Humanity Rising VOICES

Mohammed Al Samawi is an interfaith activist, a refugee from Yemen and the author of best-selling autobiography The Fox Hunt: A Refugee's Memoir of Coming To America. Mohammed’s personal journey led him from harboring a deep suspicion of other faiths to becoming a peace advocate. A critical, powerful encounter with a teacher challenged him to learn about the Bible and Judaism, rerouting him from a path of likely violence. Mohammed’s journey to interfaith commitment ultimately saved his life, when four years ago four American strangers helped rescue him from extremist groups in Yemen.  

Mohammed remains committed to the exchange of core values that define our religious traditions and hopes to advance this work through his interfaith organization, the Abrahamic House, to build sustainable interfaith learning and action across Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Baha'i communities in order to foster an environment of learning, respect and social change.  Fox 2000 Pictures, La La Land producer Marc Platt and Josh Singer, Academy Award winner for best original screenplay for Spotlight, are developing the movie The Fox Hunt, based on Mohammed’s autobiography. Mohammed was covered by People Magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, MSNBC, C-SPAN among others.  

https://www.abrahamichouse.org/

www.HumanityRising.org

Nahtahna Cabanes is the V.P. of Strategic Partnerships at L.A. Works, building partnerships with Los Angeles’ change makers to move forward the mission of L.A.’s largest volunteer network. A history teacher for 10 years, in 2011 she shifted careers to study macro social work at UCLA. While at UCLA she was a Bohnett Fellow in the Mayor’s Office of Education. Her lifelong nonprofit career has also included work with CASA of Los Angeles and the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. She is on the Board of the Ridley Foundation, which gives thousands of dollars away each year to education centers in Santa Barbara and is former Chair of the David Ryu’s Discretionary Fund Committee, making recommendations for the use of funds in City Council District 4. While she loves her work. she will always hold a place in her heart for medieval primary source documents.

LAWorks.com

HumanityRising.org

Tina is a Principal at Silverton Partners, the longest running and most active early-stage VC in Texas. In her role, she collaborates with founders to help shrink the distance between the drawing board and realizing their vision. Prior to Silverton, Tina worked in venture at First Round Capital, product at Intuit, and strategy at McKinsey & Company. Tina also cares deeply about elevating female investors and founders - she co-chairs the AllRaise Principal Cohort program to accelerate women's careers in venture capital, is a founding member of the Beam Angel Network, and angel invests with The Council. She also serve on the board of Jusoor, a nonprofit investing in educational programs for Syrian youth.

HumanityRising.org

Will Gurley is 17 years old from Leawood, Kansas. He is a senior at Kansas City Christian School and is an active participant in theatre and band. Will is the founder and president of the You Matter Festival, a music festival promoting mental health awareness and suicide prevention. You can learn more about the You Matter Festival at youmatterfestival.net

HumanityRising.org 

Barbara Talley has been working in diversity, conflict resolution, effective communications, leadership, and race unity for over forty years and has continuously offered programs professionally and in her community.  She is building a virtual meeting space that is now focusing on the elimination of racism, building community and elevating the station of black people designated as pupil of the eye.

HumanityRising.org

Dr. Bob Henderson currently serves as Board Chair of Community Neighborhood Technologies (CNT), a nonprofit organization focused on urban sustainability and social equity that received the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award for organizations. CNT’s work focuses on research and development of tools to create equitable and sustainable communities in climate, housing, transportation, water, energy and employment.

HumanityRising.org

Episode 13 on Professional Perspectives: Yona and Diksha of The DPM Journey Hosted by Alisha Gupta

Yona is a 3rd-year podiatric medical student who dedicates time trying to educate students and individuals about the field of podiatry. There isn’t much awareness and information about what podiatry entails, but he hopes to keep shedding light about this health profession. If he isn’t focused on editing the next YouTube video and studying for classes, he loves hiking, watching movies, and exercising!

Diksha is a 3rd-year podiatric medical student who hopes to fill the gap of information out there for premeds about podiatry. She knows how hard it is to find details about it and discover this alternative way to become a physician. If she’s not trying her best to brainstorm unique ways to spread the information and study, she’s dancing, cooking plant-based foods, and working on her fitness!

HumanityRising.org

Episode 10 on Professional Perspectives: Nehal Banik, Undergraduate Research assistant at UCLA, Dancer, Actor, and more! Hosted by Alisha Gupta.

Neil incorporates his experiences with filmmaking and his time spent in the dance community to produce short conceptual videos and music videos to better help creative artists in the South Asian community. By day Neil studies Psychobiology at UCLA and works as an undergraduate researcher in the department of Neurobiology and by night produces content with other creative artists and friends while hoping to apply to medical school. Neil dabbles in acting in short films, shows, and skits on YouTube and can be found in many popular Bollywood Fusion dance videos on YouTube such as BFunk. Neil hopes to be a beacon of inspiration and help others who share the same passions as him, to lead a professional life filled with creativity. Neil hopes to one day work as a doctor by day, and dance professionally during the night all while paving way for the

members of the new generation to grow as artists.

HumanityRising.org

Abigail Jones is a high school senior at Sturgis West Charter School. She learned how students can get involved in the fight against human trafficking by participating in her school's Her Future Coalition Club and hopes to inspire other students to do the same through Our Future of Change.

Lauren Bridgwater is a high school senior at Sturgis West Charter School in Massachusetts. She became passionate about anti-trafficking activism when she joined the Her Future Coalition Club at her school and learned about the many ways to fight gender violence. Lauren hopes to provide youth with an opportunity to advocate for human rights as well as empower trafficking survivors through Our Future of Change.

https://www.ourfutureofchange.org/

HumanityRising.org

Ashwin Rajkumar is a 18 year old Freshman at The Ohio State University, he is majoring in Aerospace Engineering and double minoring in Business and Humanitarian Engineering. Ashwin was first introduced to the idea of entrepreneurial/Social Business at the age of 14 and immediately fell in love with the notion of community service and bringing about a better lifestyle to the people who need it most. In his free time he loves to play chess and guitar, and enjoys spending time with his family and friends. Ashwin hopes to have The Be W.I.S.E Initiative impact countless little girls and he also interested in giving back to all the people that supported him on his journey so far and looks forward to not only bring about a brighter future but also making sure he touches each and every person he meets on a personal level.

HumanityRising.org