Our Team

Our team and board members are comprised of many refugees and immigrants, and are currently based in 9 different countries. We work hard to ensure our vision and process are centred around the voices and needs of vulnerable people and refugees.

team members

Atif Javed

Executive Director & Co-founder

Having served as an interpreter for his own refugee and immigrant family, Atif has always been passionate about creating language access. He graduated from MIT during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. When the travel ban was announced, he left his job as a Product Manager to launch Tarjimly to help thousands of refugees and humanitarian workers overcome language barriers. He has been awarded Forbes 30 Under 30, SVBJ’s 40 Under 40, the Echoing Green Fellowship, the MIT Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award, and was featured in Forbes and TechCrunch after launching Tarjimly with Y Combinator.

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Aziz Alghunaim

Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder

Aziz leads Tarjimly’s product development leveraging the latest technologies in communication and machine learning to increase the efficiency of humanitarian services and global volunteering. Previously, he worked as a Software Engineer for Palantir Technologies in Silicon Valley enabling data-driven decision making in finance, aircraft manufacturing, and oil & gas. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Computer Science from MIT, with a focus on Machine Learning. He is a Y Combinator Alum, Echoing Green fellow, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 awardee for Social Entrepreneurship.

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Sara Haj-Hassan

Chief Operating Officer & Co-founder

Sara leads the development of partnerships with organizations that can benefit from or contribute to Tarjimly's services. She has experience working with immigrant and refugee populations both nationally and internationally and has seen firsthand the negative effects of language barriers on access to various services. She received her MSW from UC Berkeley and believes in the importance of relationship-building in creating long-lasting partnerships to achieve shared goals.

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Ismail Alarmouti

Lead Software Engineer

Ismail is your average Joe with several years of experience in building software for companies like MySense.ai and NewsCorp UK. He is very passionate about the intersection of Islam and technology, hoping to please The Creator through his work. He is the father of three girls and likes cats, reading, and many other things.

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Alex Mitchell

Project & Product Coordinator

Alex coordinates interpretation and translation projects, and oversees Tarjimly's product management. She has several years of experience working for grassroots organizations in Greece that responded to the influx of refugees. Alex is passionate about language access for refugees, having witnessed the obstacles they face in accessing information about their rights and available services due to language barriers, and how this disproportionately affects illiterate and underserved communities.

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Pablo Joral

Software Engineer

Pablo is a software engineer and is part of Tarjimly’s development team. He is passionate about problem-solving and building software that makes a difference. He enjoys playing sports like football and tennis, as well as video games and board games.He ensures that the app remains healthy and functional while contributing to the design and implementation of new features.

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Pranishka Nayagar

Operations Associate

Pranishka works as Operations Associate of Tarjimly, where her mission is to serve and grow the Tarjimly community, to ensure quality of interactions and a safe working space for refugees, translators and aid-workers. She also manages Tarjimly’s marketing and social media campaigns initiatives. Pranishka is a seasoned consulting and operational executive who has worked within reputable international organisations around the world including many NGOs. Her family migrated from South Africa to New Zealand in the early 1980's while the country was in a state of emergency due to the Apartheid Regime., so working at Tarjimly is heart and soul work for her.

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Irtaza Raza

Grant Manager

Irtaza holds a Master's degree in Development Studies and has experience working at different national and international NGOs. At Tarjimly, he supports fundraising and grants management. Irtaza is a strong believer in equal rights and opportunities for all.

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Fortunate Adediwura

Product Designer

Fortunate is a product designer with  five years of experience ideating and designing digital solutions in accommodation, logistics, socials and health industries to name a few. He previously led the Product Design teams at Rhics Technologies, The Thread Group and CribMD. He is also a dad of two and enjoys playing chess, video games and swimming. Fortunate is currently driving all the design changes we are making to improve the quality of our users’ experiences.

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Ifeanyi Muogbo

Software Engineer

Ifeanyi is a software engineer with several years of experience building software for esteemed companies like MTN NG and PeopleBeam. Beyond the world of coding, he finds solace in the pages of captivating books and the enchantment of poetry. Whether immersing himself in literary wonders or delving into the intricacies of volleyball on the court, he seeks inspiration from a diverse range of sources.  His unwavering commitment to excellence ensures the seamless functioning and continuous improvement of Tarjimly's groundbreaking app.

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Whitney Perricone

Software Engineer Intern

Whitney is a software engineer intern on Tarjimly’s development team. Her passion for problem solving, language and helping others brought her to Tarjimly, where she hopes to learn new skills while contributing to creating change. She has a menagerie of pets, and loves to do puzzles, play board games, and spend time with her two young nieces.

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BOARD MEMBERS

Abubakar Abid

Board Member

Abubakar serves as Tarjimly’s President overseeing strategic direction as a nonprofit. He is a PhD candidate and Soros Fellow at Stanford university with a focus in machine learning. He is published in Nature and worked on Tarjimly’s first matching algorithm.

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Hussein Abdelhalim

Board Member

Value Creation Director at Littlejohn & Co and former Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey working cross-functionally in international and US markets, especially public sector entities in the Middle East. Background in education for underprivileged communities.

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Margo Drakos

Board Member

Managing Director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Margo Drakos plays a lead role in sourcing new investments and working with the leadership of organizations in the DRK portfolio as an operating partner and board member as they grow to build capacity and to achieve their maximum impact. Margo spent the past decade as a founder, working with private and public sector institutions to leverage technology to realize scale, revenue generation, and sustainability. She has recruited, led, and motivated matrixed and dispersed organizations of engineering, product, marketing, strategy, and growth teams.

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Yamen Al-Hajjar

Board Member

Yamen is a partner at Olive Tree Capital that was instrumental in Tarjimly’s founding and research. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and worked with the BMG Foundation for 10 years.

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