 Title: Director of Strategic Partnerships
Organization: Interfaith Youth Core
Areas of Expertise: Arts and Culture, Interfaith Issues,
Youth Issues, Muslims in Europe
Media Experience: Print, Radio
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact: Samantha Kirby
Email
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Phone 312 573 8908
Zeenat is the Senior Program Coordinator for Public Affairs at the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago based international non-profit working to build mutual respect and pluralism among religiously diverse young people by empowering them to work together to serve others. In this position she oversees policy initiatives, government relations, and international programs for the organization. She has done extensive work to promote civic engagement and healthy integration amongst Muslim youth, in partnership with national Muslim organizations.
She frequently travels abroad to speak about the importance of interfaith youth work and the experience of Muslim life in America. She is a member of the Transatlantic Network 2020 - a program sponsored by the British Council, which seeks to create sustainable, multilateral networks that span the Atlantic by engaging future leaders from North America, the UK, and the rest of Europe to collaboratively address global issues. She is also a 2008-9 Fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leaders Institute at the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture, which aims to identify and capacity build emerging American Muslim civic leaders.
Zeenat is one of the co-creators of The Hijabi Monologues, a play based on Muslim women and their real life experiences told in monologue format, which has been performed in over a dozen cities to date. The Hijabi Monologues has been featured in the Chicago Tribune and LA Times, as well as several national and international radio and print outlets.
Born and raised in Chicago, Zeenat completed her Master's Degree at the University of Chicago's Center for Middle East Studies in June 2006. Her thesis work was focused on Muslim youth and the territorializing of Muslim religious institutions in America. Prior to working at the Interfaith Youth Core, Zeenat completed an internship at Chicago Public Radio, where she worked on a pilot program about immigrants and the diaspora experience.
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