As a Kashmiri-Canadian born in Germany, raised in Bahrain, with Kenyan ancestry, I have always found comfort in my intersections, not quite sure where I truly fit or belong.
My artistic practice mirrors my identity; I am constantly fascinated by work that expands forms and crosses genres, hybrid stories that explore diaspora, migration and movement in all its fullness and fractures.
For me, this has meant everything from developing the brand strategy and writing the manifesto for an education foundation focused on refugee youth to creating a short film about an immigrant food cart vendor finding a moment to pray on a New York City street.
I'm particularly interested in the telling of those stories that serve to complicate and add nuance to existing mainstream, dominant narratives.
I believe that the authentic telling of these stories hinges on a multidisciplinary approach—one that embraces and is strengthened by its intersections. Thus, I am particularly interested in exploring multimedia / multidimensional approaches to storytelling—those in film that combine narrative, documentary & animation as well as those that expand the form itself, incorporating elements of experience design, content strategy & community engagement.
My deepest belief is that through stories we can give form, shape and texture to feelings, and therefore, to another's experience, and I hope this is what I can spend my life and heart's work doing.
studied:
Film
Ang Lee Scholar
MFA in Film Production
Writing/Directing Concentration
Tisch School of the Arts,
New York University
Marketing & English
B.S. in Economics
Marketing major, English minor
The Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania
awards/grants/fellowships:
HEAR US Awardee ‘21
Tisch Research Fund Awardee ‘22
Finalist, Universal Content Productions - The Thousand Miles Project Workshop ‘22
Jury Award Winner - DGA Student Film Awards ‘22
NYFA Canadian Women Artists’ Award Recipient ‘22
Tasveer Film Fund Winner ‘22
Islamic Scholarship Fund - Film Grant Recipient ‘22
Gotham Marcie Bloom Fellow ‘23
Rickshaw x SAWC Mentorship Program - Mentee ‘23
Gotham EDU Film & Media Career Development Scholar ‘23
Doha Film Institute Fall Grantee ‘23
Open City Fellowship
Muslim Communities Fellow
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
2019
Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program
Visual & Multidisciplinary Arts
New York Foundation for the Arts
2019
Summer Intensive Residency
Social Documentary Filmmaking
School of Visual Arts
2018
No Name Mind Writing Workshop
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
2018
worked:
Strategist | SYPartners
New York City
2016 - 2019
Strategist | Wolff Olins
Dubai
2014 - 2016
Fellow | Wharton Social Impact Initiative
Philadelphia
2012 - 2014
skills:
Writing/editing/storyboarding
Interviewing/filmmaking/documentary production
Experience/interaction design
Systems/design thinking
Research/pattern mapping/insights development/synthesis/framing
Content/brand strategy
Community engagement
languages:
English
Urdu
Spanish
values:
Compassion
Curiosity
Collaboration
Kindness
All images are used with permission from the photographer Dyana Wing So