uMentor Talk Show

Jihad F. Saleh is a humanitarian, anti-poverty activist based in Washington, DC. His activism & organizing focuses on amplifying the voices and building political power of targeted, vulnerable populations in the U.S. who are subjected to poverty, hunger, and social marginalization. He also works to expand the advocacy and community organizing capacity with the Muslim American community, particularly amongh Black Muslim and Shia Muslim networks.

In his professional capacity, Jihad is the Senior Advocacy & Government Affairs Advisor for Islamic Relief USA, the nation's largest Muslim humanitarian and advocacy organization. Jihad coordinates IRUSA’s engagement and lobbying with Congress and various Executive Departments. His advocacy focuses on humanitarian issues such as alleviating poverty and hunger in the US, ending gender-based violence, and protecting the funding of social service programs within the annual Congressional budget & appropriations. Currently, Jihad is the Co-Chair of the Interreligious Working Group for Domestic Human Needs (DHN) and a Board member of the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN), two of the leading domestic focused advocacy coalitions in Washington, DC.

Previously, Jihad worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Legislative Assistant focused on education and anti-poverty policies. During his time on Capitol Hill, he served as the Programs & Outreach Coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staff Association (CMSA).

Jihad has earned graduate degrees from the Stanford Graduate School of Education and Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 2005, Jihad was a Summer Fellow with the Muslim Public Service Network (MPSN) in Washington, DC, while he completed his graduate school required internship at the AARP's Office of Diversity & Inclusion. In 2008, he was a recipient of the inaugural American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI) Fellowship at the University of Southern California.

Sarah is currently a second year engineering student at the University of Toronto. She has always been curious about the practical applications of science, and her interests in biomaterials and nanotechnology inspired her to study materials science and engineering. Outside of school, Sarah enjoys reading classic literature novels and books about philosophy and religion. She is a daily volunteer at her local mosque and enjoys taking initiative during children, youth and scouts programs.

Dr. Farooq Bandali earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000. During 2004 – 2005, Dr. Bandali completed an ASHP-accredited pharmacy practice residency. In 2005 – 2006, he completed specialty ASHP-accredited residency in critical care pharmacy.

For the next 9 years (2006-2015), Dr. Bandali served in a dual position as Clinical Assistant Professor at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and Critical Care Clinical Pharmacist at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in NJ. His teaching responsibilities included precepting pharmacy students on rotations and delivering didactic lectures at EMSOP. His practice responsibilities include rounding daily on intensive care unit patients to assist medical teams in optimizing pharmacotherapy outcomes. In June 2015, he transitioned to the pharmaceutical industry. In his current role, he is a Senior Medical Science Liaison supporting both cardiovascular and metabolism research and education.

Dr. Bandali is also the co-founder of Taqwa Media which is an Islamic publishing and distribution company focusing on creating access to high quality Islamic educational products with the vision of sharing the message of God-consciousness…one family at a time.

Dr. Bandali has 2 boys, Mahdi and Ahmad. He is an avid soccer player, regularly runs, bikes, workouts and goes hiking and camping.

Zainab Merchant is an American journalist, author and entrepreneur. She is author of the books To Be a Muslim and Princess Siyana's Pen, with more titles on the horizon. Zainab is more commonly known by her blog name ZainabRights where she speaks about social justice issues, current affairs and God centric activism. She is in the final semester of her master's program at Harvard University in Journalism and International Security, and currently resides in Canada with her husband and three children.

Mehdi is an undergraduate student and Global Health Scholar at Yale University, studying biomedical engineering. His research interests concern nanoparticle drug delivery and gene therapy for brain cancer. He is also interested in putting war on the public health agenda, studying cancer burden and violence in Iraq. On campus, Mehdi works as a Student Organization Consultant for the Dean’s Office to aid community organizers and student leaders. He is also in the leadership of several academic, service, and religious-based campus groups, including the Yale Undergraduate Research Association, Yale Muslim Student Association, Students for Yemen, and Muslim Leadership Lab.

Mehdi is devoted to serving the Shi’a community. He is on the executive team for Ma'rifa, a national organization committed to the spiritual and intellectual growth of Shi'i students, and is a youth coordinator for Imamia Medics International. Through his community involvement and faith-based organizing, he hopes to engage with Shi’a youth and mobilize Muslim communities to advocate for global health, justice, and peace. In his spare time, Mehdi enjoys learning Urdu poetry and reading Shi’i liberation literature. Mehdi is from Orlando, Fl!

Malak Wazne-Fadlallah is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and photographer working to tear down barriers, one story at a time. Her documentary work focuses on empowerment within - and empathy beyond - her community.

Her work has been published in Vogue Arabia Magazine, Buzzfeed, and many other outlets. Malak has also been nominated for 3 student Emmys, invited to The White House, received a scholarship and attended the summer film program at Northwestern University, and served in the Smithsonian Youth Council in 2018. Most recently, Malak received Best Photographer and Best Visual Artist in Detroit from Hour Magazine.

Naim Hamdar was born in Lebanon and moved to the United States with his family at the age of 9, and lived for two years in Boston, where his younger brothers were born, before moving to Tampa, Florida. Naim studied at the University of South Florida, majoring in Business and specializing in Marketing. He started his entrepreneurial career early, at the age of 19, funding his college education through his business venture. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree, he started a role as a regional manager for a national distributor for T-Mobile USA. After two years, he started his own business. Since 2005, he has owned and operated a payment processing company, CardConnectFL.com

He's married to someone who he classifies as his best friend and is blessed with amazing twins.

Taaha gained admission to Lafayette College through the Posse Foundation, graduating with an English major and a Writing Concentration in 2011. He then worked at Comedy Central, where he supported acquisition of the 'Key & Peele' show. After leaving the entertainment industry to pursue his passion of educational access, Taaha worked in the admissions office of his alma mater for five years, raising enrollment of students of color from 12% to 29%. He received his Education Masters in Higher Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, focusing on transitional support for marginalized young people. He was asked to serve on the School's board as a student, and found his next opportunity. In 2017, Taaha moved to Chicago to design a pipeline for students who have been historically marginalized from higher education - first generation college bound students, temporarily low-income, and students of color - to executive spaces over a 14 year academic journey. He recently accepted a new role on a project to improve post secondary efforts for five Chicago neighborhood schools with a substantial operational budget.

A native New Yorker by way of Tanzania, Taaha currently resides in Chicago. He loves playing and watching basketball, spoken word, and comedy.

Karim is a recent graduate of Lehigh University, where he studied mechanical engineering. He is very excited to enter the workforce and ready to learn as much as he can!

Ali is a Supply Chain major at the Penn State University Smeal School of Business. He is an advocate for pickleball, and has developed a site that aggregates content about the sport as well as content from pickleball professionals. You can access his site at pickleballvortex.com

He has run clinics to teach pickleball at Penn State. He opened his own small business, Bhaller Pickleball, which aims to sell products that capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport.

Ali also has extensive experience volunteering within the Islamic community. In Summer 2018, he volunteered with World Islamic Poverty and Humanitarian Services, where he taught English to nursery-aged school children and created a picture book as a teaching tool. At Al-Ahad Islamic Center, he was a fundraising volunteer, raising over $3000 to help families affected by forced displacement.

Previously, Ali has worked as a referee for the Northern Valley Youth Soccer League. He has also worked as a cashier at Dunkin Donuts. He is licensed in CPR. He has played in 5 Umoja Games, winning 2 in his age division.

On today's special episode, we talk about Umoja's latest initiatives with some of the Umoja team!

We were joined by Mustafa Dinani (Co-Founder and Chair), Farnaz Ladha (uCare Lead), Buturab Rizvi (Web & App Lead), Faizaan Datoo (Web & App Developer), and Hasnainali Walli (uGames Lead).

Download the Umoja app at app.umojaoutreach.org, and interact with all of our initiatives on the website (umojaoutreach.org) or Umoja app!

We're moving to video shows! Watch this show and all future shows on our YouTube channel! Search for Umoja Outreach on YouTube and subscribe for more.

Iman Saab is an aspiring registered nurse with a strong passion for clinical science and health care. She has worked with dementia patients at a long term care facility, with recovering patients on a cardiology unit, and with mentally and physically impaired patients on a neuro-rehab unit. She strives to have a positive impact wherever she is, whether it’s volunteering at her local mosque, leading her Scouts group through the wilderness, or advocating for fellow nursing students in her program.