Founding Director

Ishita (she/her) is a highly experienced anti-racism and anti-oppression practitioner with 12+ years experience in the impact investment, charity and social enterprise sectors. Ishita’s areas of expertise are: knowledge equity, human-centered design, user voice methodology, qualitative and lived experience research. She is also an experienced facilitator and passionate about creating inclusive and collaborative learning environments.

Ishita created Spark & Co. as a community interest company in 2020 in response to the emerging and disproportionate challenges faced by those experiencing marginalisation during the pandemic. Since then, the organisation has grown it’s support for racialised communities, and launched Spark Insights to work directly with businesses and social impact organisations to tackle racial injustice.

Ishita holds a MSc in Third Sector Effectiveness: Grantmaking, Philanthropy and Social Investment from Bayes Business School (formerly known as Cass Business School). Ishita has a wealth of experience working with infrastructure organisations and funders; alongside her work at Spark & Co., Ishita is the Project Director of Good Finance (an autonomous, independent project funded by Big Society Capital and The Access Foundation). Ishita has a strong track record of managing and delivering complex projects that create social change. She is passionate about systems change, tackling racial injustice and the role we play as individuals in building an equitable world. She also brings with her lived experience of immigration, English as a third language, invisible disability, and racial inequality.

You can follow Ishita on Instagram @offtotheplaces_ or connect with her on LinkedIn here.