uMentor Talk Show

After Dr. Rizvi completed a BS in Information Systems (ISE) at Stony Brook University he worked at the Wall Street office of Citigroup for a brief period. He then pursued an opportunity to serve others and completed a Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. There, he developed a passion to work with and within the health care system and culminated his degree with a thesis to develop methodologies for patients to obtain access to quality care. During this time, he also worked at a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contractual think tank, ANSER, in Arlington, VA to develop protocols for mass casualty events and pandemics. It is through this work that he received a Travel Award from the National Science Foundation to participate in an Advanced Studies Institute on public health preparedness and response. Following this, he pursued medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and eventually completed a General Surgery residency followed by a Vascular Surgery fellowship at Brooklyn campus of NYU Langone Medical Center. He has presented as podium presentations at numerous local, national and international vascular surgery conferences. He is an author of several scientific manuscripts and book chapters in major vascular surgery textbooks. He is involved with major national vascular surgery societies and was recently appointed membership on national committees. More recently, he was the Medical Director of the Vascular Laboratory at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, NY. He is now an attending vascular surgeon at NYC Health and Hospital/Harlem and runs a separate private vascular surgery practice, Vascular Care, serving long island based out of his office in Lynbrook.

Reza Aziz is a junior who attends Calhoun High School in Merrick, NY. As a high school student, Reza is a tutor for his local Kumon center on the weekdays, he volunteers at the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY, and he officiates local travel soccer games on the weekends. He loves to play soccer for his local Merrick travel team and his community team NY Jaffery Juniors, who won the U16 tournament in the 2019 Umoja Games. He also enjoys being on stage and is a part of his high school’s specialized dramatic arts program, the OnTour Company. For the past 3 years, Reza has participated in Poetry Out Loud, which is a national competition where students recite poetry on stage. This past March, after winning the school and regional competition, Reza participated in the state competition where he had the opportunity to compete against fellow students across NY state and celebrate poetry. Reza has always been interested in the sciences and looks to pursue a career in medicine in the future.

Sakina is a mother of 3 young adults, and is a software engineer, program manager of Umoja Outreach Foundation, a board member at her local masjid, a Saturday school teacher, a lunch pal for a 3rd grader (Lilly), and now a grandmother to two amazing boys. In all these roles, she enjoys and satisfies her passion of helping others.

Maisum is 12 years old and is driven by his desire to help others and succeed in sports, school, and making a difference in the community. He wants to become a civil engineer. His favorite subjects are math and science. He was born and lives in Allentown, PA and is a proud big brother to 2 younger siblings.

Our second teenage talk show! Our guest for this week was Jahangusht Tajdar! Jahangusht is a first-year college student and grocery clerk at Weis Markets who, like millions of others at this time, is risking his life working in an essential job to ensure that others are taken care of.

Fatima is a qualified paralegal. She was a law student back in Pakistan and decided to pursue the same when moving to Canada in June 2012 after getting married.

She worked for a few firms after receiving her diploma, but life had other plans for me and she got pregnant with her first-born, Abbas.She is a mother of two beautiful children: Abbas (almost four) and Zahra (a little over two). She recently started a lifestyle blog on Instagram to interact with other moms around the world.

We had our first teenager talk show this week on Instagram Live! Join us for our next show on May 16 @ 3 PM EST at instagram.com/umojaoutreach.

Our first guest for this week will be Faizaan Datoo! Faizaan is a first-year computer science student at Cornell University. He learned to code from a young age and worked on various projects throughout his childhood, including a game to help children learn math and a smart task management app. He currently works on development projects for Umoja Outreach Foundation.

Our second guest this week will be Zainab Alikhan! Zainab Alikhan is currently a senior at Elsik High school in Houston, TX. In the Fall of 2020 she will be attending the University of Denver majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Political Science. Zainab enjoys nanoparticle research and reading memoirs.

The uMentor team wishes you and your families a Ramadhan Mubarak. This month of Ramadhan, we have a lot of surprises in store for you, so stay tuned on our Instagram @umojaoutreach!

Erum is a stay-at-home mom, better known as the Chief of Operations at home. She received a Bachelors in Psychology at Rutgers University and and Masters in Elementary Education. After getting married and having children, Erum chose to be a stay-at-home to raise her children with the same morals provided by her parents and in-laws, and also be present for her children’s small and big moments. She returned to work as a high school substitute teacher to allow flexibility between work and home. With a very good friend, Erum also started an event planning business, Designlicious.

Erum is married to Ali, and together they have three beautiful kids – Abbas, Zayna, and Zara. Motherhood is a selfless and most rewarding job, and Erum takes pride in raising her children to be future world citizens in all aspects religious, social, and educational. Her only wish is that she could slow time down.

As a child of Palestinian immigrants and reaching maturity shortly after 9/11, Mohammad's existence was political and he faced that identity head on. He was continuously involved in political, civic, and community organizations throughout his education. Mohammad has volunteered for United Voices, served as an Emerging Leader with Emerge USA (Emgage) and Fellow for NNAAC (National Network of Arab American Communities), and interned with the civil rights department at CAIRFL. After graduating from law school, Mohammad worked as the Central Florida Regional Coordinator for Emgage. He had a strong connection with his local masjid, IEC Tampa, serving as a board member in charge of youth activities at IEC Tampa and returning as a teacher at 14 Stars Education Center at the Saturday school program.

 

Mohammad is married and living in Detroit, Michigan, and he currently focuses on immigration law at Elsharnoby and Associates in Dearborn. He will be receiving his LL.M in Employment Law at Wayne State University.

Born and raised in Kabul Afghanistan, Habib migrated to Pakistan in 1982 and moved to the US in 1987. He went to college for MIS and is a 6th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Habib incorporated his company, Habib’s Martial Arts, in 2006. He is also the founder and president of Global Humanitarian Resources, a 501c organization.

Habib is married with four kids, two boys and two girls. He is an avid soccer player and enjoys reading , hiking, biking outdoors. However Habib misses the mountains.

Ali Ladak is an analytics professional for over 10 years with a focus on predictive modeling, data aggregation & visualization, and strategic consulting. His is currently a Marketing Science Partner at Facebook where he advises his clients on the best practices in using the Facebook platform and analyzing of a number of marketing solutions. Prior to Facebook, Ali was at GroupM, a Media Agency Holding company. During his 6 years at GroupM, Ali focused on the creation of models that helped predict how consumers would respond to different marketing initiatives, as well as the economy. 

Ali holds a bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management from Lehigh University, and a master's degree in Economics from Hunter College.