Beginning in 2008, Ms. Cartha Alene Mahoney became an integral part of the history of CARTHA’s development as a fledgling, entrepreneurial nonprofit organization.

Ms. Mahoney was born in North Carolina and grew up in Ohio. She worked in administrative office positions within the California State government in Sacramento for over 38 years. She has always maintained a deep curiosity about the human aspects (softer, interpersonal skillsets) of fusing art forms with technology across a variety of disciplines and sectors. In particular, Ms. Mahoney has always believed in the power of the human spirit to heal through the exploration of new forms of cooperative behaviors, cross-cultural exchanges, and the creative expression of intentions to advance our human civilization. She joined the Theosophical Society (Adyar, Chennai, India) in 1980 and has attended numerous conferences and workshops at the Krotona Institute (Ojai, California).

Ms. Mahoney came upon CARTHA's website in December 2008, being naturally drawn to it because of the organization’s name. In Ms. Mahoney’s life, “Cartha” has always been a family name: besides being her first name, “Cartha” is also her late Mother’s first name as well as her late Great Aunt’s first name. Ms. Mahoney felt an immediate alignment with CARTHA’s stated mission of Cultivating Collaborative Doers. To satisfy her wonder at such an apparently serendipitous connection, she phoned CARTHA's founder Usha R. Balakrishnan, and then made two trips to Iowa City to learn more. After meeting several individuals affiliated with CARTHA, Ms. Mahoney began to particularly cherish the everyday sort of collaborative doings and social harmony that CARTHA promotes. She now describes CARTHA’s people as her extended family!

In a fascinating friendship that both she and Usha have found to be mutually empowering,
Ms. Mahoney continues to work with Usha in eclectic ways. She helped Usha with the design of a Singing Lecture in April 2009 at a University of Iowa course relating to “Krishna in the Indian Arts.” Connecting thus with Usha’s musical voice, Ms. Mahoney requested Usha in October 2009 to begin to sing to her each morning over the phone for five minutes. This personalized and delightful setting of vibration created in turn a new, daily, and meaningful venue for Usha to practice and share with Ms. Mahoney whatever she knew (in terms of Sanskrit slokas and songs in Indian languages, and the mythology and culture relating to such singing). This also then transformed into an alternate platform over which Usha could comfortably share with
Ms. Mahoney her aspirations for CARTHA through a musical voice made more malleable from decades of training in South Indian Carnatic vocal music, including devotional songs learned from listening to her mother (Kamala Moorti) sing constantly while growing up in India.
Ms. Mahoney is now nudging Usha to envision a music therapy venture under the aegis of CarthaGlobal Ventures which promotes humanity-centered business incubation.

As a retiree now living in Sarasota, Florida, Ms. Mahoney hosted Usha in Sarasota in 2010 and now looks forward to serving in a variety of volunteer roles to support CARTHA’s portfolio of program activities. Indeed, with Ms. Mahoney’s energetic support, CARTHA has begun to initiate Collaborative Doer networks and explore programming opportunities in the Sarasota area. Ms. Mahoney also crafted the rationale to make a long-term, 20-year pledge to provide ongoing support for CARTHA’s operations and joined as Honorary Co-Chair of CARTHA in 2010.