Fellows In Action
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President
Yuri started La Kaza Muestra in February of 2015. His professional background is quite diverse including jobs in both Industry where he worked for Veuve Clicquot Champagne in Miami and Zenith Watches in Switzerland as well as in the non-profit sector where he worked as CEO of the European Paralympic Committee. Amongst other functions, Yuri is Ambassador-at-large of the European Jewish Parliament for Sephardic Affairs.
La Kaza Muestra is the first Spanish institution dedicated to the return of Sephardic Culture and Language to Spain. Their focus is to facilitate projects between Spain and the Sephardic Diaspora. Projects include the Sephardic Museum of Malaga and The Spanish Nationality restitution for descendants of Spanish Jews expelled during the inquisition. La Kaza Muestra seeks to promote understanding and cooperation between the three Cultures and propose a model of cohabitation that can endure through time within the Spanish realmWebsite
Global Program Officer
Shaun Goldstone's cosmopolitan start at JDC has provided him with a unique and comprehensive awareness of the inner workings of the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian aid organization. Following two years of rigorous volunteer service with JDC, Shaun joined the organization professionally in 2013. Shaun first learned about the rewards and complexities of international Jewish involvement when he served as a Jewish Service Corps Fellow in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2011-2012. In this capacity, Shaun worked directly with Dr. Rick Hodes, JDC's Ethiopia Medical Director and recognized CNN hero, to further Dr. Hodes' mission of delivering life-saving medical care in Ethiopia. As the 2012-2013 Ralph I. Goldman Fellow in International Service, Shaun's involvement in JDC's global work intensified. Through the prestigious fellowship, Shaun gained a personal understanding of the intricate global Jewish issues faced by JDC. Throughout the fellowship, Shaun resided in New York, St. Petersburg, Shanghai, and Tallinn, and traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia to learn about JDC’s work around the globe. Currently based in JDC's global headquarters in New York, Shaun is responsible for raising the profile of JDC's humanitarian aid and Jewish renewal programming in the United States, as well as fostering collaborations between JDC and its partner organizations in the US. Shaun, who has lived in Sydney, San Diego and Ra'anana, received a BSc from the University of California in Santa Barbara with a degree in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.
Perfumer member of the "Société Française des Parfumeurs" since 1997, Entrepreneur graduated of the Program for Young Entrepreneurs at the Solvay Business School in 1998 and Fellow of the Young Entrepreneurs Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation in 2000, Olivier Kummer shares his time between 2 activities : the creation and the commercialization of a home fragrance collection called "les tableaux olfactifs" and the presentation of olfactory workshops in primary schools, high schools, museums, blind persons associations and universities.
AROMART s.p.r.l. The origin of the 3 monotheist religions is the Middle-East and is also the place where the history of perfumery began. In fact, we can find a lot of occurrences about use of aromatic plants as well in the Torah, the Bible and the Coran. This mentions are not there by chance and demonstrate that the origins of perfumery are sacred. One of my everyday's challenge is to make feel closer Jews, Christians and Muslims with their commun heritage and their love of fragrances through olfactory workshops.
Co-founder
Born in Saudi Arabia to parents of Afghan and Pakistani descent, Mohammad was raised in the United States. Mohammad has volunteered with marginalized communities in Tanzania, Morocco, Uganda, Senegal and Jordan and he plans to pursue a career in public policy and sustainable development. Mohammad has worked with the U.S. State Department and with the World Bank and he hopes to inspire other young American Muslims to also pursue public service careers through American Muslims for American Leadership (AMAL). AMAL seeks to empower American Muslims to pursue careers in public service through an online platform, scholarships, and career counseling. Mohammad hopes that AMAL will empower American Muslims to become the future leaders of the United States."
American Muslims for American Leadership (AMAL)
Maruf is a serial entrepreneur and 10+ years of experience in Design, User Experience and IT.
www.ummaland.com www.halal.ad
I am an economist and conflict and reconstruction specialist with a passion for the concept of common good and its role in seeking alternatives to current economic concept and policy making patterns. I am a yoga teacher who learnt from her own healing experience the meaning of empathy and that by learning yoga at first without a yoga teacher started to question whether yoga should be an elitist practice or a shared one in today’s world. Through HEALS over HEAD I channel this ancient practice into a modern world giving new value to the concept of common good within the framework of human resilience – mainly looking at the relationship between individual wellbeing and social justice. I am also the Head of the UNV Programme in Bangladesh: a program that advocates for volunteerism and social cohesion as common good creating social justice starting from individual choices. I believe that we can translate inspiration into action without waiting for financial resources: when we start acting on and committing to a vision resources will follow.
YOGA FUSION - HEALS over HEAD supports individuals in contexts of war, natural disaster and structural violence to shape their future - and the future of their societies - in the way they desire by addressing trauma through self-healing, and mainstreaming yoga therapy as psychosocial support tool in a financially sustainable way. The project is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) Networkthat embodies a proactive approach to social justice, practicing very simple sequences of yoga therapy as common good to defeat trauma and strengthen individual and social wellbeing. Be curious for more, visit: www.yogafusionkarma.com & www.healsoverhead.com
I studied political science in SciencesPo Bordeaux and Spain and completed a MA in International Politics. I worked for 2 years as a consultant at the UN in New York, focusing on youth political participation and partnerships between the private sector and the youth worldwide. Eager to learn more about the corporate world, I then went to work for Saint-Gobain in Madrid, Spain, as a communication and marketing project leader. I have been developing VOXE full time since May 2014. On the side, I am an active gangster at MakeSense and I volunteer for Un Techo Para Mi Pais.
VOXE is a civic startup aiming at making politics easier to understand for all in order to break down the barriers to civic engagement. It all started with a group of young civic innovators who decided in 2012, just before the French Elections, that it was about time that we use the digital tools in our hands to challenge the way we participate in democracies. The first version of voxe.org was born, as a comparison platform for candidates’ concrete propositions for the elections. After a successful launch, VOXE was developed thanks to its open source and crowdsourced approach in 12 countries worldwide. We are now working on a new project that aims at changing the way people are informed about political news and enabling an easier, smarter and faster path to engagement. We are present thanks to our volunteers in France, the UK, the USA, Mexico, Romania, Canada, Turkey, Indonesia, Germany, Russia and Brazil. We believe that we are at the edge of a global switch in the way democracy works. We are aiming at being an active actor of this transition. By bringing a clearer, more accessible, crowdsourced and participation-oriented information to citizens worldwide, we believe that we can contribute to facilitate the emergence of tomorrow’s active citizen.
CEO and founder
Laila Alawa is the CEO and founder of Coming of Faith, a leading media company where the world goes to hear the voices and stories of underrepresented women. With more than half a million monthly visitors, the site covers everything from life to humor, entertainment to news. She is also the host for The Expose, a weekly Coming of Faith podcast tackling tough topics with snark and wit. Her work has been mentioned in The Guardian, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, Mashable, Color Lines, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. She has also appeared on Al-Jazeera America, BBC World News, NPR, and Huffington Post Live. In 2015, she was named an Ariane de Rothschild Fellow. Prior to founding Coming of Faith, Laila was a research specialist at Princeton University, studying socio-cognitive processing under the framework of community identity and belonging. During her time in college, she spent time dissecting stereotype threat for women in the sciences, consumer behaviorism and minority stereotyping and judgement. In 2014, Laila was selected as a social media leader to attend the U.S. Department of State's International Women of Courage Award Ceremony. Michelle Obama told her that her move to DC was a smart one. Laila has a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College.
Coming of Faith. http://www.comingoffaith.com/
Jessie Mooberry is the vice director of Uplift Aeronautics, a UAV company building drones to deliver humanitarian aid. She is a serial entrepreneur and became involved in her first startup at Pitt while studying Finance and Chinese. She won Pitt’s Randall Family Big Idea Competition twice: first with The CON Project, which used crowdsourcing to fight corruption in India and second with Orro, which resold recycled electronics to raise money for local causes. Jessie serves on the board of Uplift Aeronautics, Inc and People’s Light and Theater Company. She is a 2015 Ariane de Rothschild Social Entrepreneurship Fellow and is working towards her Private Pilot’s license. Jessie currently lives in Istanbul.
Uplift Aeronautics, Inc and People’s Light and Theater Company.
Rabbi
Jeff Berger is able to bridge the divide between Business & Spirituality, between the West & Asia, and between Ashkenaz & Sephard. Having lived on three continents in three of the world’s most dynamic cities (New York, Tokyo & London) he now leads the Rambam Sephardi Synagogue project. Before moving to New York City, Jeff (57) started life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, curious about the ancient wisdom of Judaism. During university, he developed a passion for Japan, living there for 6 years between 1987 and 1999, when he acquired proficiency in Japanese, became versatile in its culture and married Michie. In 2000 the couple left New York and relocated to the UK where Jeff was European Manager for a Japanese consumer electronics firm. In 2006, leaving industry, he enrolled in the Judith Lady Montefiore College seminary course. In Asia Rabbi Jeff became interested in Inter-faith Dialogue. He was on the 2013 Cambridge Co-Exist Leadership Programme, the 2015 Arianne de Rothschild Fellowship and in 2016 he’ll be a KAICIID International Fellow. Previous fellowships include; US Department of Education, Japan Iron & Steel and Nippon Glass. His great passion today is working with people of diverse backgrounds to create and promote goodness. Rabbi Jeff appears on BMTV’s Ask the Alim, on BBC Radio2’s Pause for Thought, and is published in local newspapers. He speaks publicly at Limmud Conference, to adult-education groups, at secondary and primary schools throughout the year. Read more about Rambam Sephardi at http://www.rambam.org.uk/. You can support this work by donating online.
Ordained in 2009, Rabbi Jeff has been involved in creating a warm, non-judgmental and welcoming Orthodox Jewish community in Elstree & Borehamwood. Rambam Sephardi Synagogue aims to provide religious services and pastoral care for Jews living in the Hertfordshire area, and to create a model spiritual community that is an example of religious tolerance, intelligence and inclusion. For their young families, a key mission is to provide a nurturing atmosphere, ensuring children grow up with a healthy understanding of their religion, as well as a respect for those from different backgrounds. Read more about Rambam Sephardi at http://www.rambam.org.uk/.
Artistic Director and Founder
Born in Israel, Guy is the Producing Artistic Director and Founder of Israeli Stage (www.IsraeliStage.com), an initiative dedicated to sharing the diversity and vitality of Israeli culture and building cultural bridges through theatre and dialogue. After the success of Israeli Stage (Founded: November, 2010), Guy was asked by the Goethe-Institut Boston to develop German Stage (Founded: October, 2012), by swissnexBoston to develop Swiss Stage (Founded: September, 2013) and by the Austrian Cultural Forum to develop Austrian Stage (Founded: November, 2014). His dedication to bring theatre to younger audiences has resulted in tours up and down the East Coast from Toronto to Atlanta at various cultural and academic institutions. A proud Emerson College alum, Guy is the Waldman Award recipient for an exceptional promise for a career in theater and was chosen by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies as one of the top 18 influential leaders in Boston under 45. Guy is a member of the ROI Global Entrepreneurs Community (Schusterman Family Foundation in Jerusalem, Israel) and a former Theatertreffen International Forum Fellow (Berlin, Germany). His work has garnered him profiles in The Boston Globe, The Improper Bostonian, The International Herald Tribune Ha’aretz, The Washington Post, NPR, WBUR, WGBH, Yediot and numerous other press outlets.
Israeli Stage (www.IsraeliStage.com), an initiative dedicated to sharing the diversity and vitality of Israeli culture and building cultural bridges through theatre and dialogue.
Communications Architect
Barnabe Geis is the Communications Architect at the Centre for Social Innovation, a coworking space, community and launchpad for people who are changing the world with four locations in Toronto and one in NYC. He holds a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Political Science. He’s worked as a researcher, policy analyst, and in investor relations. He’s a social entrepreneur having started and ran a tourism company in a hot spot of the Middle East; a 2015 Ariane de Rothschild Fellow; a 2015 Impact Film Lab Emerging Filmmaker; and an avid traveller. He’s the producer, writer and co-host of a documentary series called UPLIFT, taking people to the frontlines of social and environmental challenges to meet the entrepreneurs and innovators working on solutions. The television series is currently in development.
Centre for Social Innovation, a coworking space, community and launchpad for people who are changing the world with four locations in Toronto and one in NYC.
Founder of Faraasha Middle East Training & Advisory
Annemarie van Geel is the founder of Faraasha Middle East Training & Advisory, which gives workshops & strategic advice on Middle East affairs specialising in the fields of gender & the position of women, the Gulf region, and peace & security. Annemarie is working towards her PhD on gender segregation in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait at RadboudUniversity Nijmegen. Through Faraasha she’s a regular speaker, moderator and trainer at academic and practitioners’ conferences and a trainer and advisor at NGO and government level. Annemarie has lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, travelled the region extensively, and speaks Arabic. Previously, she worked for Clingendael (the Netherlands Institute of International Relations), Amnesty International, and the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM). Annemarie holds a BA from University College Utrecht and an MPhil from Cambridge University, and expects to complete her PhD in 2016.
www.faraasha.nl www.facebook.com/faraasha
Co-Founder & COO
Amany is the Co-Founder & COO at LaunchGood.com: A crowdfunding platform to support Muslims launching good all over the world by helping them raise funds for their projects, campaigns, and creative ideas. Previously, Amany was a graduate of the School of Social work at Wayne State University, and founding member of the Detroit Minds and Hearts Fellowship (a program of MAS Youth Detroit), a social incubator where she works with Muslim youth to help them develop and launch their own community initiatives for social justice. She has previously worked with multiple organizations in various capacities. Including the project manager and lead coordinator for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding's Improving Marriage Outcomes Study, Administrative Director of the American Learning Institute for Muslims, Data Fellow with the The Children's Center of Michigan, and Youth coordinator at the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion. When she’s not playing a game of pick up basketball, Amany is quantifying her self development efforts or spending time with her younger sisters. As a youth organizer and macro social worker, she loves the big picture and brings an interesting mix of experience to her work and community.
LaunchGood.com: A crowdfunding platform to support Muslims launching good all over the world by helping them raise funds for their projects, campaigns, and creative ideas.
Rabbi
Alexander Goldberg is an international consultant on intercultural, interfaith and community relations advisor to a large global humanitarian organization and a number of international projects. He served as the Chief Executive of the London Jewish Forum and was called to the Bar in 2001. He is Consultant Heritage Chief at the United Synagogue and Jewish Chaplain to the University of Surrey. Alex serves as the chair of the Football Association’s Faith and Football Group and was a Chaplain to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. He was founding co-chair of the Faith Forum for London and advised the London Olympic's on faith matters. He has an interest in community relations and human rights issues. He addressed the inaugural session of the UN Human Rights Commission in 2006 as chair of the CCJO - René Cassin. The UK Prime Minister involved him in his football and racism summit. He is working with US State Department to develop a new community relations programme. He is a national advisor to the Three Faiths Forum and the Center for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism. He served on two Ministerial steering groups at the Department for Education and an advisor to the the Department of Communities and Local Government’s Together in Service programme. He has raised millions for charity. In the last few years he has become a regular contributor to television, radio, online and print media and recently recorded the BBC’s Rabbi School Diaries.
United Synagogue and Jewish Chaplain to the University of Surrey.