about me:

Fluent in Arabic and English, I draw on lived experience across Yemen, the UAE, the Philippines, Egypt and the U.S. to navigate complex cultural and institutional terrain. My professional journey includes leadership in social impact, curriculum innovation, mental health systems, and ethical technology design. As a licensed social worker with deep roots in both clinical and macro practice and front-line work in several systems, I bring ethics, nuance, rigor, and relational intelligence to every project I touch, and that touches me.

My work is driven by a passion for creating meaningful and ethical systems level change. My career includes early childhood education in Yemen, community initiatives with the ruling family and work within the realm of international arbitration in Dubai, poverty reduction research in the Philippines, and high-stakes program leadership in New York City’s social services sector. My entrepreneurial work includes co-founding dot & line, an ethical, community-focused Brooklyn café that became a third space.

I am a systems thinker, entrepreneur, and cross-cultural strategist whose work bridges trauma recovery, organizational design, and a global perspective. My educational foundation includes a dual degree in Public Administration and International Relations from the American University of Sharjah, a Master of Social Work from New York University, and extensive post-graduate training in trauma-informed care, family systems, somatic modalities, etc.

Born in Brooklyn to Yemeni immigrant parents and having traveled to over 16 countries (my goal is 40!), I bring a rare global fluency and a systems-thinking approach to every engagement - building environments where people and institutions can both thrive 🙂

Education & Post Graduate Training

American University of Sharjah: Dual BA Public Administration and International Relations, with a Minor in Mass Communications, Class of 2006

New York University: Master of Social Work

The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond: UNDOING RACISM via New York University graduate program

Ackerman Institute for the Family: Dual Program in Foundations of Family Therapy & Live Clinical Supervision

Ackerman Institute for the Family: Clinical Externship in Family Therapy

The Gottman Institute: The Gottman Method: Level 1: Bridging the Couple Chasm with John & Judy Gottman: A Research Based Approach

The Beck Institute: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Aaron Beck

New York University: Mindfulness Based Stressed Reduction (MBSR) 8 week course

Stanford University (on-line): Organizational Analysis

New York Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy (NYCEFT) 4-day Externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute: Level I: Affect Dysregulation, Survival Defenses, and Traumatic Memory with Janina Fisher & Amy Gladstone

Cornell University (online): Certificate in Family Business Leadership, (in process)

Harvard (online): The Architectural Imagination, (in process)