The issues I take on are rooted in the quiet conversations that unfolded behind closed doors in my community. The kinds of conversations shared in the safety of familiar kitchens, over chai, and in the trusted languages. Growing up, I never understood the tension between cultural preservation and assimilation, nor did I grasp the weight of the silence that governed women’s health discussions in my community. This was not only my experience, but those of many others caught between the identities inherited and the ones they were trying to construct. 

When I joined the Youth Advisory Group for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, this commitment became central to my work. Much of our mandate involves examining the architecture of advocacy itself and how youth are engaged in it — its patterns of inclusion and exclusion, and the way certain voices are elevated as ‘expert’ by default. Over time, I recognized that the language of advocacy often relies on academic or policy frameworks that alienate the very communities it claims to uplift. My role at CCUNESCO pushed me to challenge that habit of speaking about people rather than with them, and to design youth-engagement frameworks that refused to replicate those barriers.

Co-founding Khairiyat was my first concrete step in addressing the health inequities directly. Over time, seeing Khairiyat become a space where conversations could breathe and connections could be made was empowering and a testament to intention in uplifting communities. It was about assembling the community that already exists to gather in conversation about health and wellness. This was represented when Khairiyat supported the Catalyst Health Innovation Sprint hosted at the University of Calgary to support the next leaders for health innovation to center health equity in their work. 

My advocacy now extends into transforming the structures that govern education itself. As a 2025 3M National Student Fellow, I work on a national project with my cohort examining how interdisciplinary university programs are designed, funded, and experienced, with the goal of improving access to inclusive, decolonial learning pathways. This work speaks directly to exposing how traditional academic structures exclude first-generation, immigrant, and racialized students by devaluing community knowledge, non-linear educational trajectories, and collaborative leadership models. 

Across all of this work, the motivation remains the same: a belief that people deserve to be part of the conversations that affect them, and a recognition that inclusion doesn’t happen by default. Someone has to build the structures, adjust the language, open the doors, and sometimes dismantle the room entirely and rebuild it differently. I’ve come to understand that this is the role I can play. The principle guiding me is the awareness that my actions and decisions hold impact. It reminds me that leadership is about ensuring others are not silenced. 

Together, these efforts advance SDG 3, 4, 5, 10, and 17 by addressing health inequities, reimagining educational structures, challenging systemic exclusions, and strengthening collaborative pathways for meaningful participation.