Shaheen Mistri

Shaheen grew up in 5 countries around the world and returned to India when she was 18 to start Akanksha. For 17 years, she worked with teachers and students, building Akanksha to provide children from low-income communities the kind of education that would maximize their greatest potential. Today, Akanksha serves 9300 children through their School Project and after-school centers in Mumbai and Pune. In 2008, Shaheen founded Teach For India, with an audacious vision of providing an excellent education to all children across India by building a pipeline of leaders committed to ending educational inequity in India. Today, Teach For India directly impacts approximately 32,000 children across seven regions in India. Shaheen has also created projects like the Maya Musical, the Kid's Education Revolution which explore student leadership, creating platforms for student voice and partnership, and TFIx, which is a year-long incubator program for passionate entrepreneurs who are willing to adapt Teach For India’s model to their context and region in rural areas. Shaheen serves on the boards of Akanksha Foundation, and Simple Education Foundation. Shaheen has been an Ashoka Fellow, a Global Leader for Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum, and an Asia Society 21 Leader. She is the author of the book, Redrawing India and the Miss Muglee Children’s Books. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, and a Master’s Degree from the University of Manchester.