About

As a child, I was often asked, “what do you want to be?”
Naturally, that was my focus.
Over three or so decades, I went from answering “a doctor” to “a pediatrician” to “someone in the Air Force” to “I’m not sure anymore.”

Sadia Ali Heil is an early childhood special educator, an advocate, and an Air Force veteran. A first-generation American, she takes pride in her South Asian heritage and the sacrifices her parents made to start a life in Virginia. The youngest daughter in a tight-knit family, she was quiet yet adventurous. Her favorite childhood pastimes were climbing trees with friends, writing letters to celebrities and politicians, making scented potions, reading, and winning local spelling bees.

After 9/11, Sadia witnessed an unjust backlash against the Muslim American community. A calling to serve led her to the Air Force—where she traveled the world, made lifelong friends and met her husband.

Today, Sadia is a fierce proponent of inclusion for service members and individuals with disabilities. She earned a master’s of military operational art and science and a master’s in special education and is a Tillman Scholar and War Horse Writing Fellow.