Born and raised in Casablanca. I am currently living in the U.S since 2000. Second child of a family of three girls, I grew up loving life. I was the tomboy of the family, my father considered me as his son, instead of his daughter, which will prove to be very helpful in my life. I was never into girly matters and loved reading to the limit of getting a spanking or being grounded. Later in life I vowed a sincere passion to Russian literature. My parents enrolled us in many activities such as classical ballet dancing for 4 years, music for 5 years, tennis and gymnastic that I love up to this day. I was named after the greatest female gymnast in the world, so naturally I looked up to her. Still, swimming remains the one where I excelled, which allowed me to represent my country in the African championships. But education was a priority, and that’s why my parents had us   attend French elementary schools to have a solid base in French. The rest of my education was all conventional public school. It was a big change but adjusting was not hard, since my sister and I were always in the same class despite some teacher’s attempts to separate us.

Even though my father was making a good living as a Senior Electrical Engineer for the “ Office National d’Electricite”, he always taught us to live modestly. He never bought us new pair of shoes or clothes, and we never enjoyed the freshness of brand new school books and manuals…everything is recyclable and reusable (as goes the physics rule), so we would go to the many “joutiyat” in Casablanca do our school year’s shopping. On the other hand, my mother was all against that. No “jot”--referring to the flea market--…only new and trendy…anything to see a smile on our faces. But they both loved us their own ways. My mother was an active executive assistant for international companies, which allowed us to have an insight into foreign labor practices. I attended the “Institut Superieur International de Toursime” in Tangier, where I earned my BA with honors. The hotels we stayed in during our summer’s vacation have always fascinated me. So I knew that I could easily enjoy working in such an environment. After graduation, I went to La Sorbonne I in Paris  to start my DESS in international hospitality, but unfortunately family matters had me come to the U.S for an emergency. Instead of couple of weeks, my stay became permanent. I missed the university’s deadline to enroll and decided to take it as a sign of Allah. Maybe the U.S is where I belong, instead of Australia, where I wanted to go live. I attended a language school that in the first two weeks informed me of my “advanced” English level, and that I was just wasting my time and money. In the meantime, I worked for the Marriott Corporation. From there I moved to couple of different hotel chains that obviously showed no regard to my credentials or experience.  I could not just quit and wait for the perfect job opportunity to show up : at that time, I was in charge  of my mother and sisters , which  only made me stronger facing any challenges I might encounter.

By the grace of God, I was then hired to working as the Office administrator for a U.S based Moroccan tour operator. I helped launch the North American advertisement campaign for the World Sacred Music Festival for summer 2002. It was almost a suicide, since the 9/11 attacks were so recent….but it did not deter me; it was quite the opposite.

Unfortunately,  I realized that Terror was not going to be a 3-month headline-maker, but a real parallel issue to any Muslim in the world. After working for the Wachovia Corporation for over a year, I knew that financial markets are the future but it is not my cup of tea. Currently, I work as a Media Analyst and Strategist for a Consulting Firm in Washington DC. Right before that, I was hired as an Arabic Linguist / interpreter for the U.S Army, as well as doing Urban Warfare training for the troops being deployed to Iraq. But mostly I found it rewarding being a Cultural and Religious Advisor to them. Most of them never talked to Muslim women wearing the veil, and even their superiors were sure to be stoned if they did so.  Teaching them basics of Islam and regional cultures proved to impact positively their preconceived ideas about Arabs and Muslims. They found out that suicide bombers are not a mandatory duty imposed by God and there was no indication in the Holy Quran to kill U.S and Israelis for an after-life bonus. I do what I do in order to help restore peace in the Muslim world, prove that we are not all blood-thirsty and that we can use our background and knowledge for noble causes: reduce poverty and casualties in both American and Muslims fronts, advance democracy and ensure basic rights to all, support women’s advancement and education, provide a better life to people regardless of any decision or calculation parameter. That’s why on my spare time –which became in term of minutes after my son’s birth--I dedicate my resources to translation work for NetAid/United Nations Development Program to ensure free educational resources and reference materials to students around the world. Help charitable and rights organizations spread awareness and knowledge in impoverished countries, as well as help Muslim orphans around the globe get the education and decent life they deserve.