Dhaya Lakshminarayanan

Lakshminarayanan is a former investment manager of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s investment firm, the Omidyar Network,[1] and worked in finance for years in different capacities, including as a venture capitalist. She also worked as a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton and worked in asset management for Parnassus Investments, a socially responsible mutual fund, where she specialized in health services.[26] Additionally, she was Director of Strategy & Prizes at the Freedom Prize Foundation, an organization whose mission it is to decrease the United States' dependence on oil.[26]

Lakshminarayanan began working as a professional standup comedian in 2006.[26] Her first set was an eight-minute routine on a bill alongside other comedians. One of her influences is Chris Rock.[30]

Early in her career, she was selected for the national 5 Funny Females and Pundits with Punchlines comedy tours. In 2010, she was one of three headliners—and the only woman—of the Mahatma Moses Comedy Tour.[31] The same year, she became host of High School Quiz Show, a public television program created at Boston’s WGBH; she occupied the post for the program's inaugural year. The show earned a New England Emmy.

In 2011, Lakshminarayanan created a humor-meets-how-to web series with the San Francisco non-profit One Economy, called Everyday Tech. Inspired by the humor and tech themes, Lakshminarayanan created Nerd Nation, a live comedy show about nerd culture, with showings at venues such as the Alameda Pacific Pinball Museum.

In 2013, one of Lakshminarayanan's highlight performances was Brava's New Year's Eve Comedy Fiesta, which she co-headlined with Marga Gomez and Micia Mosely.[8]

In 2014, Lakshminarayanan and Karinda Dobbins created Stand Up Sit Down, a live comedy show and interview series, held at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. Also in 2014, she performed a one-act play she wrote, in which she portrayed three characters, at the San Jose Museum of Art.

In 2017, Lakshminarayanan was selected as one of five comedians to perform and discuss comedy at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum in an evening called Please Don’t Tell Anyone You Saw Me: Comedians on The Edge.[32] Meanwhile, her storytelling was featured at the Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organization in the United States.[33] She also performed at the 16th Annual SF Sketchfest.[34]

In 2019, she performed at shows in the Bay Area such as Tindervention: Stand Up Comedy & Tinder Horror Stories at Cobb's Comedy Club;[35] the Funny Immigrants Comedy Show at Lost Church; Cocktails & Comedy at The Armory Club; Cheaper Than Therapy at the Shelton Theater; Stand-up Comedy at Salesforce Park with Danny Dechi & Friends,[36] and numerous other shows. She also spent time in New York, performing at shows and events such as the Nasty Women Unite Festival and Isn’t She Funny: A Standup Comedy Show with a Dude-Free Lineup. In Massachusetts, she played Cityside Comedy, McGreevy's, Beacon Hill Pub, and the Wilbur Theater. Additionally, she performed at events such as Portland's All Jane Comedy Festival[37][38] and the Cambridge Science Festival.[39] Also in 2019, Lakshminarayanan performed live for the MUNI Diaries podcast at San Francisco's Exploratorium[40] and the comedy benefit MAKE IT STOP: A Night to Raise Money and Some Hell for Gun Reform Candidates, with all proceeds going to One Vote at a Time, a group of female filmmakers who were making free professional campaign videos for candidates in state elections who were committed to gun reform.[41] She also opened for Greg Proops at San Francisco's Punchline Comedy on a recurring basis.

In 2020, Lakshminarayanan is slated to appear in Cambridge, Massachusetts for Cerebella: An Evening of Nerdy Jokes and the Stories Behind the Jokes,[42] SF Sketchfest,[12] Irene Tu's Man Haters, Who’s Your Mami Comedy at the Brava Theater Center, and other shows and events.

Lakshminarayanan is the host of the monthly StorySLAM event, The Moth, at Public Works in San Francisco[24][43] and is a regular featured performer at the historic San Francisco Punchline Comedy Club. (KQED interview, 6:22[16]). She is also host, alongside Karinda Dobbins, of the political comedy show The Resistance at Oakland's New Parkway Theater.[44][45]