Teaching & Facilitation
As a facilitator and educator, I have developed programs and courses, created and curated content, and facilitated workshops, both remote and in-person around design, DEI, career empowerment, and leadership, with a strong focus on BIPOC and underrepresented audiences.
Navigating Your Career in a Nonprofit: How to Advocate for Yourself and the Causes You Believe in
- CLIENT: The Wilderness Society
- TIMELINE: February-March 2023
- ROLE: I co-developed and co-facilitated a workshop for a group of 16 BIPOC mentees in The Wilderness Society’s internal mentorship program. Bespoke content and materials were designed around what the nonprofit industrial complex is, how to move past it, and tips and strategies to advocate for, and advance their careers.
Taking Ownership Over Your Career: An Inclusive Leadership Workshop for Social Justice Leaders
- CLIENT: City University of New York
- TIMELINE: November 2022-January 2023
- ROLE: I developed and facilitated a workshop for participants completing the leadership for democracy and social Justice fellowship programs at City College. Fellows were engaged in individual reflections and interactive activities and provided with tools, templates, and resources to apply learnings and advance their careers.
Intro to Figma Foundations
- CLIENT: Klick Health
- TIMELINE: December 2021-March 2022
- ROLE: I developed and facilitated a four-module Figma foundations course, training a total of 100 creatives at Klick Health on how to use the tool to collaborate effectively in their teams, in order to achieve consistency and continuity in their outputs.
Using Human-Centred Design to Develop Youth Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa
- CLIENT: Planned Parenthood of Ghana (PPAG)
- TIMELINE: September-October 2021
- ROLE: I developed and facilitated a 3-day Human-Centred Design training in Ghana for program officers and representatives working on youth programming in sub-Saharan Africa. The training included lessons on HCD fundamentals, case studies, and hands-on interactive activities that allowed participants to apply their learnings.
UX Design Bootcamp
- CLIENT: Juno College of Technology
- TIMELINE: September-December 2020, February-April 2022
- ROLE: I taught an 8-week design bootcamp to over 20 students covering topics such as UX research, product design, and accessibility. I led students through lessons and interactive exercises and worked with them to support project work.
Writing
My background is in humanities, photography, and journalism. I have worked as a freelance journalist in Iran, Bosnia, and Canada. I was the Head of Content at UPFRONT, a startup dedicated to changing confidence for women. As a writer, my work spans photo essays, articles, profiles, and thought pieces around design, culture, current affairs, and DEI, which can be read on Thousand&One’s blog.
- Starting a Career in Design and Social Impact: The Pros, Cons, and Everything in Between | Bootcamp, May 2023
- Self-Care as a Prerequisite for Collective Action | Thousand&One, February 2022
- What’s in a Name? Limitations and Opportunities of Using ‘Woman of Colour’ | Thousand&One, August 2021
- The Concrete Ceiling | Stanford Social Innovation Review, May 2021
- Lessons learned from the corporate world as a UX designer | UX Collective, February 2020
- Getting started in UX: Helpful tips for new designers | UX Collective, October 2019
- Art of Poetry and ‘Song of Exile’: An Interview with Banoo Zan | Episteme Journal, March 2017
- Hugged by the hills: Hope and despair in Sarajevo | The Balkan Diskurs, September 2016
- Knitting in Sarajevo: Empowering Women to Re-engage in Everyday Life | The Balkanist, July 2016
- Sarajevo Today: Bridging East and West in Stari Grad | The Fair Observer, May 2016
- Kashan and Isfahan: The best of Islamic architecture in Iran | Your Middle East, March 2016
- A meeting point of history and culture in Iran | The Fair Observer, February 2016
- Islamophobia and the Wider Implications of the Ottawa Attacks | The Fair Observer, November 2014
- The Iranian Diaspora’s Hejab Taboo | Iran Wire, October 2014
- Unveiled: (Mis)understanding the Hijab | The Islamic Monthly, September 2013
Speaking
I have spoken at conferences, events, and on panels, and have been interviewed on a wide range of topics, including creating inclusive spaces and designing products and services for underrepresented communities.
- From Vision to Reality: Scaling a Digital Health Intervention for Youth in Rwanda Using Participatory Methods | Good Tech Fest, May 2023
- Starting a Career in Design and International Development | Regenerative Space, March 2023
- The Concrete Ceiling | Embrace Change Leadership Accelerator, November 2022
- Measuring a ‘moving target’: Designing evaluations for HCD programs | HCDExchange, April 2022
- Utilizing an Intersectional Lens | Bring Your Own Chair Podcast, January 2022
- It’s all in your head…but is it? | DEI Workforce Development Series, December 2021
- Designing for Muslim women | Unconform Studio, October 2021
- The Concrete Ceiling | Magnify Conference, October 2021
- Designing tangible tactics so womxn of colour can thrive in the workplace | Unconform Studio, September 2021