Dr. Zeenat Mitha is an accomplished leader, educator, and community impact maker.  She has been a trail blazer in the greater community and has been instrumental in initiating involvement and positive change in the external community for over 30 years. 

 

Dr. Mitha is a professor and senior lecturer at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD). She has incorporated community engagement projects and service learning in her university courses for the last 15 years and has been nominated twice as Outstanding Lecturer. Dr. Mitha is also a Senior Consultant and the Founder of Sweetwater Specialty Consulting. She has spoken at many conferences and consults with executives and leaders in the areas of public relations, media, and communications. 

 

Prior to working with UHD, Dr. Mitha was the Associate Director of External Affairs at Asia Society Texas Center (ASTC). In this position, she wrote grants and served as the bridge between funding and programming. She worked with a dynamic team and helped raise $30 million for the new ASTC building in the Museum District.  She worked with the renowned architect Yoshio Taniguchi to see ASTC’s vision come through for the building in Houston. She was also instrumental in suggesting to the Executive Director at the time to consider changing ASTC’s International Award to The Huffington Award, after Ambassador Roy Huffington, for his immense contribution and financial support of the chapter and its programs.

 

Dr. Mitha holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in Journalism and a Minor in Business Administration. She also has a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of New Mexico and a Doctorate in Executive Educational Leadership from Houston Baptist University, now Houston Christian University.

 

Community service has been important to Dr. Mitha since she was a child. She began her community engagement, giving circle, and philanthropy at the age of eight, when, with her father, she used her allowance to help sponsor two children in East Africa. She also volunteered on weekends within her community, and, with her family, contributed her time and funding to needs at her school, within the community, and at the city’s shelters. 

 

While an undergraduate, Dr. Mitha volunteered with MOVE (Mobilization of Voluntary Efforts) and was on the Board of Directors at SMU Student Media.

 

Along with her family, she gave educational scholarships to students overseas and created a microfinance opportunity for women and families that needed assistance for their small business and for purchasing a home.

 

Dr. Mitha has served on the Education and Outreach Committee of ASTC since 2015. She is a Legacy Circle donor, and she has supported programs at ASTC over the past two decades. As one of the first donors when the ASTC building was in inception mode, a seat in the Brown Auditorium has been named for her and her husband, Iqbal Mitha.

 

Dr. Mitha has also supported Child Advocates of Fort Bend (CAFB) for the last 22 years. She has been a Friends supporter and supported many of the organization’s events, including bringing her university students to special events there to understand the needs of this nonprofit. Currently, she is on the advisory board, and she is a Forever Angels Legacy Society donor.

 

As well, Dr. Mitha is a donor/supporter for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and she has been a donor, supporter, and volunteer for the Aga Khan Foundation USA. Dr. Mitha also served on the board of directors, and as membership chair, for the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce from 2011 to 2014. And, she was on the board of directors of the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County from 2012 to 2014.  Dr. Mitha is also a mentor to young women and is affiliated with Worldwide SHEROES.

 

For almost 25 years, Dr. Mitha has assisted the Greater Houston Retailers Cooperative Association (GHRA) as a volunteer and as their mistress of ceremonies and public relations and protocol consultant for their galas. She also volunteered as the mistress of ceremonies and public relations consultant for the Ibn Sina Foundation for almost a decade. The organization was established to provide health care to all those in the Greater Houston community that could not afford it.

 

Dr. Mitha had a monthly column on Culture and Diversity for almost four years with Fort Bend Focus Magazine. In it, she highlighted various cultural or faith-based celebrations to educate the greater community on diversity and inclusion.  Her goal was to unite the county and build bridges of understanding and tolerance. 

 

In recognition of her many accomplishments, Dr. Mitha has received numerous honors, including an award for Outstanding Service from the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, being honored by Asian American Family Services in September 2012 for embracing hope and changing lives with compassion and dedication, and being recognized for her Outstanding Work as Media Team Leader for the Aga Khan Foundation Partnership Walk in 1998 and 1999.

 

Dr. Mitha is a supportive wife to Iqbal, and the proud mother of two caring boys, Shamir and Armaan. She is also a compassionate daughter to her parents, Nizar and Mehrun Kassam, who are her inspiration when it comes to service and giving. She also commends her husband who has also served the community for more than 10 years, in various positions.

 

It is for all the reasons mentioned above, and many more, that Dr. Zeenat Mitha has been named a Star Impact Maker for 2025.