APWA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS
Our Executive Board Members are 100% Volunteers.
We Believe, We Care, We Give
Executive Board Member
Mona Sadeq
President / Executive Director
Mona received her B.A. from Lebanese American University in 1980 and her MPA from George Mason University in 2002. She has extensive experience working for private and public sectors in finance and accounting.
Mona has been actively involved and supportive of several non-profit organizations. She describes herself as Palestinian, Arab, American Muslim Women. In 2015, she helped co-found the National Arab American Women’s Association-NAAWA as treasurer and then president.
In 2020 Mona became the Executive Director of the American Palestinian Women’s Association-APWA., also she is a current board member of the Muslim Women’s Association. and she is a current Virginia Team Leader for Arab America Foundation.
In 2022, she received MVP ( Most Valuable Person ) from Arab America Foundation.
Executive Board Member
Amal Garada
Vice President
Amal got her BA in Education from Kuwait University back in 1980., and her Masters in Political Management at George Washington University in 2023. Amal has teaching experience in Arabic linguistic, she worked in her field overseas and in the USA. Amal was a member of APWA's executive directors from 2002-2007. Her volunteer work is highly recognized by Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) and by Arab America Foundation.
Executive Board Member
Ruqyah Sweidan
Treasurer
Ruqyah is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Anthropology. She is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in International Relations. A student of the social sciences, Ruqyah is passionate about story sharing, international politics research, and developing problem solving plans. While at university, her research focused on the experiences of Arabs in the diaspora of America and across the Middle East. She also worked closely with peers, visitors, and department heads at UNC as a student staff member. She is active in peace-oriented approaches in her graduate program. Moreover, Ruqyah has interned with cultural research, entrepreneurial and communications firms and worked at The Jerusalem Fund/Palestine Center. The history, causes and people of Palestine are the main subjects of her campaigns.
APWA ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERES
Advisory Board Member
Dr. Laila Huneidi
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Dr. Huneidi earned her PhD in Public Affairs & Policy from Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. Her doctoral dissertation records thousands of downloads from around the world; a published case study on democratic governance and development under authoritarian regimes. Dr. Huneidi’s book “Once Upon a Homeland” is an assembly of definitive collections of readings from various thinkers and historians -from both sides- to explain how the the conflict in Palestine has resulted in the longest existing occupation in man's recent history. With extensive experience in the Middle Eastern political and socioeconomic statuses, Dr. Huneidi has reviewed a variety of interdisciplinary theories explicating the contemporary status of this conflict by tracking key incidents and consequences that are influenced by the super and great power countries and their political and economic interests in the region.
Advisory Board Member
Maha Rantisi
Ex-UNRWA Staff -Amman
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Maha Rantisi is the Co-founder and Vice President of “Ana Huna” أنا هنا, a non-governmental organization in Amman-Jordan that supports children with disabilities. She has extensive experience of nearly thirty-five years working in various capacities in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Maha began her career as a society worker in Libya. She was a Government of the United Kingdom “Chevening Fellow” at the University of Manchester, where she earned a Master of Arts in Development Studies in 1998. Her research focus was on grassroots organizations and Palestinian refugees. She has participated in several national and international conferences covering developmental issues, including: gender, human rights, youth/ adolescence, environment, micro-credit, security, refugees, disaster management and poverty alleviation. She is a member of the Board of Trustees, Centre for Refugees, Displaced and Force Migration, Yarmouk University, the Board of Trustees, Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI), and a member of Gender Task Force, UNRWA.
Advisory Board Member
Samar Dahmash-Jarrah
Writer, Radio Host and Public Speaker
Samar is a Kuwait-born Palestinian-American speaker, journalist, and educator. She has traveled extensively throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East and has lived in Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and America. Samar Dahmash-Jarrah professional accomplishments include being a contributor to CNN World Report; news editor and reporter for Jordan Television; editor and reporter for Jordan Weekly; and a Political Science instructor at the University of South Florida in Tampa. After the World Trade Center tragedy of September 11th, 2001, Dahmash-Jarrah, an American citizen, was asked by many community organizations, churches, temples, and peace groups to speak about the Arab world. These events and the Iraq War served as the inspiration for Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts, a first step in fostering direct dialogue between Americans and Arabs. Topics of past discussions involve international relations, media, Islam, and culture.
Advisory Board Member
Attorney, Tala Jallad
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Tala Jallad is an American Palestinian attorney with over 15 years of legal experience in Manhattan. Tala is also a member of the Palestinian American Bar Association. Tala started her legal career as an associate at the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in 2007 (she joined the law firm LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae right before they merged with Dewey Ballantine LLP in 2007). At Dewey, Tala did defensive work for a major Jordanian bank before joining Dewey’s structured finance team where she focused on asset backed securitization. In 2010, Tala was asked to move with the head of Dewey’s structured finance department to Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP’s New York office where she continued to represent clients in public and private asset backed securitization transactions until 2014 when she decided to go in-house. In 2014, Tala joined the legal department of a major banking institution and then left to work for the general counsel of a debt hedge fund. Tala is presently general counsel to a Manhattan based boutique real estate private equity firm. Tala graduated from Tufts University with a B.A. in Classics and she obtained her J.D. from the New England School of Law in Boston. Tala’s passion for Classics has now expanded into the pursuit of knowledge of the origins of the human species and the universe and when she is not working or enjoying nature, Tala spends her time learning about history, archeology, anthropology, evolutionary biology and most recently, physics.
Advisory Board Member
Aya Arafat
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Ayah Arafat , a Data Analyst at FDA, graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) with a Bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering. She continued her graduate studies and got her Master’s degree in Public Health from George Washington University in 2023. During her college years , she was the president of Student for Justise in Palestine (SJP-UMD ) and has been an active member and organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement in the DMV area since 2021...