Ruth Nasrullah

I have a passion for learning people’s stories: the way we do things, individually and as a society; how we share our values and face our challenges; what motivates our interaction  with the world.

I have worked as a freelance journalist since 2003, focusing on religion and spirituality, backpacking and hiking, social justice and politics, civil rights, and public speaking.

From 2006 to 2015 I wrote The Straight Path blog for the Houston Chronicle.  I have also contributed to the paper’s Belief and Gray Matters sections. I have written on politics and civil rights for the MuslimMatters online magazine. I have been a regular contributor to the Religion News Service, Azizah, Islamic Horizons, The Trek, The Lily, and Toastmaster.

From 2013 to 2017 (with a break to finish working on my MFA  manuscript), I served as Communications Coordinator for the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.  In that position, I  was responsible for sharing the chapter’s message, our goals and activities, through print and online media as well as press appearances and interviews.

From 2008 to 2011, I managed Light of Islam, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit bookstore and educational center whose mission was to share accurate information about Islam and Muslims.  We sold books, CDs and DVDs that covered everything from Qur’anic studies to modern fiction. Light of  Islam offered classes in Islam 101, Qur’anic studies, and events and club meetings.

In December 2003, I completed a Master of Arts degree in journalism from Emerson College, where I received the school’s Presidential  Fellowship. My capstone project profiled drug offenders going through the Roxbury, Massachusetts drug court system.

I followed the journalism degree with a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction from Goucher College in 2015.  My final manuscript is a combination of reported writing and memoir examining the experience of minority religions in the United States which I am currently developing into a book.

I am president of the Society of Professional Journalists Houston Pro chapter and a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Writers  League of Texas and Religion Newswriters Association.  I serve in a  volunteer capacity as communications director for Houston Women March  On. I also volunteer with Team Brownsville, providing humanitarian aid to asylum seekers on the southern border.

I am a New Jersey native based in Houston, where I have lived since 2003.