My Story

Growing up Afghan American meant growing up between worlds. In my family's living room, stories were told verbally, from the heart, through the food. On TV, Afghanistan was bombs and destruction. "Terrorists." "Savages." Nothing like what I knew.

​

I learned early what happens when your community's voice is misunderstood, misrepresented, or ignored entirely. I saw how stories shape our world, and how dangerous it is when the wrong people control the narrative.

​

That understanding shaped everything I do. It also shaped my journey as a daughter of the Afghan diaspora, learning how to make peace with my conflicting identities, processing trauma and violence, and discovering my dharma. 

​

Over the past decade, I've worked inside bureaucratic institutions like USAID and USIP, grassroots nonprofits like Search for Common Ground and the Women's Impact Alliance, and on various political campaigns in the U.S. mobilizing underrepresented communities in GOTV activities. I've been the comms person writing donor appeals, the campaign staffer shaping narratives for audiences that didn't look like us, and the one in the room watching brilliant changemakers shrink their stories to fit someone else's framework. Not because their stories weren't compelling, they were. But because the infrastructure was built for someone else.​​

​

I built the Awaz method to bridge that gap and help organizations and individuals in social impact reclaim their own stories and build narrative strategies that drive change on their own terms. I believe humans are inherently good, creative, and capable of great things. The human spirit is strong, and can soar to unimaginable heights when given the resources to do so. That is what drives my work. That philosophy drives my dharma. 

​

I hold a Bachelor and Master from the Jimmy Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University where I focused on narrative work. I hold a Co-Active Coach Practitioner (CAP) certification and am actively working towards my ICF credentials.

Currently, I reside in Northern VA and enjoy spending time with family and friends, love to travel, cook, explore the outdoors, and take on fun DIY projects.