01
Researcher
I study how mass violence emerges and how prevention can intervene — pressure-testing original work at academic conferences and symposia.
Atrocity preventionTransitional justice
Explore my research
Open to collaborations & good conversations
Hi, I’m Maryam.
A first-gen human rights scholar, storyteller & public-interest communicator. I ask difficult questions about violence, injustice, and how we might prevent them — then make sure the answers reach people who aren’t in the room.
آزادیAzadi = Freedom
places that shaped me
Freedom HouseInt’l Center for Religion & DiplomacyDavis Projects for PeaceRAICES TexasFamilies USABinghamton UniversityHood CollegeMontgomery Collegefrank · University of FloridaAuschwitz InstituteFreedom HouseInt’l Center for Religion & DiplomacyDavis Projects for PeaceRAICES TexasFamilies USABinghamton UniversityHood CollegeMontgomery Collegefrank · University of FloridaAuschwitz Institute
what I do —
A few hats, one mission
Job titles change, but the throughline holds: take something true and important, and make sure it reaches the person who needs it.
02
Communicator & strategist
I turn dense research into op-eds, briefings & campaigns — growing media citations 60% at Freedom House and raising $30K in six months at ICRD.
Media & pressCampaigns & fundraising
See the portfolio
03
Storyteller
On Maryam’s Mosaic, I turn abstract systems — violence, memory, justice — into accessible human stories that elevate historically marginalized voices.
EssaysNewsletter
Read Maryam’s Mosaic
Receipts, not adjectives
A few numbers from the work so far.
$0raised for human rights work
+0%growth in media citations
0countries worked across
how I got here
From a community-college door I wasn’t sure would open
I started where a lot of first-gen students start — at a community college, unsure the door would open. It did. From Montgomery College to Hood College I studied global studies and conflict resolution, and found the questions I couldn’t stop asking had a whole field behind them.
I learned to put a human face on a policy fight — at ICRD, Freedom House & beyond — and then the research kept tapping me on the shoulder. Now I’m doing my MS in Genocide & Mass Atrocity Prevention as an Auschwitz Institute Fellow, refusing to believe communicator and scholar are two different jobs.
Take something true & make sure it reaches the person who needs it.
What I’m into right now
A snapshot of the off-the-clock inputs — updated now & then.
Reading
All About Lovebell hooks
The Whale RiderWiti Ihimaera
Listening
ThroughlineNPR · history & the present
Qawwalion repeat, always
Watching
Documentarieson memory & place
On my mind
A recurring questionwho gets to tell the story?
a recurring weakness
How honest memory can interrupt the next atrocity — and who gets to tell it.
Go on, get scratching
Drag your cursor (or finger) to scratch them off — clear about half and the rest flakes away. They reset every visit.
01
I once drafted a full syllabus for teaching transitional justice through The Hunger Games — now I just need a dean brave enough to approve it.
02
My very first job was scooping at my dad’s Baskin-Robbins at 15. I can still build a mean banana split.
03
I’ve made it to 6 countries so far — and I’m nowhere near done.
04
I think in three languages — English, Urdu & Spanish — and lose my train of thought in all of them.
A mosaic of the work
A little of everything — pick a craft and follow the through-line.
Let’s make something, or just chat.
A collaboration, a campaign, a research question, or a thought you can’t shake — my inbox is open and I’d love to hear from you.