Portfolio Manager, Systematic Active Equity at BlackRock

Prathima Nalluri grew up in the town of Visakhapatnam on the southeastern coast of India. She headed north near Delhi for college, studying engineering and economics, and then changed cultures and climates entirely, moving to the far chillier Buffalo, New York to attend graduate school, earning a master’s degree in finance. Another leap followed, with a move to San Francisco in 2010 for a job with BlackRock, where she works today as a Senior Risk Manager. Her interest in youth, education, and service bloomed in graduate school, where she took a side job tutoring higher need students through the university’s Center for Academic Development Services. “I realized I really liked teaching,” Prathima says. “Opportunity is everything. You become what you’re exposed to.” Prathima joined the America SCORES Bay Area board in 2018 and is particularly interested in the impact and creative possibilities of poetry as a means of expression. She’s also impressed by the sheer bravery SCORES students demonstrate standing up and reading their poems aloud. In her spare time, Prathima enjoys the artistic release of ceramics and painting.