American Hindu World Service (AHWS) is the brainchild of founder and creator, Divya L. Selvakumar. Born and brought up in Southern California, Divya has been involved in the Hindu community since childhood. Divya is a nutrition specialist, and became interested in international development while working as a dietitian in California. After spending two years abroad on assignments in India and Tanzania,  Divya eventually moved to Washington, DC. In 2008, she worked for the famed Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision. During that period of time, Divya became interested in the faith-basedmodel of NGOs, and felt that there was little representation of the Hindu community in the international development forum. Hence, after receiving support from various NGOs, AHWS was born.