She is an award-winning author of five novels and a journalist who was based in the Middle East, Africa and Russia. She founded two nonprofits, the Afghan Women’s Writing Project and the Camel Book Drive. Previously, she was Vice President of Communications for Concern Worldwide and Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul Afghanistan. She has been awarded literary fellowships at Yaddo, MacDowell, Dora Maar Brown Foundation Fellows Program, and others.
Authored Content
Mar 13 2025 Grantee Impact Story Helping Communities Thrive with Resilient Food Systems The Amana Project is creating a transformative financial system to support smallholder farmers provide more nutritious food to schools while restoring soil health and safeguarding biodiversity.
Mar 13 2025 Grantee Impact Story AI Meets Motherhood to Bridge the Information Gap in Africa Three million women in Kenya have turned to an AI-enabled text messaging service in Swahili that empowers them to access essential care from pregnancy to postpartum.
Mar 05 2025 Grantee Impact Story A Nonprofit Creates Disaster-Ready Shelters with Solar Power Reducing municipal costs, easing the burden on emergency services, and providing the community with the power to endure and recover.
Feb 19 2025 Grantee Impact Story How an Incubator Is Turning American Ingenuity Into Impact The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator is creating jobs and supporting U.S. ingenuity by providing pilot funding, mentorship, market access, and more to entrepreneurs using innovation to help communities.
Feb 03 2025 Grantee Impact Story A Big Bets Fellow Turns a Seaweed Challenge into a Resource Opportunity A Big Bets fellow helps lead efforts in the Dominican Republic to harvest harmful seaweed through a collaboration with fishing communities, and pass it on to industries that use it.