Natalie Makan
Intro
name: Natalie Makan
faceclaim: Pallavi Sharda
gender & pronouns: cis female, she/her/hers
age: 36
birthday: January 3, 1989
place of birth: Oakland, CA
occupation: Legal Counsel at Hawthorne Brothers and Co.
neighborhood: Emerald Mist
time since arriving in kismet harbor: since October 2022
town activities: Compassionate Friends, Hands on Kismet Harbor, Kismet Eats and Adventures, Trail Blazers, and Trivia Nights
biography: (tw medical conditions, being unhoused, partner abandonment, family abandonment, unplanned pregnancy, death)
Over 30 years later, Sunita Makan will still tell anyone who listens that New Year’s Day is her favorite holiday because it was the day she went into labor with her precious daughter. Although Sunita was thrilled to welcome Natalie into the world and always made sure her daughter knew how wanted she was, there was no family or village beside her. Natalie was the result of an unplanned pregnancy when her mother was 25. As a first-generation Indian American, Sunita’s parents were markedly less than thrilled when their only daughter announced her pregnancy, especially considering the father walked out as soon as he heard. Unwed and kicked out by her family, Sunita struggled to make a life for herself and Natalie. As a result, Natalie spent the first year and a half of her life in a women’s shelter.
But, determined and savvy, Sunita worked around the clock until her job as a medical receptionist at a local hospital until she’d saved enough to secure a tiny apartment nearby for herself and Natalie. Given the long hours her mother worked, Natalie grew up in a variety of different environments from spending time with neighbors to staying with her grandparents to the hospital daycare. As she grew, Natalie became painfully aware that she needed to be mature and responsible. The idea of causing her mother any trouble at all horrified the girl from a young age. Dead-set on making sure Sunita knew all the hard work was worth it and that she deserved it, Natalie lived and breathed school from elementary school onward.
Although her grandparents doted on Natalie, the unrepaired rift between them and her mother was difficult and she tried everything she could to fix it, to no avail. Although school felt like an obligation, slowly parts of it emerged that Natalie genuinely enjoyed. Joining the debate team in middle school sparked her interest in discourse, philosophy, and making the world a better place. This was only surpassed when she took on mock trial in high school. Winning her first state championship sealed the deal-Natalie Makan was going to be the best lawyer the world had ever seen someday. After graduating as valedictorian, Natalie went onto UC Berkeley for undergrad and opened her eyes even wider to new opportunities and desire to serve others while making her mother proud. Hesitant to leave the state and her family behind, Natalie only accepted her offer from Yale University Law School on her mother’s insistence.
Life in Connecticut was harder than she’d expected and her fellow students even more cutthroat. But, Natalie not only survived, she eventually thrived and graduated with honors. Landing a junior associate job at a fancy NYC law firm, Natalie dove headfirst into her new professional life, fully embracing the hustle and bustle of the city and never slowing down for anyone or anything…until her and Leo’s paths crossed. Only a few years older than Sunita when she got pregnant and having turned a blind eye to dating growing up, Natalie was incredibly hesitant but there was something undeniable about the man and his million-watt smile. Before she knew it, the lawyer was head over heels and thankfully Leonardo was just as in love.
They began building a life together while she worked her way up to senior associate and he rose through the ranks of the FBI. And for a while, everything was perfect. But Natalie’s world was rocked when her forever absent father, a man she knew nothing of beyond a name, waltzed back into her life and bought his way back into her life by purchasing a significant chunk of her firm’s equity. For months he pushed and pushed and Natalie refused at every turn until eventually she quit. The timing turned out to be fortuitous as six months later Leo received the ADA job offer in Kismet Harbor.
Eager to make a fresh start, Natalie was more than happy to move back to the West Coast and closer to her family. Landing her job at Hawthorne Brothers and Co. was another highlight that allowed her to connect with her new community from the very start. After a year in Oregon, a letter finally explained why her father had been so determined to repair their relationship, he had been dying. To her shock and partial horror, he had left Natalie a sizeable chunk of his significant estate. And six months later, another hit-Sunita was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Natalie immediately dropped everything and went to Oakland. After some difficult conversations and emotional negotiations, she finally convinced her mother to come to Kismet Harbor and move into Coastal Haven. The adjustment to her mother’s presence, finding a use for her unexpected inheritance, and considering what kind of future she wants for herself and Leo have left Natalie a bit unmoored as of late. Thankfully, she isn’t doing any of it alone.
