• Where are you from?/Where is your heritage from? What you do in the US:

I am from Syria. I moved to NYC in 2017. I am currently a PhD candidate specializing in pharmacology and toxicology.

• What do you love most about your country/heritage?

I love our food, music, generosity, and hospitality.

• Favorite food (and why? Did your Mum, Grandma, Dad make this? What does it remind you of?)

Wara2 3enab, mloukhiye, koussa me7shi, and anything cooked in yogurt. I also really enjoy big family lunches and dinners in traditional restaurants by the mountains or sea while nibbling on mezza, devouring mashawi, enjoying fresh fruits and Arabic deserts while catching up with family and friends and enjoying the summer breeze.

• Stereotypes of Al-Sham you think need reversing?

Needless talk and interfering in other peoples business.

• An icon from al-Sham that everyone should know about and why?

Ameen Rihani, who immigrated in 1888 to New York City. He wrote Arabic Poetry, he wrote about the Levantine women and social movements.

“Only a well-rounded intellect, a spirit nourished in the eternal sources of intelligence and culture, of justice and wisdom, is a safeguard against both indifference and skepticism.”
“Ameen Rihani “