Anisha Singh is the Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition, serving as the head of the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the United States since 2022. In her leadership role, she manages the day-to-day operations of the Sikh Coalition and is responsible for shaping and implementing the organization’s strategic plan as we enter our third decade of work on behalf of the Sikh community.
Anisha’s journey with the Sikh Coalition, and her passion for protecting civil rights, began after 9/11, as she worked to help those fearlessly practicing the Sikh faith navigate the backlash threatening our and other communities. In 2005, she got involved with the organization’s efforts to help a Sikh inmate who was being prohibited from maintaining his unshorn hair in a state prison. Her unrelenting direct grassroots advocacy work in Florida alongside the Sikh Coalition and our legal partners led to the Sikh inmate being transferred to a new facility where his faith was respected and his articles of faith were preserved.
Before joining the Sikh Coalition, Anisha’s commitment to working on social justice saw her lead the courts and democracy programs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). As the Director of Judiciary and Democracy Affairs, she developed strategies to both protect reproductive healthcare in U.S. courts through judicial nomination campaigns and find ways to bring the levers of power in our government and voting systems back to the people. Her work saw her build cross-team campaigns and work with affiliates across the nation to advance the organization’s portfolio on voting rights and democracy reform issues through legislative and coalition engagement.
Before her time at PPFA, Anisha worked in advocacy and organizing at the Center for American Progress (CAP). As the Senior Organizing Director for Generation Progress, she managed a team and developed issue-based trainings and campaigns to incorporate the youth perspective into the national conversation on a range of progressive issues. Before that, as Campaign Manager at Legal Progress, Anisha shaped the conversation around the nation’s judicial process by managing unprecedented grassroots organization efforts across the country to mobilize Americans on judicial nominations. Prior to her time with CAP, Anisha served as a policy attorney and project manager for United Sikhs. While there, she managed the Washington, DC, chapter, served as counsel on anti-discrimination cases, advised on legislative language, cultivated key relationships with the White House and on Capitol Hill, and founded a national Anti-Bullying Campaign to proactively assist victims of bullying through resources developed in partnership with the White House Anti-Bullying Initiative and the U.S. Department of Education.
Anisha received her B.A. with Summa Cum Laude honors in Political Science and Communication Studies from Florida State University and received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law; during her time in law school, she interned with the Sikh Coalition and later lobbied alongside our policy and advocacy team on anti-bullying and anti-discrimination legislation. She is licensed to practice law in Washington, DC, and Maryland, and previously won a historic 2015 anti-discrimination case against the U.S. Army on behalf of a Sikh college student seeking to join the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) with his articles of faith. She also previously served as an adjunct professor at New York University. In 2016, Anisha was named one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 under 30″ for law and policy. She is based in Washington, DC, where she lives with her husband and adorable baby boy.