Episode 22:
Mission, Meaning, and Metrics: How Two Women Built Anise Health and Redefined Mental Health for the Asian Communities
with Alice Zhang and Nisha Desai, Co-Founders of Anise Health
What happens when Asian American women build a mission-driven company with laser-focused business acumen?
In this episode, Alice Zhang (CEO) and Nisha Desai (COO), co-founders of Anise Health, share how they’re reimagining mental health care for the Asian community through culturally attuned, personalized care. As a venture-backed, minority female-led team, they also open up about the realities of entrepreneurship – from navigating a system that wasn’t built for them to building one that is.
This is a conversation about mission, identity, and the courage to lead with both heart and business strategy – proving that you don’t have to choose between meaning and building something impactful.
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Cultural attunement isn’t a nice to have — it’s a clinical necessity. The current one-size-fits-all model is failing us…data shows that Asian Americans are three times less likely to seek mental health services than our white peers…when we do make it into care, 50% of us will drop out after just the first session because the providers don’t get our cultural context. And so this is no longer a preference issue.
Alice Zhang, CEO of Anise Health
What’s interesting about building Anise is that what we are preaching every day as our mission of culturally attuned care is actually what I have personally experienced going through therapy and applying my identity, my values to the way that I build a company – this is what has made us successful.
Nisha Desai, COO of Anise Health
What you learn in this episode:
- Why culturally attuned care is a clinical necessity – not a “nice to have”
- The gaps in mental health care for Asian communities and how to address them
- What it really takes to build and scale a mission-driven company
- How to stay grounded in your “why” while navigating pressure, doubt, and growth
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About the Guests
About Alize Zhang
Alice Zhang is the Co-Founder and CEO of Anise Health, a venture-backed mental health company reimagining care for the Asian community through culturally attuned, personalized support.
As a third culture kid who grew up across China, Japan, and Canada, Alice brings a global lens to her work and a deep understanding of identity, belonging, and the gaps in traditional mental health care.
Before founding Anise, she worked in management consulting and private equity. She later earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Neuroscience from The University of British Columbia.
Today, Alice is focused on transforming mental health care into a more inclusive, accessible, and culturally responsive system – one that empowers individuals to live authentically and thrive.
Connect with Alice:
About Nisha Desai
Nisha Desai is the Co-Founder and COO of Anise Health, a venture-backed mental health company reimagining care for the Asian community through culturally attuned, personalized support.
Coming from a family of healthcare entrepreneurs, Nisha was inspired early on to build solutions that create impact at scale. Her work sits at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and innovation, with a focus on addressing systemic gaps in how care is delivered.
Prior to founding Anise, she worked across healthcare strategy, product innovation, investment management, and investment banking, gaining experience in building and scaling solutions within healthcare and biopharmaceutical companies. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics, Finance, Marketing, and Legal Studies from The Wharton School.
Nisha is passionate about transforming mental health care into a more equitable and accessible system – one that reflects the lived experiences and values of the communities it serves.
Connect with Nisha:
About Anise Health
Anise Health is a mission-driven mental health organization dedicated to serving diverse and historically underserved communities. The platform offers an evidence-based model of care that centers cultural context from the very beginning – designed to better support people of color than traditional, one-size-fits-all approaches to therapy.
Through a holistic, culturally attuned care model, Anise Health works to reduce disparities in mental health access and outcomes. Their work within the Asian community shows higher engagement and stronger continuity of care, demonstrating how culturally responsive support can meaningfully improve mental health experiences for the Asian communities.
Website: https://www.anisehealth.co/
Instagram or Tiktok: @anisehealth
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