Rema Kunnath

Rema Kunnath arrived in the United States 16 years ago from India, and she settled at North Shore Bank in December 2010 after we had acquired several branches from her former employer, Maritime Savings Bank. A CSR at Brookfield Capitol, Rema has carved out a comfortable niche in both places: North Shore and the United States.

Rema earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in India, but she was not legally eligible to work when she first arrived here, as she had a dependent visa.

“I’m not the kind of person who can sit quietly,” she says, so she did volunteer data entry for the American Cancer Society. “We had just one car, and my husband needed it for work, so I walked three miles each way,” she remembers.

She also trained as a tax associate with H&R Block, spending the 2002 tax season there. Her evening and Saturday hours enabled her to be home days with daughters Ritika, then 4, and Rohitha, who was 1.

Working in a tax office taught her how important it was to listen carefully and patiently to customers. “That’s a lesson that still applies,” she says. “Interacting with people is the part of my job I enjoy most.”

Rema obviously is doing a good job with those interactions; she conscientiously makes five courtesy calls a day. “Calling customers has helped me meet my goals every month since I started here,” she says proudly.

Although Rema admits that she is joking when she says her favorite subject in school was recess, her passion for Zumba attests to her penchant to stay active. “I just love, love, love Zumba!” she effuses. She gets to classes at a nearby YMCA several times a week and on weekends.

When she’s not working or exercising, Rema relaxes by listening to music from her native India, sewing and going to movies.

On Sundays, she is a regular volunteer at Luther Manor Retirement Community, working the ice cream parlor. Daughter Ritika, soon to be 14, lends her mom a hand and also helps residents with Bingo on Saturdays.

Both Ritika and her sister Rohitha, 11, play piano and take Indian Classical Dance lessons. Rema’s husband of 17½ years, Ratnasing, is a software consultant at Wacker Neuson, a global manufacturer of lightweight, compact equipment and vehicles.