Zakiyah Ansari is the Advocacy Director of the New York State Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), the leading statewide organization that has been fighting for educational justice in New York State. Zakiyah has dedicated almost 20 years of her life to the fight for educational justice and ending the oppression of Black and brown people.

In 2013 Zakiyah co-initiated a national grassroots movement, “Journey for Justice,” an alliance of grassroots organizations from over 24 cities across the United States representing youth, parents, and inter-generational organizations who have been impacted by the harmful policies of school closing, turnaround, and corporate charter expansion of schools in communities of color. Zakiyah was recently named one of City and State magazine’s “25 Most Influential in Brooklyn”.