سلام
I love global cultures, ancient wisdom, plant medicine, UX, impact innovation, open source, startups, photography and digital design.
Experience...
building an eco-accelerator and launching a new venture studio in LA and Miami with Larta Ventures, creating a line of products inspired by ancient cultural wisdom and plant medicine with Orinda, incubating social innovation ideas with Purpose in Motion, working with AngelHack on the global series of hackathons, developing tech for impact initiatives with Code for a Cause, the “greatest accelerator you’ve never heard of” Springboard Enterprises started by the first VC funded woman, with the Partnership Fund for NYC launching the NY Fashion Tech Lab startup accelerator, won a place in Georgetown's first business incubator StartupHoyas for smart manufacturing & design curation concept Modefy, completed a NYC UX + Product Design bootcamp intensive, international development, human rights law with the London Kurdish Human Rights Project, interfaith work, freedom of expression and global youth reporter education projects. NYC Lead for Pakathon and city rep for Dreamers and Doers female collaborative network.
Happenings...
regenerative urban living lab: decentralized, resilient infrastructure showcasing affordable eco-living (Geoship - Los Angeles 2025)
ästralab - Silk-Road urban sanctuary celebrating the cross-pollination of cultures represented in Los Angeles: African-American, Armenian, Chinese, Ethiopian, European, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Latam, Mexican, Native American, Nigerian, Thai, Arab, Persian & many more. (OPEN, Los Angeles)
teapot.la - creativity cafe + “paradise garden” launching 2025 (Paradise Garden Philosophy: gardens as meditation portals) (380K Repair Grant recipients for West Adams neighborhood - highest voted project in all of LA County) (Board Member)
Hakawati - “tragic to magic” storytelling series & accelerator, inspired by indigenous Middle Eastern storytelling “therapy”, the power of finding /refraiming / sharing your own story. Azad + many art forms.
Eco Venture Studio : accelerating 14 concepts in LA & Miami with innovative approaches to urban resilience - nature-based and indigenous-inspired solutions. To be scaled to other major cities. (2024 cohort | 2023 cohort) (Program Video Explanation)
Orinda : oracle cards, textiles & wellness products inspired by ancient cultures. Array of tree resin balms, ayurvedic herb-infused oils, floral elixirs and oud muattars.
Current - January 2023 - Tech For Good Facilitator / Mentor with Purpose in Motion : Social Innovation Incubation program addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals with technology and startup solutions in over 43 countries.
2021 - April 29th : Brentwood Market - honoring the divine feminine. (Vendors)
2020 - AngelHack Global Ambassador Retreat - Indonesia
2020 Q4 - Shopify Hack Sparking Entrepreneurship in Asia - China & Singapore
2020 - Hacking the Future of Media - KAUST Saudi Arabia
February 2020 - App Dynamics Hack - San Francisco, CA
November 2019 - Women’s Empowerment Hackathons EMEA
October 2019 - Hack HLTH with MIT, Anthem, UCSF, Intel
August 2019 - Jeddah FinTech hackathon
July 2019 - EY Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center - Wavespace hackathon - Madrid, Spain
June 2019 - Dubai Silicon Oasis impact tech hackathon with DTEC
June 2019 - Code for Notre Dame in Paris, France
April 2019 - Nairobi Tech Week, Kenya Hackathon
November 2019 - EOS Blockchain Hack - San Francisco
April 2018 - August 2018 - AngelHack 11th Global Series: West Bank, London, Cape Verde, Lagos, Paris, Oslo, Gaza, Dubai & more
April 2018 - Kabul Hackathon @ Ministry of Finance with Oracle
February 2018 - Women Who Launch Panel Los Angeles
December 2017 - Women of Technology Pitch and Mentor Night - New York City
November 2017 - Global Demo Day & Silicon Valley Week
October 2017 - Data Hack Iceland Judge - challenge: personalizing online experience while retaining data privace / control with digi.me
August - Wonder Women Tech Los Angeles panelist and workshop organizer
April - July 2017 - AngelHack's 10th Global Series: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi & Istanbul <3
March 2017 - Nairobi Tech Week
January 2017 - Lady Problems hackathons: Barcelona & Berlin
December 2016 - Building.CO Women's hackathon - Miami, FL
November 2016 - Global Entrepreneurship Week Palestine
October 2016 - Womens hack @ Innovation Warehouse London
October 2016 - #TraffickHack Hackathon fighting human trafficking of minors
October 2016 - Pakathon NYC | Pakathon.org
October 2016 - Money 2020 | World's Largest FinTech Hack - Las Vegas
AngelHack Series 9 | April - July 2016 - Hackathons for a place in the AngelHack HACKcelerator program including a social/environmental impact track in Barcelona, Stockholm, Lviv, Dublin, London, Sofia, Berlin, Moscow, Zurich, Tehran + more.
Fall 2016 - mentHER platform launch - mentoring for teen and tween girls with Q.A members platform (Advisor - NYC)
May 2016 - #HackthePayGap @ White House
April 2016 - HacktheBern Innovating new tools for political engagement - New York City
November 2015 - Pioneer Mode Business Innovation Mentor (NYC)
November 2015 - Pakathon Global Finals featuring our NYC winning team Maa ka Darja, gamifying vaccines (Toronto)
October 2015 - Tech Enabled social impact initiatives in MENA region - Presentation with Case Studies
September 2015 - Google's Global Fashion Battle Mentor with Startup Weekend NYC
August 2015 - Web Design and UX training to Free the Captives victims of human trafficking (Houston, TX)
April 2015 - ShehacksNYC OurKarma.co Demo - like Bitcoin, but made out of exchangeable karma currency <3
January 2015 - Design & UX Mentor at United Nations Cracking the Code Hackathon
December 2014 - Accelerating Your Growth Workshop with the Freestyle Conference (DC)
October 2014 - Fashion Meets Startup Panel Soho
September 2014 - Accelerating Growth Workshop at LIM College w/ Freestyle Conference (NYC)
September 2014 - Wharton Women Keynote Speaker
September 2014 - Entrepreneurship for Peace - Stories from the ground with Gaza Sky Geeks Director at Impact Hub NYC (Event Producer)
September 2014 - Google's Global Fashion Battle Mentor with Startup Weekend NYC around NY Fashion Week
August 2014 - New York Fashion Tech Lab Session Host at AlleyNYC
July 2014 - New York Fashion Tech Lab Demo Day
March - July 2015 - NYFTL Accelerator Associate
June 2014 - Gen Z Entrepreneurship Day at Vox Media - Speaker and Judge of the Teen Business Presentations (DC)
Some Writings / Chats:
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