Before I wrote software, I spent years working alongside refugee communities in Jordan, in classrooms and beyond, and watched access to language and support change the shape of people's lives. Today I'm building the exact tool I once wished I had.
Refugee educator
More than eight years with international NGOs and non-profits across Jordan in refugee services and humanitarian aid, including the Jesuit Refugee Service, Collateral Repair Project, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Mosaik Education, and Jesuit Worldwide Learning.
Software engineer
Zip Code Wilmington changed the direction of my life. I earned a place in its highly selective program (under 9% admitted, 1,100+ hours) and came out a software engineer at SEI Investments. It turns overlooked talent into real careers, and I'm proof the model works.
Founder, Lalia
Building voice AI that reads, translates, and teaches language — my mission, shipped as software. Two live apps run on one voice engine I built end to end.
Q2 2025 Spotlight Award — for a Python tool that saved millions.
In my first year in tech, I single-handedly designed and built a Python automation tool projected to save the company millions of dollars over several years — earning the Q2 2025 Spotlight Award for contributions to IMS Product, Technology & Client Enablement.
I'm a software engineer who specializes in agentic AI, and I got here by an unusual route. Before tech, I spent more than eight years working with international NGOs and non-profits in refugee services and humanitarian aid, where I focused on building and running programs. At SEI Investments, I now design and build AI agents and multi-agent systems. I work with modern agentic frameworks, the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication to connect large language models to real tools, data, and workflows, and I care most about making them reliable and genuinely useful. That earlier humanitarian work still shapes how I build. It gave me a real foundation in program development, strategic planning, cross-cultural communication, crisis management, and working with people from very different backgrounds. I hold a Bachelor's in Leadership from Creighton University, and I'm now pursuing an MBA at the University of Delaware. I'm also a Zip Code Wilmington graduate, and I speak English, Arabic, and Somali. On my own time I design and ship live AI products, because what really drives me is using technology to solve real human problems, especially language access and helping underserved communities.