Indian Heritage Inspired My Professional Life: Sonia Raman, NBA's First Indian-Origin Woman Assistant Coach

Sonia Raman is the first Indian-origin woman and the third Indian origin to be appointed as the assistant coach of Memphis Grizzlies. It is a men's professional basketball team in National Basketball Association (NBA). Raman will be working as an assistant to the head coach of Grizzlies, Taylor Jenkins. She is also the 14^th female assistant coach in the history of NBA and only the second female coach in the history of Grizzlies. She replaced Niele Ivey who was the first female assistant coach in Grizzlies in the year 2019-20. Prior to this, Raman was serving as the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Born and brought up in US, Raman gets her Indian roots from her parents who originally belong to India. Her mother hails from  Nagpur while her father is from Chennai. They both emigrated to US after finishing their college where Raman was born. She graduated in Bachelor of Arts and received a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. She served s the head coach at MIT for eight years and earned praises as the "all-time winningest coach" in the MIT's history.

Raman recently appeared in Patel & Kumar NBA talk show with Grizzlies Head Coach Taylor Jenkins and spoke about the influence of Indian heritage in her life and achievement of being the first Indian-origin woman assistant coach in NBA.

She said that she has inherited most of the Indian heritage and influence from her parents. For Raman, family and Indian heritage go hand in hand when she said, “My family is my Indian heritage.”  “Growing up in the States,” she added, “(Indian heritage) is a little different in terms of being able to absorb that and have it around me, so most of my Indian heritage comes from my parents- in terms of culture and food.”

Appreciating Raman’s prowess as a basketball coach, Taylor Jenkins had earlier said in a statement, “She has a high basketball IQ and a tremendous ability to teach the game, as well as a strong passion for the game. She is going to be a great addition to our current coaching staff.” She has also been named as the New England's Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Coach Of The Year twice.

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While Raman credited her parents and their Indian heritage for influencing her professional life, encouraging her to work hard and finally in achieving the milestone as an Indian-origin assistant coach in NBA. “Certainly the work ethics that my parents have shaped me with, as immigrants to the US just seeing how hard they worked my whole life and still do, has been my inspiration for how I approach everything.”

Raman also spoke about her extended family in India which is “huge” with “tons of unless and aunties” and how they have played a role in fanning her enthusiasm for basketball. She said that her extended family members in India are a huge fan of basketball and they are all so excited to watch the Grizzlies game where she will be assistant coach. “Everybody is along for this ride and already asking when's the season going to start and how do I watch Grizzlies games.”

The Indian culture indeed has a special place in both her personal and professional life. In the show she also revealed that in the COVID-19 lockdown, she mastered cooking Indian dishes like alu chole/channa masala, bhel, chaat and masala dosa.

Being an Indian-origin woman of colour in America certainly shaped her experience differently. However, Raman said that America embraced her as an Indian origin woman player and coach. “I am fortunate that I feel that there have been no barriers in that way." She said that she is indeed “excited” to make a mark in NBA history as an Indian-origin woman. “Opportunities are certainly there for Indian Americans in the profession. It is a matter of choosing if you want to go into that as a profession or not," she added.

Picture Credit: The Boston Globe

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