Noor Hasan is the Executive Director at Muslim Women’s Alliance. MWA was founded with a group of dedicated women including herself that wanted to see a change in the perception of Muslim women. She was the Director of Community Relations before she took over as Executive Director in 2013. During her time at MWA Executive Director, she has seen Muslim Women’s Alliance grow in programming, membership and development. We have expanded to all over Chicago and taken some of our programming nationally as well.
Her parents were pioneers in developing the early Chicago Muslim community and she wishes to continue that by empowering and celebrating women through MWA. Besides her MWA work, she volunteers with her local school PTA and masjid.
Sabina Abdul-Qadir is Co-Founder and Director of Community Service at Muslim Women’s Alliance. Sabina is a lawyer by education. As Director of Community Service, Sabina spearheads the ‘Ramadan Rush for Rewards’ campaign which included six events before and during Ramadan. This included a food drive for refugee families, rallying Chicago area children to participate in a talent show to entertain medically fragile kids; helping at a food pantry, serving iftaar to residents at an inner-city mosque, cooking and serving breakfast to 200 homeless individuals at a basilica and organizing a craft corner and book donations for UMMA Center’s refugee iftaar. Sabina Abdul-Qadir also serves as Board Member of Refugee Assistance Programs and is the Program Director for the ICN Girls Club.
Suroor has worked in the professional services industry for over 10 years. She has experience with dealing withlarge multinational companies with expansive global outreach. Her exposure to various cultures and people has allowed her to have a broad mindset and a strong ability to adapt to numerous situations. She joined MWA in 2009 as a volunteer for the Annual Lunch Event. She expanded her role in 2011 to becoming the Sponsor Relations coordinator where she established a process for securing sponsors as well as maintaining relations with sponsors throughout the year. In 2012, she became the Director of Organizational Development where she brings vast experience in how to more effectively manage an organization.
Khadija Husain has enjoyed volunteering with Muslim Women’s Alliance since 2010. In that time Khadija has served as co-chair for the annual Celebration of the Muslim Woman Event, community service project manager for the Feed a Family event during Ramadan Rush for Rewards, and interfaith program manager for the Ten Year Community Commemoration of September 11. She considers her non-profit work a vital part of being a balanced Muslim. Together with her husband, Khadija is working hard to ensure that their four young children have a strong commitment to their faith and their community. Although her childhood dream of living in a library failed to realize, thanks to the advent e-books, Khadija is pretty happy with the compromise.
Esra Rahima is working as a retail pharmacy manager at CVS Health after completing the Dual-Acceptance Program with Benedictine University and Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy. Esra is passionate about volunteering and mentoring our youth. Esra is one of the key developers and program manager of the MWA Mentorship Program. She has also volunteered on MWA’s Celebrate Muslim Woman event team. When Esra is not working, she enjoys traveling, event planning and expressing her creative side on DIY projects.
Tahani Hassan is joining Muslim Women’s Alliance Board of Directors and is focusing on fundraising. Tahani holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Loyola University. She interned at Heartland Alliance Refugee and Immigrant Community Services, helping refugees with employment preparation and job placement. She served as a board member for Arab American Family Services (AAFS) for 5 years. She has traveled to Nicaragua for a conservation project and recently came back from Jordan assisting Syrian refugees. She has worked with the University of Michigan, assisting with research for the Arab-Jewish dialogue. She has been a key program manager of the MWA Mentorship Programs and also served as the volunteer coordinator. Tahani strives to empower the youth into taking leadership roles for the betterment of themselves and society.
Aisha Ghori Ozaki is joining Muslim Women’s Alliance Board of Directors and is focusing on leadership development. Aisha is a manager on the enterprise-wide Inclusive Diversity team at Allstate (since 2015) where she supports communication, marketing, training, education and metrics. Aisha is a frequent presenter and facilitator on diversity and inclusion as well as career development topics and is devoted to ensuring that all individuals feel welcome, find their passion and contribute toward creating an inclusive environment. Aisha volunteers with multiple organizations and especially enjoys her mentoring and time with Upwardly Global Chicago, the DePaul University Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) program, Muslim Women’s Alliance (MWA) and the Career Transitions Center of Chicago (CTC).
Taiser Elsaeed is joining Muslim Women’s Alliance Board of Directors as Board Secretary.
