Emplify

In today's episode, Niveen Sayeed talks with Mariam Mehter and Yusra Husain, two Muslim women in the world of high intensity sports. They discuss what it's like to be a hijabi athlete, the role of sports and faith in their lives, and their thoughts on bias in professional sports.

To explore more about this topic and to learn more about what  we do at Emplify, please visit www.emplify.co

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Mariam Mehter
Mariam was born and raised in Central NY and has a BA from Syracuse University in Economics and Biology. She is passionate about humanitarian and social justice causes, particularly the plight of ethnic, racial, and religious minorities. In her role as a Senior Development Officer with Muslim Advocates in Washington, DC, she helps to ensure that the organization can advocate for civil rights and fight bigotry against Muslims and all people. Mariam enjoys traveling, the outdoors, and regularly enjoys playing a range of team sports including flag football, Australian Rules Football, broomball, and hockey.

Yusra Husain
Yusra is currently a student at The University of Maryland studying community health. Originally from Silver Spring, Maryland, she started playing hockey at the age of 7, went to an Islamic school for pre-k to middle school and completed Hifzh in middle school. She has played for the Montgomery Youth Hockey Association and is currently a member of the UMD women's club team. 

In today's episode, our host, Niveen Sayeed, is talking to Antonio Massa Viana, Esq., an attorney passionate about immigration law, civil rights, and constitutional issues. As the first 
known undocumented immigrant attorney in Massachusetts, Antonio shares what we often get wrong about the immigration debate and how to better support those whose status makes them so vulnerable to the criminal justice system and the country at large.

To explore more about this topic and to learn more about what  we do at Emplify, please visit www.emplify.co

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Antonio Massa Viana
Antonio is passionate about immigration law, civil rights, and constitutional issues, as well as about the clients he represents. He founded Massa Viana Law with the goal of creating a firm guided by the principles of excellency in advocacy, mutual respect, and most importantly, of service.

An immigrant himself who first moved to the United States when he was 12 years old, Antonio tackled the immigration system first in his own personal life. He discovered that many times, in order to succeed, you need to push the envelope and not give up, despite the odds. That vision is employed daily in his firm, where attorneys and staff are encouraged to seek creative legal solutions for difficult problems, even when the answers are not readily apparent.

This never-give-up attitude allowed Antonio to become the first known undocumented immigrant attorney in Massachusetts. Antonio, together with his team, have helped hundreds of people—from those seeking refuge within our borders, to victims of violence and crimes, to those looking to once again be reunited with their loved ones—achieve their dreams of legal residency and citizenship.

In today's episode, our host, Niveen Sayeed, is talking to Mya Matos, a proud military veteran with a passion for DEI. Mya shares her journey of discovering her Afro-Latina identity and how her time in the military informed her approach to leadership in the workplace.

Mya also challenges companies to radically change their approaches to DEI and to be mindful that people of color often fill the invisible role of de facto diversity educator within their organizations.

To explore more about this topic and to learn more about what  we do at Emplify, please visit www.emplify.co

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Mya Matos
A proud Afro-Latina Veteran with a passion for DEI, Mya is infinitely curious and a creative problem solver, often seen running towards a challenge. Now a Solution Engineer, her non-traditional career path started with the US Army National Guard and includes studies in psychology and a 10 year career in hospitality sales and marketing. Throughout her career, Mya has pioneered DEI workplace initiatives geared towards sparking conversations, enablements and enacting change.

In today's episode, our host, Niveen Sayeed, is talking to Hamzeh Daoud about their experiences as a third-generation Palestinian refugee and their work to highlight and celebrate the experiences of the Queer Muslim community. An aspiring lawyer with a passion for movement-building, Hamzeh brings an honest and unflinching view of the hard work of empathy in the midst of trauma and fight for global liberation. 

Hamzeh leaves us with a challenge to fight for liberation not just nationally, but as part of a larger, global collective.

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Hamzeh Daoud
A Queer, Non-binary, disabled third-generation Palestinian refugee from Amman, Jordan, Hamzeh Daoud has their Masters in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University, with an honors in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.  At Stanford, Hamzeh started the first Queer and Muslim affinity group, and served as an undergraduate senator and chair of the advocacy committee, advocating for international first-generation, low-income students, Muslim students, and Palestinian students on campus. They were an active member of Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine and the Arab Student Association at Stanford. Hamzeh hopes to pursue a JD/PhD that combines their research interests in Arab Queer and Muslim Queer lives with their pursuit of a career in public interest law specifically serving Arab Queer and Muslim Queer refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers, and migrants domestically and internationally. Hamzeh is a lead researcher for Queer Crescent’s Presencing Ourselves: LGBTQI+ Muslim Survey.

In today's episode, our host, Niveen Sayeed, is talking to Dr. Kareem Wasim about his experiences working as a clinical psychologist in the federal prison system, and what it has been like to establish empathy for offender populations. He gives us insight into how their perception of him affects his work vis-a-vis his own self-perception of his identity over time. He also shares his research on Islamophobia and both the personal and societal impacts of this type of prejudice. 

Dr. Wasim leaves us with some actionable advice and how we can extrapolate from his experiences to support re-entry of formerly incarcerated individuals into mainstream society. 

To explore more about this topic and to learn more about what  we do at Emplify, please visit www.emplify.co

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Kareem Wasim, Psy.D., M.B.A.
Dr. Wasim is a licensed clinical psychologist with the U.S. Department of Justice, specifically the Federal Bureau of Prisons. His experience includes clinical and forensic psychological evaluations with state and federal criminal offenders, in addition to clinical work in a correctional setting with maximum security and death row inmates. Dr. Wasim completed his clinical internship at San Quentin State Prison in Northern California. His clinical interests are with offender populations in segregation units, suicide risk assessments, and malingering evaluations.

In today's episode, our host, Niveen Sayeed, is talking to Elsa Gomes Bondlow about the journey and purpose of Emplify. Emplify's mission is to broaden the mindsets of individuals by helping them understand their own biases, expand their world views and reduce the emotional burden of this work on those who are already marginalized. 

Since empathy is the basis of all of Emplify’s work, they discuss this current buzzword of empathy in detail. Why it is vital to society and how it plays a role specifically in the current workplace. They talk about the importance of balance between exhibiting empathy for others
- which is transformative during this pandemic- and how to avoid empathy fatigue. The show ends with tips for cultivating empathy across a globally interconnected world.

To explore more about this topic and to learn more about what  we do at Emplify, please visit www.emplify.co

Niveen Sayeed is a global citizen who believes in humanity over nationality. She is a creator of evocative experiences and her work has spanned from building physical experiences as an architectural designer, to creating digital experiences as a design and UX Strategist. She
is now using these skills to help build resilient communities infused with meaning and fulfillment.

Elsa Gomes Bondlow is a natural born connector, an international bridge builder, a professional fundraiser and an empathetic social justice activist with a passion for the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. She is motivated to empower leaders in building an inclusive culture of understanding, while cultivating welcoming environments, where all can fully belong, innovate and get effective results.