Anika Wilson Starling
Anika Wilson Starling is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®. She was initiated in the Spring of 1995 as a second-generation member. As a graduate member, she has held the positions of President, Vice-President, Keeper of the Door, and has chaired numerous committees. She served as the Vice President of Beta Sigma Omega’s, Ivy Foundation 501(c)(3). At the international level, Anika has served under four administrations. She has served as the Mid-Western Representative, and later the Chairman of the Nominating Committee, where she and her team certified over 60 Members for the International Committees and office for the Board of Directors. She has also served on the International Financial Officers Certification, the Inaugural Sisterly Relations, and Membership Committees. On the regional level, she has served as Representative to the Investigations Committee, Chairman of the 85th Mid-Western Regional Conference, and presented workshops at a host of regional conferences across the United States, including ten years for cluster Retreats, Undergraduate Round-Ups, Leadership Seminars, and five Boules under the leadership of six Regional Directors. Anika is a proud Life Member and Silver Soror who will serve as the 31st Mid-Western Regional Director.
Professionally, Anika has relentlessly served the Oklahoma City Public Schools, a school-based population of 48,000 students, as the Director of Health Services, and the Teen Parenting and Prevention Division as a Public Health Practitioner. Under her leadership, she commands all Registered Nurses (RN), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), Health Aides, Community Health Workers, Nurse Managers, and Teen Parent Coordinators. In 2021, she was tasked by the Governor of Oklahoma to lead the state of Oklahoma School Systems as the Chief COVID Commander through the global pandemic as well as her own school district.
Beyond her service to the sorority, she is a board member of the Community Action Agency of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City (OKC) Metro Literacy Coalition. The OKC Metro Literacy Coalition is responsible for Oklahoma City Literacy Scrabble Showdown and increasing student’s test scores on SATs and ACTs for college entrance and literacy in the African American and Hispanic communities. She is also a member of the OKC Chamber of Commerce, Down Syndrome Society of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Junior League, and Public Health Administrators of Infectious Diseases. She has received over 25 community awards for her dutiful service.
Anika started her undergraduate education at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana (HBCU). She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Public Health with an intricate focus in Epidemiology and Biology. Anika received her master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and Science in Management (MS) from Southern Nazarene University and recently received an Executive Administration in Global Leadership (EGL). Anika has 18 years of experience in K-12 education and higher education. For 12 years, she has worked for the Oklahoma State Department of Health in the area of Immunizations/ Immunology, and Hepatitis B Epidemiology. She has completed postgraduate school studies in Health Policy and Management and Program Planning and Research. She is gifted in team training, organizational development, community-based programming, policy & procedure development, and executive-level planning and negotiations. Anika loves the youth of all ages and in 2017 started a class titled “Black Girls Who Code” training. This is a program for students in her school district, particularly for Students with Exceptional Needs and Services (Special Education) and with Dyslexia.
Her civic engagement awards include being recognized twice by Metro Magazine in Oklahoma City for her work in Public Health. She was selected in 2000 as a recipient of the “Who’s Who Award” for African American Public Health Administrators in July 2021. She received an award from the World Health Organization (WHO) on COVID19-Community Spread and Awareness.
As a motivational speaker she is known for her humor, Anika has delivered dynamic and energetic speeches to a varied number of churches, community groups, and organizations. She is also an extraordinary emcee and songbird.
Her greatest reward has been her husband, Mr. Kippy A. Starling, Owner and Operator of Starling Trucking, LLC. Anika is the daughter to Golden Member, Gloria J. Wilson, and Willie Wilson, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and the sister to Brian C. Wilson, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, and sister-in-love to Rebecca L. Wilson. Her humility and servant leadership comes from her maternal grandmother, Lillie M. Hobbs, 96 years young.