Our Team
Mohamed Shaheen
Board Chair and Artistic Director
Mohamed Shaheen | Board Chair and Artistic Director
Dr. Mohamed Shaheen completed his Bachelor’s degree at Dalhousie University, Halifax, before moving to Montreal to complete his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering at McGill University. His doctoral research focused on low-power electronics for mobile and biomedical devices.
Mohamed has extensive experience in the innovation sector, having been involved in several technology startups, and is currently an Innovation Consultant advising the public and the non-profit sectors. In 2013, he founded the Silk Road Institute, an organization dedicated to creating captivating and professional artistic and cultural programming that strengthens Muslim representation, visibility, and contributions within the Canadian cultural mosaic. In 2018 the organization launched Canada’s and North America’s first professional Muslim theatre company. He now serves as the organization’s Chair of the Board of Directors.
Mohamed is a Fellow of the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. His writings have appeared in the Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette, and he has been featured on CBC Radio One. He is also an avid photographer.
Mariam Zaidi
Programs and Development Manager
Mariam Zaidi | Programs and Development Manager
Nawal Salim
Communications Lead
Nawal Salim | Communications Lead
Visit: NawalSalim.com
Our Board
Mohamed Shaheen
Board Chair and Artistic Director
Mohamed Shaheen | Board Chair and Artistic Director
Dr. Mohamed Shaheen completed his Bachelor’s degree at Dalhousie University, Halifax, before moving to Montreal to complete his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering at McGill University. His doctoral research focused on low-power electronics for mobile and biomedical devices.
Mohamed has extensive experience in the innovation sector, having been involved in several technology startups, and is currently an Innovation Consultant advising the public and the non-profit sectors. In 2013, he founded the Silk Road Institute, an organization dedicated to creating captivating and professional artistic and cultural programming that strengthens Muslim representation, visibility, and contributions within the Canadian cultural mosaic. In 2018 the organization launched Canada’s and North America’s first professional Muslim theatre company. He now serves as the organization’s Chair of the Board of Directors.
Mohamed is a Fellow of the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. His writings have appeared in the Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette, and he has been featured on CBC Radio One. He is also an avid photographer.
Haniya Sheikh
Board Vice-Chair
Haniya Sheikh | Board Vice-Chair
Haniya is a litigation lawyer at the Department of Justice with over 17 years of practice in multidisciplinary areas of the law, including dealing with high profile matters involving judicial reviews, civil and Charter issues. She is currently the Ward 12 Representative for the Parent Involvement Advisory Committee to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).
Amira Elghawaby
Board Member
Amira Elghawaby | Board Member
Amira Elghawaby is an award-winning journalist and human rights advocate. Along with frequent appearances on Canadian and international news networks, Amira has written and produced stories and commentary for CBC Radio, the Ottawa Citizen, the Toronto Star, the Literary Review of Canada, and the Globe and Mail.
Amira spent five years promoting the civil liberties of Canadian Muslims as human rights officer and later, as director of communications, at the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) between 2012 to the fall of 2017. Amira obtained an honours degree in Journalism and Law from Carleton University in 2001.
Bochra Manaī
Board Member
Bochra Manaī | Board Member
Bochra Manaï has a PHD in Urban Studies from the INRS-UCS. She studied the spatializing of the Maghrebi community in Montreal and the public perception of this ethnicity in Montreal’s urban space. Her interests or research include ethnicity, immigration and cohabitation in the city space. After her doctoral studies, Bochra hopes to research the question of radicalization in Quebec, France and Tunisia to better understand how this process is constructed, especially in the media.
Shiva Mazrouei
Board Member
Shiva Mazrouei | Board Member
Shiva’s academic background is in political science, Middle East studies, and development studies. She is very passionate about human rights, particularly issues facing women, and understanding and elimination of barriers, including poverty, racism and violence. Her particular research interests have included the effects of conflict on women, as well as gender representations in educational material. Given her Iranian background, a love of poetry and the arts runs in Shiva’s blood. She also enjoys travelling and learning about different corners of the world, especially through books, food, and her continuous search for the next perfect cup of coffee.
Nazia Sharfuddin
Board Member
Nazia Sharfuddin | Board Member
Dr. Nazia Sharfuddin is the Chief Resident of General Internal Medicine at the University of Alberta who is a strong champion in health equity and advocacy. She is also completing Harvard Medical School’s Safety, Quality, Informatics and Leadership certification program. Nazia is on the Executive Board of Directors of the Professional Association of Residents Physicians of Alberta where she chairs multiple provincial committees, notably as the Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the Inclusivity & Anti-Racism Working Group. Nazia works on anti-racism research and institutional change management at the University of Alberta. Nazia will be moving to her hometown of Toronto in summer 2021 where she will be working as a General Internist at Trillium Health Partners and Sunnybrook Hospital.
Nazia is the co-founder of Salaam B’y, a social enterprise focused on championing inclusion through storytelling and education based on the award-winning documentary film she co-produced, Salaam B’y – A Story of a Muslim Newfoundlander. Keen on community building, she is also on the Board of Directors of Edmonton’s Islamic Family Social Services Agency.