Ankita Patel is the Director of Collaboratives at Panorama Global. In this role, she develops equity-minded strategies to amplify the impact of collaboratives and networks powered by Panorama, and captures leadership and wisdom to influence the social change sector.
Ankita combines almost 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector to elevate the social, political and economic status of communities in our democracy and economy. Previously, Ankita served as a Senior Advisor at Tides advocacy, a pro-Black 501(c)(4) fiscal sponsorship organization to support progressive political movement leaders in implementing their political and electoral strategies. As the Senior Program Manager for Public Policy and Advocacy at Philanthropy Northwest, Ankita managed the Washington Census Equity Fund, a donor and community collaborative that closely partnered with Washington state to ensure a complete, robust and accurate count in historically undercounted communities, and advocated against the citizenship question being added to the Census questionnaire. With a strong passion to advocate for women, immigrants and people of color, Ankita served in various roles at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Ankita holds a Juris Doctorate from Seattle University School of Law.
Ankita was born and raised in Zambia before moving to the U.S. She lives on the traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, specifically the Duwamish people, which is also known as Seattle. Ankita loves to travel, adventure, explore and discover everyday joy!
Favorite Quote: “I want a world where friendship is appreciated as a form of romance. I want a world where when people ask if we are seeing anyone we can list the names of all of our best friends and no one will bat an eyelid. I want monuments and holidays and certificates and ceremonies to commemorate friendship. I want a world that doesn’t require us to be in a sexual or romantic partnership to be seen as mature (let alone complete). I want a movement that fights for all forms of relationships, not just the sexual ones. I want thousands of songs and movies and poems about the intimacy between friends. I want a world where our worth isn’t linked to our desirability, our security to our monogamy, and our family to our biology.” Alok Menon