I'm Palestinian, and I often say to be born Palestinian is to be a controversy upon conception. A lot of the experiences I had as a Palestinian growing up in the U.S. were centered around policy decisions, so I've seen constant injustice being perpetrated by policy.
The nail in the coffin that made me decide to go into policy for the rest of my life was after getting firsthand experience working on policy. It was then when I realized that there was a huge gap of Muslims in this space. I knew I needed to help fill that need.
My job is incredibly rewarding. In every role that I've had, the goal has been to help people, whether it's focusing on Muslims or larger groups. I think it's central to our identity, to our faith, to ensure that we leave the world a better place. For me, being able to focus on the injustices that we're experiencing as a community very much feels like I am fulfilling my duty and my purpose.
Generally, it's been really incredible to see the nature of the conversations around American policy shift from where it was before. Before, there wasn’t even a conversation, but now we’ve been able to get one started. That in and of itself has been a really great beginning to the long road ahead.