Madhusmita Bora (Maddie) grew up in the once trouble-torn Indian state of Assam, known for its tea, one-horned rhinos and drunk elephants. Unlike most Indian families, she wasn’t groomed to be a doctor or a software engineer. So, she became a writer. Maddie came to the U.S. in 1999, when she joined Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism as a master's student. She began her professional writing career as a political journalist, covering the 2000 Presidential race and the statehouse for a newspaper in Iowa. As a newsroom reporter, Maddie has covered real estate - residential and commercial - retail, technology, crime and immigration. She has worked for publications such as St. Petersburg Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Indianapolis Star. She has also written for walletpop.comand and is a regular contributor for Shopping Centers Today and Realty101.com. Maddie is also an adjunct professor at Lincoln University’s English department, where she has taught composition and currently teaches world literature. She’s also a trained Indian Classical dancer and has performed at venues such as the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center and the Alvin Ailey Theater in New York. Maddie lives in Philadelphia with Arush and her husband, Saurav, a physicist at Upenn. When she’s not writing, teaching or dancing, Maddie is busy enjoying her young son’s magical years.

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