Sheika Hanan al-Thani is a Business trainer at the Qatar Foundation, as well as Assistant Director of the Small and Medium Enterprise program. Ms. al-Thani has worked as a civil engineer and as a supervisor engineer. She has taken several training courses in graphic design, worked in an international media graphic design agency, and has participated in several international exhibitions in design. She has also worked with the International Labor Organization (ILO) as an external collaborator assisting in the establishment of the Small and Medium Enterprise program.
Ms. al-Thani has participated in numerous workshops and conferences such as one on SMEs Development in Qatar, organized by UNDP in cooperation with the General Secretariat for Development Planning, as well as the GCC Exhibition for Social Work for sustaining the social work of productive Families in UAE. She has also participated in a conference on empowering women through microfinance organized by the Malaysian Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development and the Conference on Doing Business, based on the study done by the World Bank organized by General Secretariat for Development Planning. She has finished a training course in Finance organized by the Qatar Foundation’s training department, and is as a Business Trainer and holds bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering as well as engineering management from the UK.
Nawal Haddadin is the General Secretary at the Arab Women Organizaion of Jordan (AWO) a position she has held since 2007. AWO is an organization devoted to improoving the social and legal conditions of Jordanian women. Ms. Haddadin has been involved with AWO since 1970.
Ms. Haddadin was a school teacher in Mathematics for 23 years in Amman, Jordan. She was born in Main, Jordan and has a BA in Mathematics.
Seemi Bushra Ghazi is a lecturer in Classical Arabic at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She has a special interest in Islamic literature, culture and spirituality, as well as Islam and Gender. Ms. Ghazi is also a student in the Rifa`i Ma`rufi spiritual lineage and a performer of traditional Islamic arts, including recitation of the Qur’an and Hamd, or divine praise songs. She has lectured widely and her interviews and performances have been featured on BBC, CBC, NPR and PBS. Her Qur’anic recitation is available on the CD accompanying Michael Sells’ Approaching Islam: the Early Revelations, as well as on the PBS documentary “Islam, Empire of Faith.” Her article, “The Birth of Aliya Mariam,” has appeared in Praeger Press’ A New Encyclopedia of Islam.
Ms. Ghazi is deeply involved in interfaith work, including at The Centre for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University, and she currently hosts a monthly Unity Dhikr in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is a founding Board Member of the Rumi Society of Vancouver and the Vancouver Interspiritual Centre Society. Born in London, England and of South Asian origin, Ms. Ghazi was educated in the United States at Bryn Mawr College, the University of Chicago, and Duke University, as well as in the Middle East at King Abdul Aziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) and The American University in Cairo.
Dora Abbas is Vice Chair of the Muslim Women’s Association of South Australia. Ms. Abbas organized and ran interfaith dialogue programs with Christian groups for two years after September 11, and she formed a team of dawah workers to speak at schools, universities, churches, rotary clubs and many other institutions. Previously, she was the editor of Australian Muslim News, and she has also worked with Muslim youth groups in organizing youth camps. Having converted to Islam in the late 80s, her current interest is in the spiritual side of Islam, the meaning of Islam in reference to women, and current challenges to Muslims, especially in the non-Muslim world.
Jamila Afghani heads the Noor Educational Center (NEC), a local Afghan women’s NGO serving women, youth, and children. The NEC is dedicated to building capacity and leading educational activities, including establishing libraries. Since 2000, Ms. Afghani has been working as an activist in the area of gender & human rights from an Islamic perspective and a consultant with national and international organizations in management, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation. She raises awareness of issues surrounding women’s rights within an Islamic perspective through media, round tables, group discussions, workshops, and seminars.
Ms. Afghani believes that social mobilization for positive change towards women will be the key instrument for paving the way for gender equality and that Islamic teachings are essential to influencing human behavior, especially in a cultural-based society like Afghanistan. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations & Sharia Law from Peshawar Pakistan. She is married to a prominent Islamic scholar, who supports her work and organization. They have a 2 year old baby son.
Laila Al-Askari is the Director of Administration and Finance for The Brick Presbyterian Church where she is developing the organization’s systems to meet outreach and interfaith work. Ms. Al-Askari has a keen interest in serving the Muslim community, an activity that she has been involved in since her school days. She feels that it is her duty to speak out for Islam, and clear misconceptions about Islam. In high school she made an audio presentation on Islam, which is still being used by the school. As a young professional she formed the Young Muslim Professionals Club, and after 9/11, Ms. Al-Askari invited Imam Faisal to The Brick Church to present a series of lectures on Islam.
The impact of his presentation highlighted the significance of bridge-building in American. It is Ms. Al-Askari’s goal to see Muslims become visible, and for people to see Muslims as valuable members of their society.
Ms. Al-Askari was the Administrator for Cardiology at Beth Israel Medical Center, and later at Montefiore Medical Center. She worked in the Otolaryngology and Opththalmology Departments as the Director of Business and Clinical Affairs providing needed services for underserved areas. For this work she was one of the first administrators to become a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. She is a native New Yorker, a graduate of New York University with a BA and MA in Near Eastern Literature and Languages, and an MBA in Healthcare Administration from Baruch College/Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.
Mahdis Keshavarz has worked at the forefront of groundbreaking human rights issues for the past decade. Ms. Keshavarz has placed thousands of news stories and op-eds with various media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, BBC, The Village Voice, and Al Jazeera – on behalf of her clients. Her client roster includes international dignitaries, Hollywood stars and numerous film festivals and events focusing on the Middle East community for both a domestic and an international audience. An accomplished advocate of human rights and social justice issues, Keshavarz has written for the online magazine Slate and has appeared as a commentator on BBC and Democracy Now!. She serves on the advisory board for the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association, the Center for Social Inclusion, and the Alston Bannerman Fellowship Program.
Pamela Taylor is co-founder of Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) and currently serves on its Board of Advisors. Ms. Taylor writes for Washington Post/ Newsweek’s On Faith blog, (http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/). She is currently working with Political Research Associates on a year-long project to study Islamphobia and Anti-Semitism on College Campuses in America.
