Anurima Bhargava

Anurima Bhargava is the Founder and CEO of Anthem of Us, a strategic advisory and consulting firm that centers dignity, justice, and belonging in workplaces, schools, and communities. Since 2018, Anthem of Us has been a lead partner in global assessments of schools and higher education institutions, corporations, philanthropy, and media and arts organizations. From 2010-2016, Bhargava led federal civil rights enforcement and policy in schools and higher education institutions across the nation at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2004-2010, she served as Director of the Education Practice at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where she litigated seminal cases related to schools and higher education institutions, including in the U.S. Supreme Court. A central focus of Anthem of Us’s work is narrative and storytelling. Bhargava has recently produced and advised numerous Oscar-nominated and Peabody winning documentary films. She is currently directing Teaching America, chronicling the teaching of African-American studies in Arkansas. From 2018-2022, Bhargava served as Chair and Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Her efforts to forge coalition across political and ideological divides was profiled in the New York Times. She is an advisor to GSV Ventures, and chairs, advises and serves on numerous boards. Bhargava graduated from Harvard College and Columbia Law School, and was born and raised on the south side of Chicago.