Who are the Empowered Women of Arab America? Meet them on March 21st
Empowered Women of Arab America is a one-day virtual event on March 21, 2021, from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm EDT that recognizes the achievements made by Arab American women in their communities with an optional networking session from 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm EDT.
REGISTER HERE!
By: Claire Boyle / Arab America Contributing Writer
More than any time in our history, Arab American women are rising in public service, professions, business, media, and the arts after decades of marginalization in mainstream America. Join us on March 21, which is during International Women’s Month and also Mother’s Day in the Arab World. We will hear from Arab American women who are making a difference as trailblazers in their respective communities.
Join us as we talk with an award-winning journalist, learn about NASCAR through the eyes of a race car driver, gain intellectual insights from an entrepreneur and scientist, and listen to the wonderful beats of Arab music by a musician. Additionally, we will engage with a city councilwoman and discuss the challenges of running for the next mayor of Boston, listen to a security specialist talk about how an organization like the International Monetary Fund tackles cybersecurity, and find out how a business executive and attorney integrates energy and infrastructure into her company. Lastly, we examine the work of a presidential political appointee in the Biden administration who handles civil rights issues for the Department of Homeland Security. Finally, we will hear how these women integrate their work to continue to advocate for the Arab American community and what challenges have they had to overcome on their own unique paths to success.
Arab America Foundation is excited to announce that this event will be simulcast “live” over Al Jazeera’s 24-hour news channel, Mubasher, the C-Span of the Arab World.
Meet the Panelists:
Sara Shouhayib | Moderator
Sara Shouhayib is an Emmy-award-winning journalist currently working in Bakersfield, CA as the morning news anchor for KBAK/KBFX. She is also the producer and host of the network’s “Health Alert for Eyewitness News” segment. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2013 by double majoring in communications and Spanish with an environmental science minor. Additionally, she attained a master’s degree in Journalism from the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2015. Shouhayib also has an interest in health because, in 2019, she completed a fellowship with the National Press Foundation to learn about vaccines from the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. Sara is a proud daughter of Lebanese immigrants having grown up in Troy, MI, and she credits her father as the driving force behind her optimistic outlook on life. Furthermore, she has been involved in numerous charitable endeavors by working as an adjunct journalism instructor at Bakersfield College and providing aid to bring clean water to Lebanon. Finally, Shouhayib uses journalism as a force for good being that her work requires her to inform the communities that she serves.
Annissa Essaibi George
Annissa Essaibi George currently serves as an At-Large Boston City Councilor after having been elected in November 2015. Before venturing into politics, Essaibi taught as a teacher for Boston’s public schools for 13 years and she is a lifelong resident of the city. Additionally, her role as a teacher gave George a unique perspective into the challenges and inequities faced by Boston’s families. As a City Council member, she has also spearheaded efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, homelessness, and providing affordable mental health care. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Boston University and a master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is a tireless advocate for the young people of Boston by working to connect students with jobs through a liaison program and as a softball coach. Annissa is also a small business owner because she is the founder of Stitch House, a company that sells fabric and yarn, and gives classes in knitting, crochet, and quilting to youth in the city. She is also the daughter of Tunisian immigrants. Finally, along with her husband, Doug George, she is the proud parent of four boys and is currently running to become the next mayor of Boston.
Toni Breidinger
Toni Breidinger is a professional race car driver who currently races for NASCAR in the ARCA Menards Series and is a limited season driver for NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series. In February 2021, she made history as NASCAR’s first female Arab American race car driver after she completed a top-20 finish at Daytona International Speedway’s Lucas Oil 200. Breidinger is also the winningest female driver in the United States Auto Club (USAC) where she has had 19 career victories. In the past, Breidinger raced go-karts, then she moved onto ‘late model’ vehicles, trucks, and finally, stock cars. She is of Lebanese heritage through her mother who is from Beirut, and Breidinger grew up in the Hillsborough area of California. Breidinger credits her father as the motivation behind her getting into auto racing since he took her to Sonoma Speedway when she was only nine years old to have fun. Furthermore, she has also worked in modeling for brands such as “Head and Shoulders, Sunny D, Tory Burch, and Bell Helmets,” among others. Finally, Breidinger is very active on all social media platforms and also uses them to promote her Arab American heritage of which she is quite proud of.
Dr. Rana el Kaliouby
Dr. Rana el Kaliouby is the Co-Founder and CEO of Affectiva, a company that specializes in creating ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI). She is also a scientist and entrepreneur. With a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, El Kaliouby has pioneered the field of emotion recognition technology (emotion AI) especially within the fields of mental health and autism. One of her research goals is to make AI equitable, diverse, and without algorithmic bias, and to humanize technology. She is passionate about ethics especially when it comes to the field of AI. El Kaliouby is also a “World Economic Forum Global Leader, Young Presidents’ Organization member, and she has even co-hosted a PBS Nova show on AI.” Her academic training is in computer science and her research in the field of emotion AI was spurred on by work in facial recognition. She is of Egyptian descent and credits her mother’s groundbreaking work as one of the first female computer scientists in the Arab World as her inspiration for her own career. Finally, she has received numerous honors including being named to Forbes’s “Top 50 Women in Tech,” Fortune’s “40 Under 40 list,” and she has also attained a Post Doctorate from MIT.
Nano Raies
Nano Raies is a Syrian American singer, songwriter, and composer. She is originally from Homs, Syria, and with her family, she escaped the Syrian Civil War to come to live in the United States. During the war, Raies decided that she would never stop singing and was determined to take vocal lessons even in a warzone. When she arrived in the States, Raies realized her dream of becoming a professional singer by graduating from the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Her music is considered to be a conglomerate of styles including “Middle Eastern Arabic, Western classical, pop, gypsy jazz, the stirring beats of Latin, bossa nova, and Brazilian choro.” She is also an artist by having studied architecture and landscape design in college besides her musical training. Currently, she is working on rewriting the “Bella Ciao” song in Arabic to have it become an anthem for countries going through a revolution such as Lebanon and Iraq. She is also an activist for women’s rights to drive in Saudi Arabia, climate change, and UNICEF. Finally, Raies says that she wants to be “an example for those who have been through conflict and strife to believe that nothing is impossible.”
Sali Osman
Sali Osman currently serves as the Chief Security Officer for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She has over two decades of experience working in security, risk management, and cybersecurity for the US Federal Government. She has also worked in various settings including “human services, media, industrial, oil, and gas.” Osman started her career in law enforcement and has dedicated her life to protecting corporate assets, preventing cyberterrorism, creating incident response teams consisting of computer forensics experts, and the security logistics of managing acquisitions, mergers, and divestitures. Furthermore, Osman is also a published author and she has created an initiative called the ‘Cyber Ninjettes’ to get girls interested in coding and computer science. Additionally, she is an advocate for underserved Nubians since she founded the group, “‘Nubian Village’ to promote economic empowerment in villages and the diaspora as well.” Osman is an “ABD Ph.D. in Biodefense and she has an M.Sc. in Information Security Management and a B.Eng. in Electronics and Communications.” Finally, she is the mother of two adult children, lives in Florida, and loves the sport of sailing as well.
Mona Dajani
Mona Dajani currently serves as the Global Head of Energy and Infrastructure Finance Team at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Dajani is a dual-certified lawyer in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as an engineer, and she also has a(n) MBA. She has over two decades of experience working in global infrastructure and energy and Dajani represents multiple groups including the commercial industry, financial and public institutions, and governments. She has led initiatives in renewable energies including “solar, wind, hydrogen, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, connectivity, and among others.” Dajani has received numerous career honors including that she was named as a “Fellow to the Construction Lawyers Society” for the last three years, she has been recognized by numerous top publications, and she continues to be a regular contributor and commentator for newspapers and radio stations such as the “International Financial Times, New York Times, USA Today, National Public Radio, and Bloomberg Energy.” Finally, she is an expert in the renewable energy sector.
Brenda Abdelall
Brenda Abdelall is a “Senior Advisor for the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and she is also a presidential political appointee by President Joe Biden at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).” Before being appointed, Abdelall taught at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of the District of Columbia Law School. She has over a decade of experience working in domestic and public policy, civil rights, global social responsibility, and Abdelall has a special interest in working with communities of color and minority faiths. In the past, Brenda was the “president and founder of Bridge Strategies, LLC, a global consulting firm focusing on capacity building, strategic philanthropy, and public policy counseling.” She has also taught courses about the US Supreme Court, First Amendment, and religious issues at New York University in Abu Dhabi (NYU-AD), and Abdelall created one of the first social responsibility programs in the region. She graduated with a BA with distinction in Political Science and Arabic/Islamic Studies and a JD from the University of Michigan. Finally, Brenda is passionate about promoting social justice for refugees and Arab Americans.
For press/media inquiries about this event contact: cboyle@arabamerica.com
To register for this event: REGISTER HERE
For more information about the Arab America Foundation: www.arabamericafoundation.org
Sponsors
AB Korkor Foundation
Amana Mutual Funds
Shahid VIP
Special Thanks to Supporters
Fred Hadeed
Andoni Family Foundation
Hamideh Enterprises
Salam International
Check out Arab America’s blog here!
