Born and raised in India, she worked as a journalist for the Times of India before moving to New York and working for News India newspaper. She later worked as a Michigan correspondent for the publication. In 1997, Dr. Vadhavkar pursued her doctoral degree at Wayne State University and started her teaching career there as a Teaching Assistant. Over the years, she has taught online and traditional courses in journalism, multimedia communication, speech and communication theory. Her research interests span cross cultural cultural communication, pedagogy, social science issues and role of new media in learning and teaching.