ISF Peer-2-Peer
Policy Mentorship Network

ISF's Peer-2-Peer Policy Mentorship Network offers academic support, networking opportunities, and industry insight from policymakers, analysts, and more.

Are you an ISF scholar or grantee looking for professional development opportunities in policy? Or a community of American Muslim dedicated to improving public policy? Join ISF's Peer-2-Peer Policy Mentorship Network and receive academic support, networking opportunities, and industry insight from policymakers, analysts, and more. Meet our mentors below. If interested in becoming a mentee, please contact ISF and send your resume via the button below. Note: Mentorship only open to ISF scholars, alumni, and grantees.

Public Policy Mentors

Aasha Shaik

2018 Scholar

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2018 Scholar Aasha Shaik is currently pursuing her J.D. at Yale Law School. She graduated with her B.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from Rutgers University in the Honors College and Douglass Residential College. After her sophomore year of high school, Aasha began working at the United Nations for gender equity, as a Girl Advocate of the UN NGO Working Group on Girls and for AAUW. Her passion for gender equity and social/political activism stems from a year she spent living in India, and the realities that she has been forced to confront since her time there and since returning to the United States. As a Girl Advocate, Aasha organized and moderated large-scale UN events, wrote and performed the theme song for the International Day of the Girl - Girls Speak Out, researched and wrote policy recommendations, and held meetings lobbying UN policy makers, including Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. She worked at Microsoft as a Civic Tech Fellow after her first year of college to explore how the private sector can be a partner in promoting equality, and is a national Young People For (YP4) Fellow. Aasha also did intensive language study and cultural immersion in Amman, Jordan on a U.S. State Department Critical Language Scholarship. She aspires to a career in domestic public policy or international diplomacy and human rights - to continue promoting equity for all.

Hasnaa Mokhtar

2017 & 2018 Scholar

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A 2017 and 2018 scholar, Hasnaa Mokhtar has worked in nonprofits and international development throughout her professional career. She is currently Special Program Director of the Peaceful Families Project and a PhD candidate in International Development at Clark University, where she also received her master's. She is the recipient of a Fulbright for her research in Kuwait to study an archaic law that sanctions violence against women. Born in Tucson, AZ and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Hasnaa dedicated her research, journalism, and activism to amplify the voices of Muslim women and tackle the injustices of gender-based violence. She has worked as a journalist in Arab News, and her articles appeared in several publications including Fortune, Teen Vogue, Bustle.com, and MuslimGirl. In March 2017, Hasnaa worked with the team of MuslimGirl to organize the first official Muslim Women's Day. Nylon.com recognized her writings and activism by naming her a Muslim journalist to follow.

Irteza Binte-Farid

2015 Scholar

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A 2015 scholar, Irteza Binte-Farid is a joint degree student in Education and Anthropology, studying the experience of Muslim youth in Philadelphia high schools and religious spaces. She is particularly attuned to scholarship at the intersection of education, religion, and race. Irteza is also interested in the education of secondary history teachers and in particular how teacher education programs approach the teaching of history in culturally diverse classrooms that include Muslim students of color.

Karim Farishta

2019 & 2020 Scholar

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Karim Farishta is a 2019 and 2020 scholar and Associate Director of the Office of the Vice Present-elect at 59^th President Inaugural Committee (PIC). He previously worked as Deputy Coalitions Director & Texas AAPI State Director for the Biden for President campaign. Karim received his Master's in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and B.A. in International Relations and Affairs from George Washington University.

Khalid Madhi

2013 Scholar

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Khalid Modhi was a 2013 ISF scholar and is currently a PhD candidate (ABD status) in Political Science with a concentration on Urban Politics and Political Theory. Khalid pursued his undergraduate studies in Economics and Tourism Studies at the Université Moulay Ismail in Meknes and L'Institut Superieur International du Tourisme de Tanger, Morocco. In Chicago, he received MA in political science at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago. As a PhD candidate, Khalid's research interests include urban politics in the Global South, modernity and urban marginalities, conceptions of power and the status of the "Other" in the contemporary determinations of politics. Khalid's dissertation, titled "Back to the Medina: Gentrification, Citizenship and Capital in Marrakesh," is an interdisciplinary attempt to engage with neoliberal restructuring and citizenship in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh. Khalid addresses questions surrounding (international) gentrification, the housing market and the commodification of land and heritage as part and parcel of the new governing rationalities in Morocco.

Mariya Ilyas

2017 Scholar

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A 2017 scholar, Mariya Ilyas is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer currently serving as Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy Amman. She joined the U.S. Foreign Service in September 2018 as a Thomas R. Pickering Fellow. Previously, Mariya taught English as a Fulbright Scholar in Antalya, Turkey (2015-2016) and worked as a product analyst at Liberty Mutual Insurance, a fortune-100 company in Boston (2013-2015). Mariya holds an M.A. in international relations with Honos Civicus distinction from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a B.A. in mathematics from Bowdoin College. She speaks Arabic, Urdu, Turkish and Spanish. Mariya hails from Alexandria, VA.

Nasir Almasri

2017 Scholar

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A 2017 scholar, Nasir Almasri is a PhD candidate in comparative politics and security studies. He studies the intersection of religion, politics, and violence with a particular interest in Islamist opposition groups in authoritarian regimes. Most of his research is based in West Asia and North Africa. Nasir holds a BS in Political Science and a BA in History from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and an MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago. He also worked as a research analyst for the Program on Political Violence and the Chicago Project on Security and Threats.

Rumana Ahmed

2018 Scholar

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Rumana Ahmed was a 2018 scholar who graduated with her MPA at Harvard University as a Fellow at Harvard's Center for Public Leadership. She previously obtained a B.A. in International Affairs (2011) with concentrations in International Economics and Development at The George Washington University. Rumana worked under the Obama White House for almost six years since 2011. During her time at the National Security Council, she served as a senior advisor in the Office for Global Engagement and Strategic Communications. She worked on efforts to advance relations with Cuba and Laos, promote global entrepreneurship among women and youth, and advise the President's engagements with Muslim Americans. Prior to the NSC, she led the Champions of Change initiative and worked on a range of domestic issues including health care reform, gun violence prevention, and climate preparedness in the Office of Public Engagement. Rumana first joined the White House through the Office of Presidential Correspondence A native of Maryland and daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, Rumana is passionate about social entrepreneurship and innovation, and the social, political and economic empowerment of women and marginalized communities. Her publication in The Atlantic was named the top 25 most-read online articles of 2017. She is a co-author in the upcoming book, West Wingers: Stories form the Dream Chasers, Change Makers and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House (Release by Penguin Random House: September 25, available for pre-order).

Saeb Ahsan

2017 Scholar

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Saeb Ahsan was a 2017 scholar and is currently a consultant for ZS Consulting in New Jersey, where he focuses on commercial forecasting, global market access, operations, and supply chains for clients in pharmaceutical and medical device sectors. While at Harris Public Policy, Ahsan was part of a Chicago Booth Social Impact project with the Institute of Nonviolence Chicago, led the Interfaith Dialogue at the University of Chicago, and served as a member of the Chicago Steering Committee of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Ahsan was also an Executive Editor of the Chicago Policy Review. In the summer of 2017, Ahsan was an Open Cities Fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a DC nonprofit advocating open data and government transparency. Prior to his time at the University of Chicago, Ahsan conducted a Fulbright research project at Koç University in Istanbul, worked as an impact fellow at Asian Americans Advancing Justice and completed an internship in Kuala Lumpur with International Movement for a Just World. Previously, he served on a Chicago Commission on Human Relations task force that focused on reducing youth violence, and worked as a change management analyst at Accenture, concentrating on the health and human services industry. Ahsan holds an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Salwa Shameem

2014 Scholar

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A 2014 scholar, Salwa Shameem is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago where she studied economics and political science. She received her Master's in Public Policy at the University of Chicago where she focused her research on how policy creation and evaluation can impact poverty alleviation globally. Her research interests in development economics and foreign policy led her to the Clinton Global Initiative University in 2012 where she presented her research on foreign aid effectiveness. She was selected to serve as a HIA Fellow in Paris, France and a finalist of the CNN Bernard Shaw Prize at her undergraduate institution. She currently works as Key Architect and Subject Matter Expert of Accenture's Next Generation Strategy, advising and implementing the consultancy firm's ambition to equip vulnerable at-risk children with 21st century skills. She also serves as an external advisor and consultant to the World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator EMPACT, a start-up which seeks to provide digital training and skills to 100,000 refugees and connects them with remote micro-work opportunities across Lebanon, Iraq, and Kenya.

Lancer Photography, 2019. All rights reserved.

Wardah Khalid

2013 Scholar & Senior Policy Advisor

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Wardah Khalid serves as Policy Consultant for ISF's Congressional Fellowship and Internship program. She is a former ISF scholarship recipient and currently works on Capitol Hill as an APAICS Congressional Fellow. She's also a foreign policy analyst, activist, and the Founder and Board President of Poligon Education Fund, a national civic education and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening Muslim American engagement with Congress.

Youssef Chouhoud

2013 & 2015 Scholar

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A 2013 and 2015 scholar, Dr. Youssef Chouhoud is an Assistant Professor of Political Science affiliated with the Reiff Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at Christopher Newport University. His research elaborates the determinants of support for core democratic norms by examining understudied groups and contexts. Dr. Chouhoud's current project on political tolerance draws on original surveys, experimental data, and elite interviews in North Africa and the United States. Prior to joining CNU, Dr. Chouhoud was a Provost's Fellow at the University of Southern California, where he received his Ph.D. As a President's Scholar, he earned his M.A. in Political Science at Lehigh University, where he also received a B.A. in History.

Zainab Badi

2017 Scholar

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A 2017 scholar, Zainab Badi is the Workforce Policy Project Manager for GRID Alternatives in Oakland, CA. She received her Master's in Public Policy from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs in 2019 and a B.A. in International Studies from UC San Diego. She previously worked as a Research Analyst at the Service Employees International Union and a Policy Fellow at the Greenlining Institute, where she Conducted research aimed at increasing access to the electoral process for Limited English Proficient (LEP) and formerly incarcerated voters in California.

Anwar Hijaz

2012 & 2013 Scholar

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A 2012 and 2013 scholar, Anwar Hijaz is a political scientist whose research focuses on tolerance of minorities in the United States. Anwar's research uses mixed qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand the driving factors affecting tolerance. Her dissertation examined the profound effects that elite discourse, media, and contact with minority groups have on tolerance, including how these factors interact with each other. Anwar previously taught at UC Riverside and has been teaching Political Science at Saddleback College as an adjunct faculty member since Fall 2017. She became a full-time faculty member Fall 2020. Anwar has a passion for teaching and supporting her students by incorporating different instructional modalities to match individual student learning styles. Anwar currently serves as a faculty representative on the Academic Senate and is an active member of the Equity and Inclusion Council.

ISF Peer-2-PeerPolicy Mentorship Network

ISF's Peer-2-Peer Policy Mentorship Network offers academic support, networking opportunities, and industry insight from policymakers, analysts, and more.

Public Policy Mentors

Aasha Shaik

Hasnaa Mokhtar

Irteza Binte-Farid

Karim Farishta

Khalid Madhi

Mariya Ilyas

Nasir Almasri

Rumana Ahmed

Saeb Ahsan

Salwa Shameem

Wardah Khalid

Youssef Chouhoud

Zainab Badi

Anwar Hijaz

ISF Peer-2-Peer
Policy Mentorship Network