[My Professional Story]

I come with 20 years of experience in global social impact, serving as an in-house consultant at non-profits and in venture philanthropy in Karachi, Pakistan, Washington, DC and Frankfurt, Germany, including at: Acumen, The Citizens Foundation (winner of Skoll Foundation’s Award for Social Entrepreneurship), Community Wealth Partners, and Yunus Social Business (YSB), co-founded by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus.

In 2014, while at YSB, I designed and implemented my first in-person 6-day strategy retreat for 20+ YSB country office directors and portfolio managers who flew in from 7 countries to Hammamet, Tunisia for this offsite. I have since fully leaned into facilitation and strategy making as an independent consultant, with clients in the public sector, nonprofit sector and social impact corporate space.

My work is rooted in Liberating Structures facilitation practices and Emergent Strategy principles; I hold a BA from Wellesley College and an MBA from George Washington University.

I am committed to strengthening a sense of belonging in the communities I belong to. To this end, I serve on multiple committees for the Mercer Island School District, including on the Superintendent Equity Advisory Council and Lakeridge PTA’s Board. I have also served on boards of Seattle-based nonprofits since 2019, including The Maternal Coalition, a community led organization supporting individuals on the perinatal and reproductive spectrum and Wasat, a Muslim community organization focused on service, art, love and learning, including service of free nourishing meals by local caterers to neighbors in South Seattle.

[My Personal Story]

Born in Hawaii, raised between Karachi, Pakistan and Maryland, I moved to Seattle in 2015, and I live in its suburbs - on the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish peoples - with my husband and two young sons.

I have moved - across cities and continents - every 4 years since I was a child. I know how hard it can be to make connections and find a sense of belonging.

So I love creating opportunities for people to find connections that allow a conversation that only they, in that moment, can have in the room (also an Emergent Strategy principle).

For this, I believe relationship building is important.

My professional, academic and personal experiences have granted me privilege and access in certain spaces. I have also sometimes been treated differently based on my gender, race and religion.

I am thus acutely sensitive to how 'othering,' privilege and power dynamics can affect individuals, their teams and their organizations in how they build relationships and participate in a conversation.

I am committed to addressing this phenomena in the work I do. ​I believe that paying attention to these elements allows for a richer conversation where all voices have the opportunity to be heard and included. In doing so, a more collective aligned vision with clear next action steps can emerge - ultimately helping grow a team’s impact.