RISING EMBER FOUNDATION
WOMEN WHO INSPIRE SERIES
Anjeleena Singh
Some women inspire us by what they accomplish. Others inspire us simply by the way they move through the world. Anjeleena Singh does both.
Anjeleena shows up for people.
For her family, for the nurses she leads, for the people she mentors, and for the people who have trusted her to care for them.
LEADERSHIP • SERVICE • COMMUNITY
Caring for the People Who Care for Others
Anjeleena has spent 24 years in clinical nursing practice and 13 years guiding teams in an acute-care hospital setting. She earned her BSN from San Francisco State University, her MSN from UCSF, and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice at Chamberlain University. Her commitment to nursing and community also extends beyond the hospital through her role as Executive Vice President of the Bay Area Indian Nurses Association.
But what we love about hearing Anjeleena talk about her career is how quickly the conversation moves away from her accomplishments and toward the people around her.
As a Patient Care Manager, she believes the way she cares for her team has an impact on the way they are able to care for their patients. That belief has shaped the kind of leader she has become.
She has helped create resources for team members affected by traumatic events, developed a space where nurse leaders can connect, support and celebrate one another, and is using her doctoral work to address nurse-leader stress through wellness, mindfulness and opportunities for confidential debriefing.
When Anjeleena sees people carrying something heavy, she doesn't just notice.
She looks for a way to help.
WHERE HER STORY BEGAN
From Fiji
to San Francisco
Two places. One story shaped by culture, connection and community.
Anjeleena was born in Suva, Fiji, and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was eight years old. San Francisco became home, and growing up surrounded by the city's diversity helped shape the way she understands and connects with people from different backgrounds.
Today, her own world is full.
She is raising three children. She cares for her mother. She leads a nursing team. She is pursuing her doctorate. She mentors others and still makes room for being a friend and compassionate community member.
And yes, there are checklists.
Anjeleena is a planner and organizer, but when she talks about balancing everything she carries, what matters most to her isn't getting everything perfectly right. It is being present and intentional with the people who depend on her.
She puts it rather simply: doubt doesn't have much room in her mind because she has people to show up for.
That determination has carried her through moments that required far more than organization or planning ever could.
LOVE • LOSS • CONNECTION
The Day the Nurse and the Daughter Became One
Anjeleena describes her father as her person.
Their relationship was beautiful and complicated, as some of our deepest relationships often are. But when she speaks about the day she lost him, you begin to understand another layer of the strength she carries.
Her father suffered a medical emergency at home.
Anjeleena was there.
Suddenly, the daughter who loved him and the nurse trained to save lives occupied the same body.
She performed CPR on her father even as she looked into his eyes and understood what her heart didn't want to accept.
Her family was around her, and she continued trying to save him.
He died that evening.
Anjeleena was five months pregnant with her son. She says she never really had the opportunity to grieve the way she needed to.
Yet even here, her story doesn't end with loss.
Anjeleena believes in reincarnation, and she sees something of her father living on in her son. She gave her son her father's name as his middle name—a way of honoring the man she loved and keeping their bond eternal.
It is tender. It is complicated. And it feels very much like Anjeleena:
Finding a way to carry love forward even when life has changed its form.
PURPOSE • SERVICE • CONNECTION
Finding Herself Through Service
“The best way of finding yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
It is easy to understand why those words resonate with her.
Anjeleena believes she has learned who she is through giving to others through compassion, leadership, support and service.
She especially loves coaching and mentoring. She is also refreshingly clear that she doesn't have all the answers.
What she can offer is herself: her experience, her encouragement and her willingness to genuinely be present with another person. She says those moments bring her joy, and over time she has come to understand them as part of her purpose.
Maybe that's why her favorite quote feels so fitting.
Anjeleena has spent much of her life caring for,
teaching and supporting other people.
And somewhere along the way,
those experiences have helped her understand herself too.
FAMILY • FAITH • FUTURE
I’m Unstoppable
“There’s a lot I still want to do, and I’m unstoppable.
If I can dream it, I’ll work hard to make it real.”
Anjeleena’s determination is perhaps most visible in the life she has built around the people she loves.
Her greatest priority is raising her three children to become independent, capable, kind and compassionate people. At the same time, she helps care for her mother, a woman she describes as one of her greatest supporters and cheerleaders.
There are many things Anjeleena still hopes to accomplish, but when she talks about the future, success is never only about what comes next professionally. It is also about the people she is raising, the family she is caring for, and the example she leaves behind.
Strength, for Anjeleena, is also deeply connected to faith.
She prays for strength and believes she can face what comes when she is guided by a higher power and surrounded by the right people. The Rising Ember values of strength, courage, resilience, connection and lifting others resonate with her because, in many ways, they already describe how she tries to move through her life.
Her confidence isn't rooted in believing she has to do everything alone. Quite the opposite. Anjeleena understands the importance of knowing who stands beside you.
A mentor once gave her words she still carries with her:
“I know who I am,
I know where I am going,
and I know the people around me.”
Words that reflect something Anjeleena seems to know deeply:
strength doesn't have to mean standing alone.
WISDOM • CONNECTION • COMMUNITY
What Keeps Her Ember Burning
Anjeleena’s advice to another woman sounds much like the way she has learned to live her own life.
Find your people, and be thoughtful about who you let in. Trust your gut. Believe in yourself. Give yourself some grace, and remember to laugh along the way.
She believes in caring for the whole person, mind, body and spirit, while remaining disciplined about the things that matter. Even her practical advice reflects that mindset: choose three things, give each one thirty focused minutes, and see what you can accomplish.
DAYA
Compassion
DHARAM
Spiritual Path
DHAN
Giving of Yourself