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Sonia Shah

Young Ambassadors

If you want to become part of Sonia Shah Young Ambassadors program , please reach out to Momina Khan President Sonia Shah Young Ambassadors program at Khanm@miamioh.edu

Momina Khan

President

Julissa Martínez-Rosales

Vice President

Sara Bejko

Secretary

ruby
Ruby Writer
Angela Uzeir
Aminah Syed
Saanvi Malkani
Nurefsan Bertan
Eminenur Sarikaya
Sreeja Gadepalli
Bari Vadaria
Aariyen Singh
Taha Din

Did you know that 65 million girls around the world are not in school? A growing cadre of young people just like you are making a difference for those girls.

Young people have an essential role to play in building a better world. Active participation in SSO’s YA program gives them new confidence that their work matters, that they, too, can change the world.

“I’m Ruby, but I’m also Sonia. You’re all you, but you’re also Sonia. And that means that we all have the power to make an impact on this world.” – Ruby Writer

Their contributions influence others. Their compassion inspires. They learn from each other, and we learn from them!

It could be said that Sonia Shah herself was a Young Ambassador herself, a citizen diplomat who set out to build a girls’ school in her maternal ancestral village of Kangra. Her efforts planted the seed. Her story continues to inspire.

Diverse group of girls and boys ranging from primary school to university students have joined the program.

Sonia Shah Organization’s (SSO) Young Ambassadors consistently surprise and motivate us with their creative, determined and meaningful efforts to Be the Change.

  • These Young Ambassadors tell their friends, families, classmates and communities about SSO’s mission to educate and empower women and girls in Kangra and right here in the United States.
  • They raise money for SSO.
  • They educate others.
  • They help us reach a wider audience.
  • They make the world a better place!

Would you like to become a Young Ambassador for Girls’ Education?

Send us information (including photos and video, if you have them) about your efforts for Sonia Shah Organization, with answers to these questions: Why do you think some girls never get to go to school? Why is education important? Why is girls’ education important? How did you hear about Sonia Shah’s story? What is something you are doing or want to do to help these girls?

We will need your name, age, address and a photo of you
(make sure you or your parents fill out a photo release so we can include you on this page!).

Photo Release Form

Other things you can do:

  • Be a voice for these girls
  • Help at annual fundraiser
  • Write a letter explaining why girls’ education is important and what you are doing to help and send it to your local newspaper.
  • Donate

Be the change you wish to see in the world!

I am Sonia Too

By Momina Khan
President Sonia Shah Young Ambasadors

I rise to all occasions with confidence and grace
Ill meet my fears with courage
There’s no challenge I wont face
If ever I should fall, I will always bounce right back
I’ll strive to always do my best and learn the skills I lack
I’ll always be accountable, and true to what’s within
Ill remember my humility, in every loss and every win
I’ll show my dedication in everything I do
I embody all these values, because…
I am Sonia too

Be the change you wish to see in the world!

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Momina Khan - President

Momina is a law student with a science background. She is the President of the young ambassadors division. Her role entails organizing and running meetings, communicating with heads of committees and maintaining professionalism and efficiency in the organization. She is also a resource to all of the SSO young ambassadors and key decision makers.

Julissa Martínez-Rosales - Secretary / - SSO USA Scholarship Recipient

Julissa is 19 year old SSO Young Ambassador, who is also a recipient of the SSO US based college scholarship program. Her role as a secretary includes documenting meetings and managing meeting calendars. She is also part of the IT Analytics committee where she analyzes databases and info-graphics of SSO audience.

Sara Bejko - SSO Young Ambassador

Sara is a 23 year old Occupational Therapist and Nursing Student. She is an event data organizer, and supports with various duties within the organization and its committees.
Passionate and eager to help causes like SSO, so every child receives at least 12 years of free, quality education. She believes that each time empowered women stand up for themselves, they stand up and empower all women.

Ruby Writer - SSO Young Ambassador

Ruby is a rising senior, beginning her college application process while also ending her high school career at Walter Payton College Prep. Since 7th grade, Ruby has been a young ambassador for SSO, supporting and volunteering wherever she can through MC-ing our annual fundraisers to working with the YA team to improve and maintain Sonia’s mission to empower women globally. She plans on attending college in Europe with the hope of studying political science and gender studies.

Angela Uzeir - SSO Young Ambassador

Aminah Syed - SSO Young Ambassador

Aminah Syed is a 16 year old sophomore from Stevenson High School. In school, she leads HEARD, an initiative to foster diversity and inclusion. She is in a multitude of clubs, including, Future Business Leaders of America, Diversity Council E-Board, and Key Club International. Besides her school related passions, she is a dancer and a horseback rider. Aminah is interested in racial justice issues, human rights, and hopes to look into ethical consumerism. Overall, she is a hardworking and dedicated young woman who enjoys being apart of the SSO Young Ambassadors Team.

Saanvi Malkani - SSO Young Ambassador

Saanvi Malkani is an avid writer, activist, and debater on all social justice issues, especially those related to global women’s rights and education. With that, she hopes to become a human rights lawyer, eventually pursuing a career in politics. Saanvi hopes to be a catalyst for change in her community through service, speaking out when she can, and through her art which focuses on issues of social injustice. She is the leader of her schools Amnesty International chapter and Girl Up chapter, and founder of South Asian Student Union and MAD (Make a Difference)- a political organizing club. Her hobbies include painting, drawing, Bollywood dance, reading, and drinking more iced coffee than water! Above all, Saanvi is an ambassador for the Sonia Shah Organization and her purpose is Sonia’s mission.

Sreeja Gadepalli - SSO Young Ambassador

Sreeja is a Class of 2025 pre-med psychology student at Case Western Reserve University. She is an advocate for women’s health issues and mental health, and works to incorporate Sonia Shah’s values in her everyday life. She plans on becoming a board certified surgeon where she can encourage younger generations of girls to study and achieve their own dreams.

Bari Vadaria - SSO Young Ambassador

Bari Vadaria is an 18 year old senior at Hinsdale Central High School. Apart from him being part of the wrestling team, chess team, and bass fishing team, he does numerous activities out of his school life. He loves making music, working on cars, reading, working out, ethical hacking, and tinkering with tech. As a second degree black belt, he’s an avid Martial artist competing in tournaments while working with young kids advancing their skills. Bari’s plan is to attend college in engineering, work to accelerate the transition to more sustainable energy sources, and develop hydrogen-powered engines.

Aariyen Singh - SSO Young Ambassador

Aariyen Singh is a 16 year old junior at Elgin Academy. In school, he was part of the foundation of the LEAD club where students can discuss current events and their effect on the community. To add to this he is part of other clubs including stock club, scholastic bowl, and service club. Aariyen is interested in psychology and wants to pursue a medical field through the military.

Taha Din - SSO Young Ambassador

Taha Din is a 23 year old who graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2021. He is passionate about social justice and human rights, and enjoys volunteering to make a difference both locally and globally. In addition to being a Young Ambassador for the Sonia Shah Organization, Taha has his own soccer camp for local children, volunteers with The Citizen’s Foundation Chicago chapter, and also has his own non-profit project called Play on Pakistan which raises money to provide sporting equipment and athletic funding for low income children in Karachi. Taha hopes to attend law school in the near future and wants to focus on Human Rights and Immigration Law. He believes that all humans are worthy of having the same opportunities, and he passionately works to ensure that children who are seeking out an education get the chances they deserve.

Mr. Zahir Lavji is director of ZL Advisory LLC, a consulting service to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical-devices industries, primarily focused on commercialization. He also mentors healthcare start-up companies, entrepreneurs, university technology-transfer offices, and medical faculty. Having grown up in Africa and managed businesses globally for more than 30 years, Zahir is keenly aware of the important role education plays in personal and social mobility.

In 1972, Zahir left Uganda as a refugee during the mass exodus and emigrated to Canada where he established his new roots. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in pharmacology from the University of Toronto, and his MBA from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada.

He spent much of his professional career with Abbott Laboratories, an Illinois-based healthcare-innovation corporation working in more than 150 countries, from which he retired as vice president for international marketing. His career included commercializing billion-dollar pharmaceuticals and glucose-monitoring, medical-nutrition and critical-care devices. As regional director for Abbott in Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, he successfully integrated the Knoll acquisition into single Abbott entities. And as president of Abbot Japan, where he spent eight years, he also managed business alliances with major Japanese pharmaceutical companies.

He devotes considerable time and expertise to mentoring healthcare startups from the Chicago Innovation Mentors group; chairs the Supervisory Board of Temple Therapeutics a development stage Biotechnology startup; is an active investor with Hyde Park Angels; is a Consultant with Breuer Partners & Company, a healthcare consulting organization; serves on the review committee for the University of Chicago’s Innovation Fund at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; and is a panelist for PROPEL-Sikich Investment Banking’s private workshop series.

In addition to pro-bono work in his field, his charitable activities include assisting the Aga Khan Foundation in the Midwest and serving as a standing member of the Alzheimer’s Association Chicago Rita Hayworth Gala.

He lives in Lake Forest, Ill., with his wife Rozmin and daughter Safina.

Greg Mortenson

Greg Mortenson is a humanitarian and girls’ education advocate. He is the co-founder of Central Asia Institute (CAI), an international NGO that established hundreds of schools, especially for girls, in remote and often volatile regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. He co-authored three New York Times bestsellers about his experiences, Three Cups of Tea, Stones into Schools and Listen to the Wind. Mortenson grew up with three sisters on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, where his parents helped start a medical teaching hospital and an international school. The family returned to Minnesota in 1973, where Mortenson finished high school. He then served in the U.S. Army in Germany; studied at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., on a football scholarship; and graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1983 with degrees in liberal studies and nursing. For a decade he worked as a trauma nurse, putting in extra shifts to save money for mountaineering expeditions.

The sudden death of his sister Christa from epilepsy led him to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, in her memory. His experiences there changed his life, prompting the creation of CAI and his enduring vision to promote girls’ education around the world. Mortenson left CAI in 2016, but continues to advocate girls’ and women’s empowerment. He says, “You can drop bombs, build roads or put in electricity, but until girls are educated, a society won’t change.”

He has received many accolades for his work, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service and the Sitara-e-Pakistan (Star of Pakistan) medal, and honorary degrees from 16 universities.

He lives in Bozeman, Mont., with his wife Tara Bishop, daughter Amira and son Khyber.

Dr. Sairah Alvi is a scientist, lecturer and philanthropist with a passion for the written word. With a PhD in hematology/oncology and extensive post-doctoral work, she works as a consultant for large pharmaceutical companies and an adjunct faculty member at International Islamic University and Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan and Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan.

Sairah’s first love, however, is Urdu literature. She is director of the Urdu Institute of Chicago, which promotes Urdu language and literature, and an ambassador for Pakistan’s National Book Foundation, organizing events at her home for writers, poets and musicians from Southeast Asia and the United States.

She was educated and has lived and worked in the United States, South Africa, England, and Pakistan. Her husband is an English South African physician and chairman of pathology at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Ill.

Sairah earned her master’s degree in global management from London School of Economics, two masters’ of science degrees in immunology and molecular genetics from the University of Cincinnati, and a PhD in hematology/oncology from Rush University in Chicago. She did her post-doctoral work at the University of Cape Town and the South African Institute of Medical Research in Johannesburg.

She has published over 100 original articles in peer-reviewed cancer journals, and continues to lecture extensively at various universities, medical centers and scientific conferences.

Sairah hosts most SSO board meetings at her home and plays a key role in organizing annual fundraisers, SSO-related events in Pakistan, and visits to Sonia Shah Memorial School in Kangra. Her other charitable activities include support for the ARCS Foundation, dedicated to advancing women in science and technology; and HDF and TCF, which build schools and health centers in Pakistan. She is a member of Good Samaritan’s Festival Committee and her family supports numerous arts and cultural organization in Chicago, including the Chicago Art Institute and Goodman Theatre.

She lives in Oakbrook, Ill., with her husband. They have three children: her oldest daughter is a physician; her son studies economics and international relations at University of St Andrews in Scotland; and her youngest daughter is in high school and aspires to be a lawyer. 

Ms. Iram Shah is a humanitarian and global corporate executive with a career across multiple industries and countries. A senior vice president at Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and automation, she also runs the Sonia Shah Organization, started by her late daughter, which focuses on educating and empowering underprivileged girls.

Iram’s corporate career of more than two decades spans numerous Fortune 500 companies — including Schneider, Gatorade, Coca Cola, BP, and Zurich Financial — in five countries in industries ranging from oil and gas to financial services and manufacturing. 

She has served on several nonprofit organization boards, including Seeds of Peace, Central Asia Institute, Schneider Foundation and Chicagoland Habitat for Humanity. She is passionate about girls’ education and women’s empowerment and has been thought leader and keynote speaker at national and international women’s forums. 

Iram earned a master’s degree in business administration from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced General-Management Program. She was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the UK in 2005; one of 11 top international Woman Leaders in Chicagoland by Chicago Women magazine in 2017; received the chancellor’s excellence award from Chicago’s East-West University in 2017.

She lives in Deerfield, Ill., with her husband Mahmood, two sons, and her mother.

Gianni and Giavanna Geati are 11-year-old twins in sixth grade at St. James School in Arlington Heights. Gianni plays basketball and soccer, as well as being a percussionist in the school band. And Giavanna, also a musician, plays piano and percussion in the school band. She also enjoys cooking and sewing. 

A year ago, when Gianni Geati was in fifth grade at Saint James School in Arlington Heights, Ill., his teacher assigned him and his classmates to each “write a news story out someone you know who has done a good deed or performed an act of kindness.” Coincidentally, Gianni, then 10 years old, had just heard about Sonia from his sisters — Giuliana, Liliana and Giavanna. They had just attended SSO’s 2016 fundraising event. 

“When [my sister] told me all about it, I was very inspired about all the things Sonia Shah did,” he said. “The next day in religion class I had to write about somebody who inspired me.”

Here’s what he wrote: 

“This girl, Sonia Shah, went to Pakistan and built a school for girls. In the past, only boys were allowed in school. Sonia helped many other girls go and get their education. She was only 17 years old when she raised money and made the plan to build a school. Unfortunately, Sonia died in a car crash. Her mother then founded the Sonia Shah Foundation.”

In an appearance onstage at SSO’s 2017 fundraiser in Chicago, Gianni explained, “I chose to write about Sonia Shah because I have three sisters and I think it’s very important for girls to get education.” 

Shayaan Alvi Borok,16, lives in Oak Brook, Ill., and attends Hinsdale Central High School. “My mom is one of the board members, so she told me about the organization and I wanted to get involved,” Shayaan said. “I support Sonia Shah Organization because it is truly trying to make a difference in Pakistan, a place that I have a strong connection to. I am also a woman and undoubtedly believe that all girls deserve a quality education.”

Shahzmeen Hussain, 22, graduated in May 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois-Champaign- Urbana, and now lives at home with her family in Skokie, IL.

“I came across Sonia Shah Organization at a dinner gathering over a year ago, where Iram shared the compelling story of Sonia’s sincere vision and goals for the children of Pakistan,” she said. “I come from a family that is dedicated to primary, secondary and higher education, so it was a no-brainer for me to become an ambassador for Sonia’s dream.

“It is true what they say, ‘If you educate a woman, you educate a nation.’ That change begins here, with us at SSO, and I’m proud to be able to improve the lives of children across the globe,” she said. 

Mehreen Zakeri, 31, immigrated to the United States from Pakistan in February 2017 and now lives in Chicago with her husband. Prior to her move, she worked at the Oil Marketing Company in Karachi, Pakistan. Her decision to volunteer for SSO was sparked by her experience at the organization’s 2017 fundraiser in Chicago.

“During the event, I got to listen to one of Sonia’s letters,” she said. “It touched my heart, and her passion towards girls’ education inspired me to contribute towards this cause. I believe, as I quote John Dewey, an American educational reformer, ‘Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.’ Hence, education is the basic right of each child and specifically, an educated girl equals to an educated generation. So, this revolution is so powerful that being a part of it is an honor in itself.”

Enxhi (Angie) Uzeir, 22, studies biology at East-West University in Chicago, and is one of two current SSO scholarship students.

“I support SSO for the reasons of enabling me to achieve goals that might otherwise be impossible,” Angie explained. “Through it I became the first person in my family to be able to attend college and follow my dreams.” 

When Rory McKee, a fifth-grader in Evanston, Ill., first heard Iram Shah speaking on the radio, she was stunned to learn that there are places in the world where girls can’t go to school.

“The radio person said there was someplace in Pakistan where girls don’t get to go to school because [their families] need help running the house and doing chores, so they choose their daughters to do that,” she said. That made her mad. “Girls should go to school because boys and girls are the same. Neither one is better. They should both go to school.”

Guided by her mom, Rory went to the Internet to learn more about how Iram’s daughter Sonia had started a girls’ school in a rural Pakistani village

“Sonia’s relatives live in Pakistan, and she visited them and was moved by meeting girls there that didn’t go to school,” Rory said. “[Sonia] wanted to do something about it. And I thought, there are a lot of people at my school. I could do something there. I wanted to get more money so more girls could go to school.”

So she did. Then a fourth-grader at Lincoln Elementary School in Evanston, she raised $200 for the Sonia Shah Organization (SSO). She said she wanted to tell these girls “that other people in the world care about them, their education.”

Zuleyma Cordero, 25, is a Sonia Shah Scholarship Program recipient, attending Harper Community College in Palatine, Ill. and on track to graduate in spring 2018 with a double major in accounting and business. She also works full-time and volunteers for SSO.

The first person in her family to go to college, she has said that Sonia’s legacy provides constant motivation, she added.

“I think of what a great inspiration Sonia was and still is to this day,” Zuleyma said. “I like to reflect on how she is changing lives of young girls, including myself. And that it all started with the passion she had, and with the idea of making history. She didn’t give up at the sight of any difficulty, she pressed forward to achieve her goal.”

Zuleyma’s volunteer work includes help with fundraising campaigns and events.