Shamim Jawad

Shamim Jawad has a rich background working in the private and public sectors. She has over 18 years of experience as a seasoned financial consultant, an accomplished fundraiser and a diligent human rights activist. She started her career with TIAA-CREF in New York City and eventually moved to the San Francisco office where she worked her way up as a Financial Consultant serving prominent academic institutions and high net value individuals.  She has proven ability to sale and delivers products and services, formulate marketing strategies, and build and maintain networks of loyal clients.  She moved to Washington, DC in October of 2003 to support her husband as the newly appointed Ambassador to the United States.  During her 7 years of diplomatic exposure and extensive experience, she established a very high profile in the social circles of Washington and built a solid network of influential local and international friends.

She is the Founder and President of Ayenda Foundation, a small non-profit that provide educational programs for children in Afghanistan. She is a diligent advocate for access to quality education for children and economic empowerment for women. Shamim’s national and international board membership and affiliations include prestigious women’s organizations in Washington, DC such as International Women’s Forum (IWF), The Council on Women’s Leadership at the Meridian International Center, International Neighbor’s Club, Capital Speaker’s Club; as well as the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, established by the President and Mrs. Bush. More globally, she serves on the Board of Trustees of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF).

Shamim studied at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Human Relations and completed fellowship programs at the Harvard University, as the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation Fellow, as well as the University of Cambridge, England. In her spare time Shamim enjoys spinning, running and practicing yoga.

Deborah Ziska

Deborah Ziska has more than 40 years of experience in communications, media relations, marketing, public relations, advertising, public affairs, and social media in the profit and nonprofit sectors on local, national, and global levels.

After working as a publicist at the National Gallery of Art for seven years, she became the chief of press and public information in 1996. During that time she launched year-round advertising  campaigns and successful online web and social media initiatives, managed communications crises and acted as the Gallery spokesperson, oversaw promotional campaigns for some 400 exhibitions, and developed external relationships resulting in institutionally beneficial promotional collaborations. Her work has garnered awards and recognition from entities including the Public Relations Society of America, Advertising Age, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and Phillips Business Information, Inc.

Before the Gallery, Ziska was an independent communications consultant; director of the Washington office of the Los Angeles-based End Hunger Network; director of media communications for the Overseas Education Fund; associate and manager of media relations for Porter, Novelli and Associates; publicity manager for the National Commission on Working Women; and publicity manager for WDVM-TV (now WUSA-TV), a CBS affiliate. She served on local and regional levels for the American Red Cross, during which time she was assigned to work on location during three natural disasters around the United States. Before that she worked in public information for the Prince George’s County School System in Maryland.

Ziska recently completed a contract with the Smithsonian’s Freer|Sackler Galleries where she managed media relations for two major exhibitions: “Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan,” and “The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.” She teaches “Expanding Roles of Museum Marketing and Communications” for the online Museum Studies graduate program of Johns Hopkins University. She sits on the boards of the US Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and ICOM’s Marketing and Public Relations Committee. She also sits on the advisory committee for the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States and serves on the boards of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC, and Saplings, a grassroots nonprofit organization working in the rural coffee community of Potenciana, Costa Rica.

Ziska has traveled extensively throughout the world, leading press trips for international exhibitions, presenting museum and communications training seminars and workshops, participating in museum and women in business delegations, researching and documenting women in development programs and world hunger situations, studying Spanish, and producing documentaries.

Tabasum Lutfi

Tabasum Lutfi has more than 15 years of experience in media communications and marketing. She came to the United States with her family as a young child yet can speak, read and write her native language of Dari fluently. Today, she is the Chief Operating Officer at TriVision, Inc., overseeing all client relations and company operations.

From an early age, Tabasum has been actively involved in various projects related to Afghanistan, its people and culture. One such project is the Afghan Children’s Songbook. Since 2003, Tabasum has worked closely with its author, Dr. Louise Pascale, in developing this songbook kit and literacy initiative with the mission to revitalize the children’s music of Afghanistan which was almost completely eradicated by the war.  Today more than 50,000 copies of the songbook and 7,500 teacher’s guides have been distributed across schools in Afghanistan. Furthermore, Tabasum is managing the nationwide strategic media messaging campaign for Afghan Women Rights, a grant from the U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, with the mission to improve and promote the rights and contributions of women in Afghan society. In a similar project from the State Department, Tabasum has helped lead her team with research and development of educational curriculum specifically tailored to enable Afghan women politicians and activists effectively connect to their constituents.

Furthering her goals of bringing change and progress to Afghanistan and its oppressed women and children, Tabasum has been active in several volunteer and charitable causes. In 2009, she helped form the Homaira Rahman Foundation (HRF), a US-based, 501 c3 non-profit organization with the mission to help the orphan and impoverished children of Afghanistan. Through fundraisers and continuous support from donors, in 2009 the Homaira Rahman School in Kabul was established. Today, close to 100 students, grades 1-6, are enrolled in the school. Tabasum currently serves on HRF’s Executive Advisory Board, as well as is its Marketing Coordinator.

Fast forward to 2016, Tabasum and her team launched Tuti TV, Afghanistan’s first livestream TV channel with the mission to promote and keep alive the indigenous music of Afghanistan and its regional countries which is a major part of their culture but also will fulfill the region’s need for creativity, expression and positive change. One of the shows Tabasum created is called “Women in Music”, centered on women’s role and influence in music across many generations and cultures.

In addition to her work for Afghanistan, Tabasum is active in Washington, DC area’s many associations and chambers. She currently serves on the Marketing Communication Advisory Council of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, is a Leader’s Edge Washington Member of SmartCEO Media, as well as is on the Dulles Executive Women board for the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce. Tabasum graduated from George Mason University with a BS in Marketing and a BS in Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems, with a minor in Information Technology.

Louise Pascale

Dr. Louise Pascale, Professor in the Creative Arts in Learning Division at Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has worked nationally and internationally for over 25 years in the field of arts and education.  She has focused her research on investigating the ways in which singing and music making impact cultural reference, community building and education.  She’s committed to providing opportunities for children and teachers to experience the joy of music, opening up possibility for everyone to sing, make music and build strong learning communities.

Motivated by a long-held passion and concern for preserving traditional music, Dr. Pascale has spent the last ten years as founder and director of the Afghan Children’s Songbook & Literacy Project.  The Project began in 2006 when Louise, working alongside a team of Afghans, published the songbook, Qu Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar: Children’s Songs from Afghanistan, which was based on a songbook she created while in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan from 1966-68.   In 2002, Louise became aware of the severe music censorship that was imposed on the people of Afghanistan.  Due to over twenty years of war and oppression in Afghanistan, these children’s songs were almost completely eradicated from Afghan culture.

Currently there are 50,000 copies of two songbooks – Qu Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar and Awasana See Sana both of which have accompanying Teacher’s Guides. They’ve been distributed to elementary schools, orphanages and family centers across Afghanistan and embraced not only as a music text but a support for basic literacy.

The Afghan Songbook Project has been recognized nationally and internationally as an important contribution to building literacy as well as preserving culture in Afghanistan.  Louise was recently recognized for her work by the Canadian Women for Afghan Women (CW4WAfghan) and was honored with the prestigious Champion of Education for Afghan Women and Children Award.  More information about the songbook can be found on the Louise’s TEDx talk – Returning Music to the Children of Afghanistan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1UWvPJ5WcU and on the BBC World Outlook Interview: Giving Afghan Children Their Songs Back: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040p10w

Nilofar Sakhi

Nilofar Sakhi has been Afghanistan analyst, researching and managing a wide range of development and governance programs including human security, women rights, democracy, civil society, higher education and private sector development.

Sakhi has years of experience working with American University of Afghanistan as an executive director where she designed and managed strategies and programs for women inclusion in private sector. Prior in her move to private sector she worked with Soros Foundation- Afghanistan office as a country director where she developed strategies and budget, and supervised the entire programmatic activities of the organization. In this capacity she worked with civil society organizations to develop their skills on issues relevant to good governance (civil society role on EITI), media freedom, women rights and civic participation.

Nilofar Sakhi is a founder of first women civil society organization (WASSA) in the western region of Afghanistan. She is also the founder of first women radio station in Herat, Afghanistan.

Sakhi is a Fulbright scholar. She also remained as visiting fellow at National Endowment for Democracy and Columbia University.

Nilofar Sakhi is a PHD candidate at George Mason University. She is graduated from SIAS of Johns Hopkins University as a Master of International Public Policy. She also has a second graduate degree from Eastern Mennonite university on Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding.

She has been a speaker in variety of international summits and conferences and a regular commentator in the local and international media.

Arsalan Lutfi

Arsalan Lutfi was born in the capital city of Kabul, Afghanistan. At the age of 13, right at the cusp of the Afghan Civil War, Arsalan and his family left their native country to continue their education and start a new life in the United States. From a very young age, it was evident that Arsalan was a born artist. He and his siblings used their passion for the arts and creatives to start a business called TriVision. Today, TriVision is an award-winning creative marketing and media communications company with locations in downtown Washington, DC, Northern VA, Baltimore, Miami and Kabul. As the Creative Director and Executive Vice President of TriVision, Arsalan is the driving force behind the company’s design and marketing departments.

Arsalan is a multifaceted, solution-oriented, gifted leader who has managed several projects involving branding and strategic marketing campaigns for clients like the Export Import Bank of the United States, the World Bank, and the Department of Commerce.  Arsalan’s passion for the arts combined with his dedication to his native Afghan culture is manifested in many projects he has been involved with over the years, positively impacted Afghan society and culture. These projects include the Afghan Songbook Project, the Afghan Women’s Rights nationwide media messaging campaign, National Geographic, Arch International, the National Gallery of Art, AUAF, Sesame Street, and many more. In addition, Arsalan is one of the founders of Tuti TV, the first livestream television channel of its kind targeted to the Afghan audience, with the mission to promote and keep alive the indigenous music of that region which is nonetheless a major part of their culture but also fulfills the region’s need for creativity, expression and positive change.

Mr. Lutfi is involved and affiliated with the following organizations and institutions:

• Marketing Chair & Board of Directors of the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce (DRCC)
• Board of Trustees and Communications Committee Chair for the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF)
• Executive Board of the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC)
• Founding Member of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC)