Personal site · 2026
Writer, brand marketer, & cross-cultural bridge builder.
I work in Talent Brand, which means my job is to get the right candidate audiences interested in working at my company. I do this through a variety of ways (see below), but most of all it's about figuring out my company's special sauce and finding creative ways to influence jobseekers to apply.
Followed Formula 1 around the world from my desk in Chicago to turn an employee awards program into something tangible: five location videos, a hero film, and a campaign that landed 5.7M+ LinkedIn impressions and a 43.9% video view rate. I also helped scale Atlassian's first Employee Advocacy program from a 30-person pilot into a 200+ seat operation that generated $185K+ in earned media value and 5.9M+ in reach, with no paid spend behind it.
Ran the Great Place to Work program to 100% certification and helped move Thoughtworks' global Glassdoor rating from 4.1 to 4.5 in under a year, reporting quarterly results up to the C-suite, board, and investors. Launched two globally-produced video series that earned 92K+ organic views and 318K+ LinkedIn impressions, and curated the candidate nurture program feeding 40K+ subscribers, with regional input and ongoing A/B testing.
Resurrected Groupon's dormant People Blog from the ground up, with 70K+ visitors, 100K+ sessions, a 460% increase in users, and 85% new visitors in year one, all on a $0 budget. Built the editorial process behind 150+ employee profiles on a mulitlingual site, stood up a Bambu advocacy program for 125 recruiters, and raised the Glassdoor rating from 3.1 to 3.6 in 12 months through a lot of influencing and a little bit of automation.
I'm a very curious person, which means I end up wanting to learn about all the things. In my free time, I do these sort of things:
SUBSTACK
My Substack is not for everyone, but if you're interested in geopolitics and history (especially the Middle East and South Asia); fancy the idea of satirical universe where every world leader hates Nicolas Maduro; or if you've been wondering what Osama bin Laden's zodiac sign is, my blog might be perfect for you. ❤️🔥
Visit The CIA Reject on Substack →VOLUNTEERING
I “used” to be a bit obsessed with learning about 9/11 (still am.) Eventually I started to wonder if something was wrong with me, so I decided I should do something more constructive with my interest. I started learning Dari Persian with a woman in Kabul, which then led to volunteering with No One Left Behind as a remote career mentor and as someone who helped resettle a family of 9 Afghans in Chicago.
Read the Chicago Tribune article about the Afghan family I helped resettle →LEARNING
If I had a super power, it'd be fluency in every languge. I have loved learning languages for as long as I can remember, and believe it's the biggest unlock when it comes to forming connections with people. Recently, I've decided to take this passion to the next level by building a web app that isn't reliant on passive aggressive characters to encourage your learning journey. In my life I've studied French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, and Dari. Fluent in none, but could get by (except in Latin since its dead.)
Brought to you by Bamba™
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In Putin’s Black Sea dacha, a Walkman blasted The Scorpions’ “Wind of Change” into Lyudmila’s ears as she quietly whistled along, the vintage Uralet vacuum barely audible over the early 90s requiem for Soviet Russia.
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My first conversation with a Palestinian was decidedly not what I expected
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FEATURED IN · MIDDLE EAST UNCOVERED
For Afghan women, getting accepted into a university abroad is only the beginning. Leaving the country means navigating a maze of restrictions with few ways through. I wrote about what that journey actually looks like.
Read the piece →POLYGLOT
I've been a language lover since I started learning how to read music at age 5. I recently realized that today's language learning apps aren't motivating for people like me and also lack the functionality to learn Dari. So, I made Polyglot.
Check it out →ROYA LINGUA
A huge gap exists for native Dari speakers to learn English, so I set out to solve that problem. Roya Lingua, currently a prototype, is built with low literacy learners in mind and provides Dari translation support throughout. I hope it can help Afghans anywhere in the world learn English effectively.
Check it out →If you've ever wanted to see me pop up in your email with no set cadence whatsoever, I've got you covered.
I 100% won't respond to cold outreaches about random marketing products/demos/starting my own franchise, xoxo