People Involved

Steering Committee biographies

The success of WISE rests on its strong and dedicated Steering Committee, which is responsible for guiding WISE’s overall activities and its specific program areas. The Committee meets weekly over the phone and in-person annually; it will expand membership following the July conference.

Aishah Schwartz
Aishah Schwartz is the founder of the Muslim Women’s Writers’ Alliance, based in Egypt.

Daisy Khan
Daisy Khan is Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a New York based non-profit dedicated to strengthening an expression of Islam based on cultural and religious harmony and building bridges between Muslims and the general public.

Hedieh Mirahmadi
Hedieh Mirahmadi serves as legal counsel and consultant for several multinational non-governmental organizations which cultivate an international network of support and expertise to combat the spread of Islamic extremism and the means by which they advance their goals.

Irfana Hashmi
Irfana Hashmi is an Islamic Law Consultant for the Shari'a Index Project (SIP) at Cordoba Initiative, a global non-profit that works on Muslim-West Relations.

Laleh Bakhtiar
Laleh Bakhtiar has a BA in History from Chatham College, Master’s degrees in Philosophy and Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology.

Mehnaz Mona-Afridi
Mehnaz Mona-Afridi holds a BA and MA in Religious Studies from Syracuse University and has studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Sabeeha Rehman
Sabeeha Rehman has enjoyed a 25-year career as a Healthcare Executive, serving as a hospital administrator in New York, New Jersey and overseas.

Sumbul Ali-Karamali
Sumbul Ali-Karamali grew up in California in a South Asian Muslim family. She earned her bachelor’s degree (BA) in English from Stanford University, with Distinction.

Tayyibah Taylor
Tayyibah Taylor is the founding editor-in-chief and publisher of Azizah Magazine, a magazine that highlights the accomplishments of Muslim women.

WISE staff biographies Top

Daisy Khan
Daisy Khan is Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a New York based non-profit dedicated to strengthening an expression of Islam based on cultural and religious harmony and building bridges between Muslims and the general public.

Ambreen Qureshi
Ambreen Qureshi is the Program Director of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) at the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA). Ms. Qureshi’s professional background is in advocacy and international project management – from grassroots initiatives, such as “Friends of Jassim” to help targeted Iraqi fixers, to global awareness campaigns including “The End of Polio” with UNICEF, WHO, CDC and Rotary International and “Chasing the Dream: Youth Faces of the Millennium Development Goals” project with UNFPA. She worked for the Jordan Red Crescent Society and organized a summer arts and education program for lowincome youth in East Amman. Ms. Qureshi developed “Run Zardari Run”, a short documentary film analyzing local, regional and international media coverage of the Pakistan elections. She was also a researcher for “Femin Ijtihad” a legal and literary academic project on gender in Islam. She received her Masters degree from the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School in New York.

Lensay Abadula
Lensay Abadula is the Program Associate at WISE. Ms. Abadula studied journalism at Northwestern University and has contributed to several media organizations, including AM New York, Chicagotribune.com, Washingtonpost.com, and Fort Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel. Currently, she is a contributing writer for Women’s eNews, covering such issues as women's education in Afghanistan and Somalia and using yoga to treat victims of gender-based violence. In 2008 she attended the Law and Leadership Program through Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights (Karamah) that included workshops on Islamic law, conflict resolution and leadership training. Her work in the human rights field includes an internship at the International Center for Transitional Justice, leading the Iran team of a local New York chaper of Amnesty International and participation in Amnesty International’s New York Women’s Human Rights Action Team.