Who Is Anisha?
Anisha Ismail Patel has served on the District 25 Board of Education for 4 years. She was elected to the school board with the highest vote count in 2017. During this unprecedented pandemic when students across the nation and in our community face challenges, Anisha has decided to re-run for the April 6, 2021 consolidated election to once again serve her community on the school board.
In the past four years Anisha has been humbled to serve the Arlington Heights District 25 community: She has stayed connected routinely attending school and community events, she has been nominated to serve as a Director at Large for the Illinois Association of School Board-North Cook Division, and serves as the Board liaison to ED RED, a legislative advocacy organization, where she also serves on the Equity Ad Hoc Committee. In serving in these roles, she brings gained best practices back to her D25 Board discussions and continues to contribute a fresh perspective.
As an invested member of the Arlington Heights community, Anisha is also humbled to be nominated as the Vice President of the High School District 214 Education Foundation Board. Together with her husband Sajid, she absolutely loves raising her 4 children in Arlington Heights. They continue to do their part to make this a City of Good Neighbors. Sajid is a local engineering small business owner and volunteers on the Advisory Board of the Arlington Heights Library Foundation Board. Their eldest daughter was appointed by the Mayor to serve as a Youth Commissioner. Their second daughter is a volunteer with the League of Women Voters youth newsletter team. Their youngest two, who attend South Middle School and Dryden Elementary School spend their time immersed in school activities, and park district and other sports activities. In addition they enjoy time with friends especially at the local parks and always come up with incentives for a family visit to local ice-cream parlors.
Anisha is a global educator with over 23 years of experience as a teacher, professor, district-wide administrator, school leader and she currently serves as the Chief Consultant for InnovusEd. As a keen life-long learner, she is pursuing a Doctorate in Education in Organizational Change and Leadership at the University of Southern California. A participant of the Harvard Global Education Think Tank, Anisha began her journey attending an International School in Malawi-Africa. She was fortunate to have a multi-lingual upbringing and has traveled extensively which has included speaking engagements with the U.S. State Department internationally.
Anisha moved to the U.S. as a first generation high school graduate to further her education. Honored as the Valedictorian of her graduating college class, she was also awarded academic merit scholarships and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earning a Bachelors in Elementary Education with an emphasis on Cultural Geography and a Masters in Educational Administration and Leadership. She is passionate about civic engagement, especially nurturing women and youth in leadership and service. She has launched two philanthropic and personal development non profit organizations, one in her birth city in Malawi, Africa and another in Chicago. She is also the founder and national advisor for WomenEd US. Anisha was honored to be invited to a White House reception along with other national leaders. Anisha has been featured in the Atlantic, Huffington Post, Education Post, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald and Patheos. She is a speaker, writer, educator and social entrepreneur.
