I am a liberatory coach, trained through Coaching for Healing, Justice and Liberation, working primarily with social justice activists/oriented individuals holding marginalized identities and an anti-sexual violence educator and activist. I am also a designer of eco-friendly healing gardens. My work in these spheres is informed by an early love of gardening and nature’s wisdom, a long career working at the juncture of spirituality and social change, and my trauma recovery journey.

For over a decade, I worked with the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture managing and co-creating its capacity building programs for faith leaders engaged in social justice, including the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute and the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement (may our beloved Rev. Dr. Cecil Murray rest in the eternal love of The One).  During this time, I served on the L.A. Department of Mental Health Faith-Based Advocacy Council, serving to bridge the gaps between faith communities and mental health resources.

As a co-founder of the Rahma (Compassion) Network (2010), I speak out as a survivor, and facilitate workshops educating and empowering Muslims and other faith communities on how to prevent and address sexual violence. In my work, I am dedicated to uplifting, supporting, and connecting our communities to the valuable resources provided by allied organizations. The inextricable relationship between Rahma and justice are core to this work, as I first learned these as two-sides of the same coin from my spiritual mentor, Dr. Maher Hathout, may he rest in the eternal love of The One, and reinforced by the beautiful teachings of Marshall Gantz. I will be forever indebted to Dr. Hathout (and family) for standing by me as a survivor, instilling in me a beautiful lens into faith based on critical thinking and the application of compassion and justice, and very importantly activating my agency in interpreting and living out my faith in accordance with my heart and my gifts. And importantly, his teachings on Rahma and particularly the sacred significance of its root word “Rahm,” meaning “womb," continue to be grounding and guiding in all that I do.

Starting in 2007, I began engaging in Muslim-Jewish dialogue through NewGround, a fellowship program that engages Muslim and Jewish Angelenos in an innovative community-building process of intra- and inter-faith education and reflection, leadership training and civic engagement. I learned many valuable lessons from my fellowships, and continue in the work of striving to build solidarity between Muslim and Jewish Angeleno leaders, finding common ground in intersectional social justice values and our sacred Oneness, towards the goal of our communities living out in word and action being guardians of one another.

In the early 2000s, I served as the project manager for the Council for Islamic Education and and later as the marketing and advertising manager for The Minaret Magazine. Particularly formative for me in those years was my participation in ELEV8, a Los Angeles based nonprofit co-created with dear friends and fellow activists, to empower youth with the tools to engage in social justice activism through the arts and connect to the arts as a tool for self-expression. The programming supported Muslim youth in the aftermath of 9/11, introduced them to the relationship between activism and the arts, provided a hands on exploration of various forms of art media and a deep dive into the media they connected to most as a conduit for self-expression, expanded their notion of community in Los Angeles and application of activism beyond their ethnic and faith identities, and explored the intersectionality between all struggles for justice.

I am most joyous when with my magical daughter and spouse, with my hands in the dirt, hiking or strolling in nature with beloveds, being in community with my intra/interfaith circles, and nerding out on psychology, spiritual philosophies, and healing.

Some of my current passion pursuits include writing my first children’s book (!) inspired by the spiritual questions and conversations that arise at bedtime with my little one and indulging a long-time love of ceramics from my youth.

I hold a BA from UCLA, in International Development with a specialization in the Middle East/North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. I am trained in Liberatory Coaching, Disaster Chaplaincy, Movement Chaplaincy, and natural design (aka permaculture).