Dr. Nadia Hashimi
Sahar Board Member and Keynote Speaker
Nadia Hashimi is a pediatrician, an internationally bestselling author, a first generation Afghan-American and an advocate for women and children. She has written three acclaimed novels for adults and two for children inspired by the history of Afghanistan and the ongoing struggles of families affected by conflict. She is the first Afghan American to run for US Congress and a member of the US Afghan Women’s Council. She graduated from Brandeis University with a BA in Biology and Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and obtained her medical degree from SUNY Downstate. She completed her pediatric residency at NYU/Bellevue Hospitals, and then relocated to the Washington, DC area. She lives with her husband and four children in Potomac, Maryland.
Dr Shinkai Hakimi
Sahar Board Member
Shinkai left Afghanistan with her family in the early 1980’s and immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee. She has been actively involved in the current humanitarian crisis going on in Europe and spent time working in a medical clinic in Lesvos, Greece treating the influx of Iraqi, Syrian, and Afghan refugees. Shinkai is currently involved in medical projects with the Ministry of Health in Afghanistan. She is practicing pulmonary/critical care physician in Carmel, California.
David Miller
Sahar Board Member
David Miller is a founding member of Miller Hull Partnership LLC and a nationally-recognized architect known for pursuing innovative sustainable and high performance design strategies while responding to each site’s unique conditions. David served in the Peace Corps after graduating from Washington State University which laid the foundation for his interest in housing design. David is a professor in the the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington. He is the author of, Toward a New Regionalism, and the chair of the National AIA’s Committee on the Environment. He is the recipient of the Washington State University Alumni Achievement Award and the BetterBricks Designer Award.
Ginna Brelsford
Sahar Executive Director
Ginna’s commitment to gender equality and access to education began with a focus on literacy in Brazil and spanned two decades of work in Russia, Latin America, and Asia. Her work in international development led her to the conclusion that education is key to ending poverty. A graduate of Brown University, Ginna has a MA in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and lives in Seattle.
Airokhsh Faiz Qaisary
Janet W. Ketcham Award Recipient
Airokhsh first interned for Sahar in 2013 in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, where she attended high school. She later came to Seattle where she became Sahar’s first fellow. She continues on as an advisory capacity. She is a recent graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston. Airokhsh plans to return to Afghanistan to design education programs for Afghan women.
Malahat Mazaher
Janet W. Ketcham Award Recipient
Malahat began working as a fellow in Seattle with Sahar in November 2016. Before that she served as an intern at Sahar. She is from Afghanistan and came to the United States for her studies. She graduated from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, with a double major in International Affairs (IA) and Economics. In IA, she concentrated on Global Conflict and Cooperation and in Economics she has a special interest in economic development. As a college student, she interned in various private and nonprofit organizations in Afghanistan, the United States and Switzerland, focusing on Communications & Marketing, Women’s Empowerment and a Campaign to Ban Landmines. She is currently studying for her Master’s Degree at Brandeis University.
Shogofa Amini
Janet W. Ketcham Award Recipient
A native of Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, Shogofa served as the Sahar Afghan Fellow from 2018-2019 and currently serves as an advisor to Sahar’s team in Afghanistan and Seattle. Shogofa earned her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Regis College in Weston, Mass., graduating with honors in 2016. Shogofa’s childhood education was interrupted in 1996 due to the ascendancy of the Taliban, but she has since dedicated her life to learning and service, with a focus on the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan. She is currently studying for her Master’s of Global Health at the University of Washington.
Sapida Barmaki
Janet W. Ketcham Award Recipient
Sapida Barmaki grew up in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. She graduated from Montclair State University in May 2019 with a double major in Political Science and Law and Jurisprudence and a minor in Public Administration. She was awarded the Dean’s List and has done two independent research projects under department faculty supervision. Sapida interned with Sahar’s Afghan office in 2016 and 2018. She is serving as the lead on Sahar’s new Men as Partners in Change program as well as the Early Marriage Prevention Program, Teacher Training Center, and Coding Project. Sapida will attend law school next year.