YCL Fellows
2024
Meet the Changemakers - Class of 2024
Building on the success of our inaugural programme, the 2024 Young Concordia Leaders (YCL) Fellowship continues to nurture exceptional young Muslims aged 21 to 30. Our second cohort comprises 20 Fellows from 7 countries across 3 continents, reflecting the global reach and impact of this initiative. Gathering in Atlanta, USA, these emerging leaders embody the fellowship's core values of creative ambition, civic engagement, and global awareness. As we expand our network, this cohort promises to further enrich the Concordia community with their diverse perspectives and innovative ideas, carrying forward the torch lit by their predecessors.
-
Abdoul Diallo (Atlanta, USA) - Urban Planning and Real Estate
Born in Conakry, Guinea, and raised in Atlanta, Abdoul graduated from Cornell University in May 2024 with a degree in Urban Planning, Real Estate, and Inequality Studies. He serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Diversity and Inclusion in Real Estate (DAIRE), a collegiate organisation advancing real estate career pathways for minority students across American universities. Currently a Development and Investment Analyst at Greystar, Abdoul reviews multifamily, senior, and student housing developments across the United States. His passion lies in real estate development, affordable housing, and community development.
-
Abeera Saeed (Jersey City, USA) - Finance and Non-profit Leadership
Abeera is the Operations and Finance Associate at Propel Capital and a former Goldman Sachs Market Risk Specialist. A Yale University graduate, she co-founded the ALI Leadership Institute, a New Jersey non-profit dedicated to training activists, organisers, and grassroots leaders. Abeera has worked with local politicians and non-profits, helping elect the youngest Muslim official in New Jersey to the Jersey City school board. She is a Yale Presidential Public Service Fellow, Islamic Scholarship recipient, and a member of Insider NJ's Top 100 Millennial Power List.
-
Alaa Aissi (San Francisco, USA) - Policy and Technology Management
A University of California, Berkeley graduate and a Regents' and Chancellor's Scholar, Alaa is a Policy Enforcement and Operations Manager at YouTube. She works to address the health and well-being of creators and viewers via product and policy management. Alaa also strives to increase representation of Muslims at Google and through Google products, impacting Muslim users globally. Her collaboration and consultation work has taken her across Asia, Africa, and Europe, offering scalable and effective solutions for top and emerging organisations. Alaa is deeply invested in understanding and solving complex global problems.
-
Ali Zafar (London, UK) - Finance & Entrepreneurship
A financial literacy advocate, Ali founded LifeSmart to bridge the financial education gap among young people, especially in underserved communities. As a former Relationship Manager at Barclays Private Bank, specialising in investment services for High-Net-Worth Clients, he completed the rigorous Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams and spent half a decade in banking. He then shifted to education, starting a successful consultancy blending wealth management with bespoke educational services in Luxembourg and Switzerland. Now, he focuses on financial literacy through interactive workshops, an engaging course and a unique tech platform, empowering the next generation to make informed financial decisions.
-
Amira Shahin (Adelaide, Australia) - Mental Health and Child Development
In her final year of a Master's by Philosophy programme at the University of Adelaide, Amira has a background in Health and Medical Science, Business and Counselling. She serves as a mental health counsellor and conducts research on the mental well-being of entrepreneurs and top executives. Amira is also a children's author with three books on emotions, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and children in conflict, used in schools worldwide. She actively works within the Muslim community, facilitating workshops on emotional management for children, guiding youth on mental health and identity concerns, and assisting young adults in navigating career challenges.
-
Assamaual Saidi Rabah (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - Constitutional Law & Civil Rights
Assamaual is a Dutch lawyer and academic who works as a junior lecturer and researcher at Leiden Law School in the Netherlands, specialising in Constitutional and Administrative Law. He holds an LLB and LLM from the University of Amsterdam and has also studied at Georgetown University Law Center, LSE, UCLA, and An-Najah National University. Assamaual worked for the Dutch Government’s Attorney and interned at the Raad van State, the Netherlands' supreme administrative court. He founded the first MSA at the University of Amsterdam and served as president of the Dutch National MSA. In 2021, he received the ECHO 'Law & Tax' award by the Ministry of Education. In 2023 was appointed as an inclusion advisor by Dutch Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf.
-
Khaled Oozer (London, UK) - Sustainable Energy and Strategy
An Aziz Foundation scholar, Khaled has an MSc in Sustainable Energy and has consulted at Baringa Partners and BP. In 2024 he joined PWC's Strategy& as an Associate specialising in Climate and ESG consultancy. Khaled has experience in entrepreneurial environments, winning the EU's Code4Green Hackathon and co-founding Future Focus, an organisation to level the playing for minorities in accessing education. He has appeared on podcasts and spoken at round tables on education access for minorities. Khalid aims to leverage his skillset to become a subject matter expert in the energy transition space and in his wider work strives to promote Islamic engagement in sustainability.
-
Mira Tarabeine (Los Angeles, USA) - International Relations and Social Justice
Mira graduated from Occidental College with a BA in Critical Theory & Social Justice and is attending Johns Hopkins University's International Relations Graduate programme as a Pickering Fellow with the US State Department. She has worked with non-profits, the wellness sector, and academic institutions to leverage her personal experience in presenting community members with new ways of thinking. Mira believes that international stability is a process towards equity, justice, and agency, rooted in inclusion. Her work focuses on opening imaginations to possibilities in a more liberated society.
-
Mo Light (New York, USA) - Law and Civil Rights
A litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Mo previously clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the D.C. A Harvard Law graduate, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and worked in the Harvard Law Voting Rights Clinic, achieving key electoral reforms during COVID-19. Before law school, Mo was an EMT, graduating summa cum laude from Rutgers University-Newark, where he was a commencement speaker, part of the Rutgers National Champion debate team, and managed operations for New Jersey's largest Muslim non-profit. He also serves as an Intelligence Officer in the United States Navy Reserve.
-
Mohammad Taher (London, UK) - Aerospace Engineering and Content Creation
Known as 'The Airport Guy', Mohammad is an aerospace engineering graduate turned content creator and educator. He has excelled in professional roles, overseeing the UK's largest and most complex aerodrome, while building an online community of over half a million people. Mohammad empowers individuals, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds, to explore careers in aviation and engineering while embracing their faith and identity. Recently announced as an Aviation Ambassador for the UK Department for Transport, he is an international speaker and has been named one of the top 50 most influential Muslims in Europe.
-
Nilofar Nori (Oslo, Norway) - Political Science and Anti-racism Advocacy
A Norwegian-Afghan politician studying political science and sociology at the University of Oslo, Nilofar has held various positions within the Socialist Left Party, including serving as a local politician and as a deputy member of parliament. She has been head of the anti-racist committee of the Socialist Youth Party and has held posts in voluntary organisations. Nilofar has served as deputy chairperson of Changemaker and as a member of the Youth Panel in the Directorate of Integration and Diversity. This autumn, she will be an observer at the UN's 79th General Assembly on behalf of the Norwegian Peace Council.
-
Neval Güllü (Berlin, Germany) - Religious Governance and Social Sciences
A PhD candidate and Research Associate at the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS) at the Freie Universität Berlin, Neval examines the governance of religion in liberal-secular nation-states through a critical secular lens. She studied Social Sciences at Humboldt University in Berlin, the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and King's College London. Neval's research explores the (non)recognition of religious minorities in liberal-secular contexts, theories of secularism and religion, and Islam in Europe. She is the founder and chairwoman of HUMA, the Muslim student association at Humboldt University, and a Fellow of the REACH Leadership Program of the Deutschlandstiftung Integration.
-
Osman Salahuddin (Seattle, USA) - Local Government and Healthcare Policy
A second-generation American, Osman is a Councilmember in the City of Redmond, serving as one of the youngest Muslim elected officials in the nation. He graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's in neuroscience and was elected Student Body President, representing over 45,000 students. Osman has brought his healthcare background to various roles, including at a medical device research consulting firm and at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He applies his experience in communication, community organising, healthcare policy, and social impact initiatives to serve residents across his community.
-
Ruşen Koç (The Hague, Netherlands) - Political Research and Community Engagement
A Kurdish-Dutch young leader from The Hague, Ruşen is the General Director of the Creative Muslim Club, which aims to claim the narrative on Islam and Muslims in the West. He is also a Researcher specialising in the political participation of migrants and their descendants. Ruşen is a writer of plays and political blogs, as well as a youth worker. His multifaceted approach to community engagement and political research reflects his commitment to enhancing understanding and representation of diverse communities in the Netherlands and beyond.
-
Dr Safia Khan (London, UK) - Medicine and Poetry
A junior doctor in the NHS, Safia's research spans neuroscience, medical humanities, and psychiatry. She has published in Nature Schizophrenia and presented at multiple international conferences. Safia has created BMA policy for improving care in underserved Muslim communities and produces and hosts the Muslim Researchers' Network podcast. An award-winning poet, she has been widely commissioned and has headlined poetry festivals. Safia delivers lectures in poetry for various universities and literary organisations across Europe. Her debut collection was published in 2022 with Smith | Doorstop, and won the New Poets Prize.
-
Sara Yassi (London, UK) - Communications and Creative Writing
Sara Yassi is a strategic consultant in diplomatic and foreign affairs in London. Previously she held positions in the media industry, with roles at Sony Music UK, Universal Pictures, and Marvel Studios. Sara graduated with a BA (Hons) in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Oxford in 2021. During her time at Oxford, she served on the Oxford Union's committee as Access Officer, improving accessibility for minorities, disabled, and low-income students. Sara is also a screenwriter and author. Her work focuses on themes of belonging, and loss, particularly examining the female African diasporic experience.
-
Sasa Aakil (Rockville, USA) - Multimedia Arts and Poetry
A Multimedia Artist, Writer, and the 2021 Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate, Sasa is a potter, painter, poet, printmaker, and bassist. She has been featured in Bethesda Magazine, the Washington Post, and on WTOP for her work on the A Man Was Lynched Yesterday Project in 2020. Sasa has won numerous awards in writing and performed poetry at the Kennedy What's Going On Festival in 2023. She is the founder of If All the Trees Were Pens Open Mic and recently published her first chapbook. Sasa received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Howard University in 2024.
-
Wassim Essebane (Brussels, Belgium) - Digital Marketing and Politics
Born and raised in Brussels with Moroccan roots, Wassim is a digital marketing freelancer and former tech startup co-founder. He recently ran for the Brussels Parliament, driven by a political ambition to bridge diverse communities and enhance trust in politics among Brussels' residents. Wassim is engaged in multiple entrepreneurial and non-profit initiatives focused on ethical finance, technology, social mobility, and digital marketing. Through these initiatives, he aims to promote financial responsibility, leverage technology for positive change, and create opportunities that foster social mobility, reflecting his commitment to a more inclusive and equitable society.
-
Zaakir Tameez (Houston, USA) - Law and Constitutional Scholarship
Zaakir Tameez is the author of Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation, a landmark new biography of America’s premier abolitionist and civil rights leader of the nineteenth century. An emerging scholar of constitutional law, Zaakir is a graduate of Yale Law School, the University of Virginia, and Queen Mary University of London, where he studied on a Fulbright Scholarship. His work has appeared in the Rutgers Business Law Review, the Indiana Health Law Review, the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, and the Houston Chronicle. He will be clerking for a federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia.
-
Zaynab Mohamed (Minneapolis, USA) - State Politics and Community Organising
Elected to represent South Minneapolis in the State Senate at the age of 25, Zaynab is the youngest woman and first Muslim woman to serve in Minnesota's upper chamber. As Vice Chair of the Jobs and Economic Development committee, she secured $36 million in grants and loans to rebuild South Minneapolis small businesses damaged during civil unrest. Zaynab led the creation of the Office of New Americans, the "Driver's License for All" initiative, and established the Bring it Home rental assistance programme. An organiser at heart, she uses her community's stories to create policies that improve their lives.
Want to learn more?
Applications for the third cohort of the Young Concordia Leaders (YCL) Fellowship program will open in the Summer of 2025.
Browse our website or contact info@theconcordiaforum.com to learn more.