About Us
MISSION STATEMENT
Our Mission is to support Muslim women and immigrants participation locally and globally in social, political, and sustainability processes. We foster positive local and global civic engagement to support the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of Muslim women and others.
VISION STATEMENT
Our work focuses on supporting Muslim and immigrant women in their daily lives, providing resources to improve social, economic, political, and environmental prominence by connecting them with the greater community to encourage leadership roles for a more socially responsible, equitable, and sustainable world.
GOALS
The Goals of the Nazda Alam Foundation are:
- To encourage social and political engagement by Muslim women in the U.S and around the world.
- To provide a voice with which Muslim women and new immigrants, can influence local, national, and international entities in conjunction with other human rights organizations.
- To be active in stopping climate change that is impacting minority communities around the globe.
- To create a non-violent environment in the USA and around the world in which Muslim women and others can exchange cultural and economic ideas to foster freedom of speech.
- To foster Muslim-American women’s engagement in the democratic process on the local and national levels.
- To create a bond between Muslim women and their non-Muslim neighbors.
BACKGROUND
Islam is the world’s second-largest religion, with 1.8 billion followers worldwide. There are approximately 3 million Muslims in the United States and half of this group are women. Although they have different backgrounds, interests, and educational levels, Muslim women are united in their core beliefs.
In Massachusetts, Muslim women include homemakers, domestic and childcare workers, cashiers, small business owners, teachers, physicians, nurses, and research scientists. Despite this, Muslim women have too often given up their identity as independent women and allowed themselves to be identified as only Muslim by the population which is mainly Christian and Jewish.
Few Muslim women run for office. In addition, many Muslim women are not aware of the opportunities available to them, and are not involved in the political process. As a result, the impact of Muslim women in their communities, state and country is not yet as significant as it could be. So, when Muslim woman are subject to subtle and overt acts of prejudice in the MA, United Sates and the world, their stories are hidden– and they may not know how to get the support they need. The Nazda Alam Foundation will be developing and funding projects that will change this.
Board of Directors
Nazda Alam: Founde
M.S. Political Science, Master of Educational Administration,
MSW. A member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Advisory Council on Immigration and Refugee Policy.
National Association of Social Workers, MA Chapter. Producer & Documentary Film Maker, Rohingya: Atrocity Against Women. First Muslim Female Delegate of the Massachusetts Electoral College.
Chairwoman Muslim Voter Registration Project in MA.
Rumel mahood
Originally from Bangladesh, Rumel received a BA in Government & Politics and a BA in Economics from the University of Maryland, a Master’s in Political Science from Washington University, a Master’s in Science and PhD in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Rumel has worked as an Economist for the Federal Government, foreign policy, and international development. For the past decade and a half he has worked in healthcare, from IT and research support to electronic medical record extraction and aggregation. Rumel’s interests are in healthcare disparities research and social justice causes.
Sumayya Mutengu
Went to UMass Boston and graduated with bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. This started with a Law degree in Makerere Uganda.
Wayne c. johnson
MSI STEM Research & Development Consortium
Wayne Johnson is a nationally renowned expert in domestic and international innovation ecosystems and experienced at creating complex partnerships between government, academia, industry, and nongovernmental organizations.
Currently a member of the National Academies Government University Industry Research Roundtable, he was Executive Director of the Innovation Institute at the University of Massachusetts, which he founded, Vice President of Corporate Institute Relations at Caltech, and Director of Innovation Partnerships at Mass Insight.
Johnson was a delegate to the Clinton Global Initiative, September 2007. He has also been quoted as a subject matter expert on the topic of engineering education and global capacity building in the press. Johnson was one of five members of an expert panel that provided Congressional Testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives (Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation, Committee on Science and Technology) on July 17, 2007, regarding “Bayh-Dole – the Next 25 Years,” influencing significant legislation that seeks to address issues of Intellectual Property (IP).
Johnson received his B.A. from Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, and his M.B.A. from Boston College’s Carroll School, Boston, MA. He was an Adjunct Professor of Management at Boston University from 1977 to 1999. Johnson was recognized during this period as one of BU Metropolitan College’s most outstanding adjunct faculty members of the year. Johnson’s work was also acknowledged in 2005 through a Harvard Business School Case Study – HP Nanotech: Partnership with CNSI, which illustrates the challenges of managing industrial–university collaborations and examines issues of US national competitiveness.
Nadia B. Ahmad
Nadia B. Ahmad is an Associate Professor at Barry University School of Law. Professor Ahmad’s research explores the intersections of energy siting, the environment, and sustainable development and draws on international investment law and corporate social responsibility. She has published over 30 scholarly articles and book chapters. In 2016, she was recognized by the Orlando Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 honoree for her leadership and community involvement.
Her undergraduate thesis examined representations of tradition and modernity in Indo-Anglian literature from 1947 to 1997. She completed her law degree (J.D.) from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she was a Virgil Hawkins Fellowship recipient. At UF Law, she served as executive editor of the Florida Journal of International Law and wrote about women’s property rights in Post-Partition South Asia. Later, she earned a masters of law (LL.M.) in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where she explored the legal barriers for the deployment of advanced renewable technologies in the Global South and worked on the editorial review of the Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law.
Meet Our Interns
Alexis Choi
Alexis Choi was a Program Management Intern at the Nazda Alam Foundation during the summer of 2025 where she developed a public awareness campaign about the political, social, and economic issues that directly impact Muslim women in Massachusetts, created marketing and promotional materials for a documentary about the persecution of Muslim Rohingya women by the Tatmadaw in Myanmar, and organized local fundraising events. She also served as a Marketing Intern at the Muslim Women’s Civic Empowerment Program in New York City in 2024. Alexis is a student at Trinity School and Juilliard Pre-College in Manhattan.
Aimi Lee
Aimi Lee will commence her internship at the Nazda Alam Foundation from July to August 2026. She is a freshman at Weston High School.
In her personal life, Aimi resides with her parents and older brother. In her leisure time, she engages in activities such as performing arts and volunteering to tutor children. She has begun assisting with the 2026 Annual Women’s Potluck and eagerly anticipates making further contributions. Her aspirations include working on initiatives that address the healthcare and essential needs of women who lack reliable access to these services. Aimi will also support the creation of a newsletter for NAF.
We are delighted to have her in the summer.