Dr. Unna Chokkalingam was born in Chennai, South India in 1965. Unna spent most of her childhood in boarding schools after which she returned to the heart of the family in Chennai for her higher education. From early on, she began to challenge and push the boundaries of time-honoured patriarchal traditions and restrictions that she was obliged to become immersed in and confirm with.
Today Unna wears several hats in pursuit of her numerous passions. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Chennai in India, a Master’s in Forestry from the University of Massachusetts in the USA, and a PhD in Forestry from the University of Maine in the USA. She is a senior forestry expert, researcher, project manager and scientific writer with over 25 years of experience in the forestry and natural resource field.
She recently became accredited as a mediator with the London School of Mediation, and looks forward to exciting new challenges in conflict resolution while continuing to work as a freelance forestry consultant. Finally and most importantly, she is a budding creative writer and this is her first attempt to bring together and share some of her thoughts and writings.