SAN MARCOS — When Lakshmi Paranthaman first read the job description for a professor who could teach both Real Estate and Business Law, she thought the posting might as well have her name on it.

Highly experienced in both fields, Paranthaman applied for the job at Palomar College, and was teaching her first classes here in the Spring semester of 2018.

“I love the students here at Palomar—they’re bright and hardworking,” she said. “They don’t give up.”

Originally from rural Virginia, Paranthaman earned her law degree and initially went to work in business law—first on the East Coast and then in San Diego. She has an impressive resume of positions and achievements that, she said, have proven a good match for her duties at Palomar.

Business is her passion. She has the legal foundation, and also brings a lot of experience in the transactional side of the business world, from real estate to the inner workings of bankruptcy.

“I love thinking through business problems,” she said, “thinking through business ideas, taking a real-world problem like businesses sometimes have and coming up with a solution.”

After working as a lawyer, primarily in business law, she earned her real estate license after buying her home in Cardiff and spent the next 12 years as a real estate agent, during which time she also earned her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

For years, Paranthaman had been teaching and serving as an administrator at universities in Southern California, recalling, “I really just enjoyed helping students achieve success.”

When she gave birth to her son in 2016, she decided she wanted to pursue education full-time—but, she said, “I wanted to be in the classroom this time.”

At Palomar, she said, she’s enjoying her time in the classroom “helping the student create a path, seeing them work hard. It’s exceeded my expectations.”

“They were looking for someone who could teach both Legal Studies and Real Estate,” she recalled. “And it was within the Business department. So it was kind of a synthesis of both my degrees and my professional experience. It combined everything, and it was right here.”