Laila El-Haddad is a Palestinian American journalist, food justice advocate and public speaker. She is author of the memoir Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting and Everything in Between and co-author of the award-winning documentary cookbook The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey. She frequently speaks about the intersection and the negotiation of identity, food and politics. Through her work as a writer, storyteller, culinary ethnographer and documentarian, she provides much-needed insight into the human experience of the region. El-Haddad received her B.A in Political Science and Comparative Areas Studies from Duke University in 2000 and her Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2002. Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents from Gaza, she currently lives in Clarksville, Maryland, with her husband, Yassine Daoud, and their four children.

Reem Assil is a Palestinian-Syrian chef based in Oakland, CA. She is the owner of Reem’s California, inspired by her passion for Arab street corner bakeries and the vibrant communities that surround them. Barely a year later, Assil opened an Arab fine dining concept, Dyafa, in partnership with Michelin-award winning chef Daniel Patterson, earning it a place on Bib Gourmand’s List in its first year. Reem has garnered an array of top accolades, including being named a James Beard semifinalist in the Best Chef: West in 2018 and 2019, Thrillist's "2018 Chef of the Year," San Francisco Magazine’s “2018 Chef of the Year," San Francisco Chronicle's “2017 Rising Star Chef,” and most recently, Star Chefs "Rising Star Chef 2019." Reem’s California was also named one of Food & Wine’s "2018 Top 10 Restaurants of the Year.” Before dedicating herself to a culinary career, Reem worked as a labor and community organizer at SEIU 1877 and East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE). Reem has spent more than a decade training organizers and leaders all over the country with multiple social justice non-profits. Reem worked with Bay Area’s esteemed cooperative bakery Arizmendi Bakery & Pizzeria, Grace Street Catering, Local Flavors, and several local chefs before opening Reem’s. She is a graduate of the competitive food business incubator program, La Cocina, Centro Community Partners, and ICA Fund Good Jobs.

Belal Khaled, was born in Gaza City, studied interior design at al-Aqsa University. Calligraphist, digital artist, photographer, and videographer. He began learning calligraphy at 14 and started creating graffiti art in 2010. He was one of the first graffiti artists in Palestine and is also the founder of the Gaza Graffiti Team. In 2015, he painted the largest mural in Palestine called "Childhood besieged." He has also drawn murals in Istanbul, Egypt, Malaysia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and more. In 2016, he painted the largest Arabic calligraphy mural in the Uskudar area of Istanbul. His work has been published in local and international news outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Aljazeera, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. He currently works for a Turkish News Agency as a Sr. Videographer.

In 2020 he founded Tensash, which means never forget in Arabic. Tensash is a project to digitally color photographs taken during the early days of the Nakba. Khaled hopes to help people develop an intimate connection with the people in the photographs by adding color to their faces, clothing, objects and more. He colors these photographs for the world to see but this project is specifically designed to help Palestinians stay connected to their land and ancestors.

Faisal Saleh is founder and executive Director of Palestine Museum US, a 6,000 square foot exhibit space dedicated to preserving Palestinian cultural history and telling the Palestinian story through the arts.He was born in El-Bireh in the West Bank a few years after the 1948 Nakba when his family was forced out of the village of Salamah (5 miles east of Jaffa). Saleh came to the US in 1969 to complete his secondary education and attend college. He pursued a career in the human resources technology field and after 40 years of entrepreneurial work he turned his attention to creating the first Palestinian museum in the western hemisphere. He holds a BA degree from Oberlin College and an MBA from the University of Connecticut. In his free time he pursues his passions for tennis and photography.

Wael Elbhassy is the choreographer and founder of Al-Juthoor, which means “roots” in Arabic. The ensemble will offer a choreographed theatrical presentation of the popular dance, dabkeh which is customarily a part of any social or celebratory event, such as parties and weddings. It is performed as an improvised, communal line dance that young and old take part in, with the leader at the head of the line directing the variations of steps. Dabkeh groups that present staged versions of this folk dance are common in the Middle East as part of state-sponsored or community folk dance groups. In the Palestinian territories these groups are often formed in refugee camps or cultural centers, as a means of preserving aspects of Palestinian culture and as a statement of resistance against oppression. Palestinians in the diaspora also use dabkeh as cultural preservation, while bringing awareness to the Palestinian cause. Al Juthoor, founded in January 2005, is a dance company whose mission is to present and preserve Palestinian dance, music, and culture and bring awareness to the Palestinian cause. Members of the group have grown up with dabkeh as a part of social life, and devote time for freestyle improvisational dabkeh dancing at the end of each of its weekly rehearsals. Al Juthoor is among the few professional Palestinian folkloric dance companies in the United States and thus, is in great demand for performances by the Arab community.

Diyala Shihadih is a first-generation Palestinian-American, born and raised in the Bay Area. She is a PhD Candidate in metabolic biology and has been a community organizer since the age of 15. Her work is firmly rooted in working with, advocating for, and educating the greater Arab community; whether that be educational accessibility, developing social and political consciousness, or understanding our identities as Palestinians in diaspora.

Amer Zahr is an Arab-American comedian, speaker, writer, academic, and adjunct professor at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He draws on his experiences growing up as a child of Palestinian immigrant parents, performing and lecturing on topics like politics, society, Islam, growing up Arab, and more. In 2016, Amer also served as a surrogate for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. He founded and produced the first-ever “1001 Laughs Ramallah Comedy Festival,” a production in Palestine that featured 10 comedians and 7 shows in August 2015. The festival entertained over 2,000 locals and was funded by the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, a branch of the United States Department of State. Amer, as the producer of the festival, received great acclaim and much media attention from the following outlets: CNN | CNN Arabic | BBC Arabic | Haaretz | Al-Hurra | Palestine Today | Wattan TV | MAAN Network | 972 Mag | Palestine News Network | Sky News He is also the producer of the annual “1001 Laughs Dearborn Comedy Festival” in Dearborn, Michigan at the Arab American National Museum. Amer recently completed production on his first documentary film, “We’re Not White,” a comedic and informative approach to the Arab-American struggle to get a box on the United States Census Form. He is also the author of the well-read blog “The Civil Arab,” as well as his first book, “Being Palestinian Makes Me Smile,” a collection of his writings relating to being Palestinian. Amer holds an MA in Middle East Studies and a JD (law degree), both from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He writes and speaks widely on political and social affairs, and has appeared on radio and television, including ABC’s “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.” Some of his writings have been featured in major publications, including Time magazine, and Al-Jazeera.

Marena Riyad is a Palestinian American Actor and Comedian from Dallas, TX. She is a refreshingly unique perspective on observational comedy as a Palestinian-Texan Muslim Woman. A runner up for the Funniest Comedian in the Heartland and Semi-Finalist for Funniest Comedian in Texas, Marena's silver-tongued comedy serves up a platter of gender role deconstruction with a side of truth and controversy that's bound to have you coming back for seconds.

Mike Easmeil, a comedian/writer of Palestinian heritage, is excited to once again be a part of the NYAACF. A veteran of stand-up comedy, Mike first performed 16 years ago at Groucho's Comedy Club in Virginia, while completing his Communications Degree. His clean, clever comedy pokes fun of himself, his family, and life's absurdities. In addition to owning a restaurant, being a husband and a father of three, Mike performs regularly at charity functions and comedy clubs on the East Coast. A regular on stages in New York City, Mike has also performed internationally and on some of America's most prestigious stages including Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center.

Lebanese-Palestinian-Syrian-Italian-American, born in Oakland, California, Sammy Obeid is best known for his 1,001 day streak of consecutive comedy performances. It began on December 26th, 2010, and concluded on September 21st, 2013- four days after an appearance on TBS's Conan. Breaking the old world record on Day 731, Sammy set the new one at 1,001 Arabian Nights of Comedy.

Over the course of the streak, he appeared on NBC's America's Got Talent and advanced to the Las Vegas round, and became the first comedian to perform on The Food Network. Splitsider conducted an extensive interview with him entering the home stretch. LA Weekly praised Sammy's "sheer force of will" in performance and lifestyle, and LA Mag recommended his show highly. He was profiled in TIME Magazine, followed soon after by an article in the New York Times. Published on his final day, it describes his material as "full of wordplay" and "clever misdirection."

Chunks of his streak were spent as the youngest member of both the CoExist Comedy and Axis of Evil: New Generation national tours. Capping the streak, his debut album, Get Funny or Die Trying, was named a Best Comedy Album of 2013 by iTunes. Not slowed, Sammy has now embarked on a national college tour performing for hundreds of students a week.

Sammy has founded his own comedy enterprise, KO Comedy. He's hard at work on both a book and documentary about his 1,001 Nights, each with the witty advice and deep-insider view found on his blog.

Majdy grew up in Dearborn, Michigan and currently lives in Washington D.C. Majdy recently left a 12 year career in medical sales to try his hand as a comedy writer.

Kurdahi started his career with the newspaper Lisan al Hal in 1970, then he worked for Télé Liban in 1973 until the start of the Lebanese civil war, when he immigrated to France. In 1979, he joined Radio Monte Carlo in Paris, where he was appointed Editor-in-chief. In 1992, Kurdahi moved on to run Sharq Radio Station in Paris and remained there for around two years. In 1994, he was recruited to head MBC FM in London. In 2004, Kurdahi moved to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation for one year, before being asked by MBC to return as the presenter of his old program and several other programs. In his move to LBC to present “Iftah Albak”, Kurdahi became one of the prominent TV presenters in the Arab World. Furthermore, advertising spots on his shows reached record proportions, both in popularity as well as ratings. In 2012, Kurdahi joined Al Hayat TV to present the TV-show “ Who Wants to be A Millionaire”,"Al-Mosameh Karim" and "Hafez wala Fahem".

George Kurdahi has also launched his own brand of perfume called G.K

Farouk Shami was born in Beit Ur al-Tahta, a village near Ramallah in the West Bank. He is an American-Palestinian businessman and founder of the hair-care and spa products company, Farouk Systems located in Texas. Shami has worked for decades in the field of hair-care product development, and attended cosmetology school in Arkansas. He invented the first ammonia- free hair color, after developing an allergy to the chemical that initially led doctors to encourage him to leave his profession.

His company, the Houston-based Farouk Systems, currently employs 600+ people in the US, and exports its line of hair and skin care products under the BioSilk, SunGlitz and Cationic Hydration Interlink (CHI) brands to over 106 countries worldwide.

On May 1, 2011, Shami made an appearance on The Celebrity Apprentice, when the show's contestants were given a project in which they promoted Farouk Systems products. He appeared again in the 4th episode of All Star Celebrity Apprentice.

Rasha is from Tulkarm, Palestine. She is a Software Engineer at Netflix, based in San Francisco. Previously worked at Quora and Udacity to make the online education platform available in Arabic, as part of launching the one million Arab coders initiative led by the ruler of Dubai.

She co-founded a co-working space in Palestine that hosted tech companies like Google and Microsoft, and investors from around the Arab world. Organizing tech events and startup weekends that facilitated startup thinking among young Palestinians.

As a student in Birzeit University she volunteered to tour Palestinian schools to teach kids how to use the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) laptop to learn math, reading and coding basics.

Majdi Gaith is a Palestinian-American, born in San Francisco and raised in the Napa Valley. He holds a BA in Political Science, along with course work in Arabic and Hebrew from UC Berkeley. Majdi spent three of his most cherished years living between Occupied H2 Hebron (Al Khalil) and the Old City of Jerusalem. He also worked in Abu Dhabi for two years post college. He currently works at Facebook within the Developer Operations team. His current interests include Palestine, learning Portuguese, new food concepts, value investing, gold trading, and sports activities. Majdi is also the co-founder of two food start-ups: Afghan Burrito— A casual Mexican-Afghan fusion eatery currently open in Oakland; Seedough’s —An Eastern Mediterranean Bakery offering authentic Palestinian Kunafa, Istanbul Baklava and Syrian Booza (Ice Cream), and Seedough’s, which is expected to launch in Berkeley sometime in 2021.

Naima Shalhoub is a Lebanese Arab-American vocalist, composer, performing artist, and educator based in the Bay Area. Her multidimensional work explores the borderlands of belonging, remembrance, freedom, and the expansive quality of the voice - its power for healing and energizing social justice movements. Her first full-length studio album, Siphr, was released on August 6th, 2020.

Her debut album, Live in San Francisco County Jail, was recorded alongside an audience of incarcerated women with whom she had been facilitating weekly “Music and Freedom” sessions for one year (many of whom participated in the performance). Produced in solidarity with movements to end the prison-industrial complex, the recording embodies Naima’s deeply-held belief that "it is an artist's duty to reflect the times" (Nina Simone).

In addition to performing regularly from nationally-acclaimed venues to grassroots community event spaces, Naima has an MA in Postcolonial Anthropology and is a seasoned Restorative Justice practitioner and circle-keeper with experience in public schools, Juvenile Halls, and communities from California to Kenya. She currently is the Restorative Women and Girls Coordinator for Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY). She also performs for theater productions, fundraisers, and presents at conferences such as the National Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and TEDxLAU in Beirut.

Tarik “Excentrik” Kazaleh is a Palestinian American multi-instrumentalist, producer and MC from Oakland, CA. Considered one of the “Godfathers” of Arab hip hop, he is one of the founders and the producer of the seminal hip hop group, Arab Summit alongside Narcy, Omar Offendum and Ragtop. Kazaleh’s diverse collaborations have included many in the global jazz and hip hop scenes and he is currently promoting Naima Shalhoub’s first studio record, “Siphr” which he produced in addition to playing Oud and Guitar in her band. His latest solo album will be released in December.

Rashida Tlaib is a well-known progressive warrior and, in her own words, “a mother working for justice for all.” Her two young sons are at the root of her unwavering passion to help change lives for the better. She is the oldest of 14 children, born and raised in Detroit, the proud daughter of Palestinian immigrant parents.

Rashida made history in 2008 by becoming the first Muslim woman to ever serve in the Michigan Legislature. She is beloved by residents for the transformative constituent services she provided, and for successfully fighting the billionaires and corporations that tried to pollute her district. When families get to know Rashida, they have no doubt that she will work tirelessly to knock down barriers for real change, and whether by policy or action, she will roll up her sleeves to make sure her residents are cared for, no matter how big the challenge.

When billionaire slumlord Matty Moroun refused to follow the law and get polluting semi-trucks off neighborhood streets, Rashida organized residents with the We Have A Right To Breathe campaign and forced Moroun to fulfill his obligations to protecting public health. When large piles of black dust started showing up on the Detroit riverfront and blowing into homes and parks, and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality told residents everything was fine, Rashida collected samples and got the substance tested herself - exposing the cancer-causing “petroleum coke” as a threat, and getting it removed.

As an attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Rashida took the movement to the courts, fighting racist emergency managers, abusive state agencies, and leading the fight for community benefits agreements that promote equitable development. Rashida knows that effective advocacy requires an all-out approach, fighting in the community, in the legislature, and in the courts every day against injustice and inequality, so that every single person in this country has a chance to thrive.

She is currently the Congresswoman for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, which includes the city of Detroit and many surrounding communities.

Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi is the founding Director and Senior scholar of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program at San Francisco State University. Before joining SFSU, she served as the first Director of the Center for Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and taught at Yale, NYU, the American University in Cairo and Birzeit University.She has many scholarly awards and community honors, including Yale’s Sterling Fellowship, the New Century Scholarship and the Alex Odeh Award. She was also honored by the Arab Feminist Union in Palestine and named a Bay Area Visionary by the National Women’s Studies Association. She is the co-author and lead editor of several works, including Mobilizing Democracy: Changing US Policy in the Middle East. She also initiated Teaching Palestine: Pedagogical Praxis and the Indivisibility of Justice” (that challenges colonial narratives on Palestine and calls for decolonizing the curriculum and ending the erasure of Palestine) and co-organized several international conferences. She is also involved in the Black Lives movement and memorializing the Sabra and Shatila Massacre.

Loubna Qutami is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Qutami is a former President’s Postdoctoral Fellow from the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley (2018-2020) and received her PhD from the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside (2018). Qutami’s research examines transnational Palestinian youth movements after the 1993 Oslo Accords through the 2011 Arab Uprisings. Her work is based on scholar-activist ethnographic research methods. Qutami’s broader scholarly interests include Palestine, critical refugee studies, the racialization of Arab/Muslim communities in the U.S., settler-colonialism, youth movements, transnationalism and indigenous and Third World Feminism.