spotlight: Rajani Gudlavalleti [Video]. YouTube. 

Rouhani, S., Gudlavalleti, R., Atzmon, D., Park, J. N., Olson, S. P., & Sherman, S. G. (2019). Police attitudes towards pre-booking diversion in Baltimore, Maryland. The International journal on drug policy, 65, 78–85.

Gudlavalleti, R. (2017, December 19). Overdoses Are Rising because the War on Drugs Isn’t Over. TheHumanist.com.

Gudlavalleti, R. (2016, September 13). Telugu Hospitality in Addis Ababa. A Side of Rice, 1(00), 22-23.  

Gudlavalleti, R. (2013, October 8). Maryland can do more to reduce recidivism. The Baltimore Sun.