I am a male, gender-conforming, able-bodied, agnostic millennial with a Pakistani Muslim background. I was born abroad in Bahrain, where my father took my family for his lengthy software development assignment with IBM. My family relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area shortly after I was born. I grew up in the nearby suburb of Fremont, where I learned much about what made me like the people around me and what made me different. That experience did not come without any difficulties! From having my name butchered to feeling left out in December when all my friends got Christmas presents (and making some of my friends jealous when I got an Eid present at a different time in the year!), there was no shortage of cultural lessons for me.

I have gone through my fair share of discrimination — especially after September 11, 2001 — from being chosen for “random” checks at airport security every time to being asked to “go blow yourself up.” If not for great family and friends to show me how much I belonged in this country like everyone else, I would have been in a much darker place. Instead, I want to pass forward that sense of belongingness and openness to others and emphasize the positive impacts others have made rather than the negative.

I have developed this attitude through a variety of stops in my career: as a congressional aide, non-profit administrative support, coding, restaurant management, property management, and now my master's program at Golden Gate University. I hope to continue my development while assisting others in achieving our goals of establishing a more welcoming and influential culture and attitude.