Her current role and that at ADC illustrate Laila’s passions: humanitarian concern for the people of Palestine and the fight for social justice. Prior to joining UNRWA USA as its Communications Officer in 2013, she managed the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)’s communications and outreach efforts. Today, Laila brings more than a decade of experience in public relations, creating and managing nonprofit communications, and raising funds for a variety of progressive organizations. Laila went on to earn a BA in Global Affairs (concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa) and a minor in Music (piano) at George Mason University. Her family’s activism gene inspired Laila’s involvement in community organizing throughout her younger years and her desire to study the Middle East at the university. Besides breaking her knee often, trying to sew, and being a mom to twins, Mara is eager to bust media-created myths about the Middle East region and particularly about its young people.īorn and raised in the suburbs of Washington DC to a family active in civil and human rights, some of Laila’s earliest memories involve carrying signs at demonstrations demanding social justice. Also about how she is eager, if not yet fully equipped, to sew her own throw pillow covers. Mara holds a Masters Degree in Near Eastern Studies from New York University and a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology from Stanford University.Īsk Mara about: being likely the only person on earth to have torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) both on the Nile Hilton Dance floor (1997) and while climbing the Baalbek ruins (2002). State Department-funded teacher training project and UNRWA’s English Language Club for Palestinian vocational students. Fulbright grantee to Syria herself between 20 and while in Syria, managed a U.S. At AMIDEAST, Mara managed corporate, foundation, and individual fundraising efforts and managed the Fulbright scholarship program for students from the MENA region. She earlier held positions at AMIDEAST and the American University in Cairo. Mara previously served as Regional Director of MENA and Eurasia programs at the International Youth Foundation (IYF) where she worked for over a decade. Mara has extensive leadership experience in youth development with a strong focus on program design and development, organizational capacity strengthening, and multi-sectoral partnership cultivation and collaboration. Having focused most of her career on international development, Mara has over 15 years of experience designing, implementing, and leading youth development programming in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In this role, Mara leads a team of 8 in the United States to educate the American public about the plight of Palestine refugees and raise funds for UNRWA’s critical programs in the Middle East. Mara joined UNRWA USA in February 2020 as its new Executive Director.
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