In this episode of the podcast, we are joined by Marya Bangee.

Marya started her journey as a community organizer in the Muslim-American community, including leading a national advocacy campaign for the protection of free speech on college campuses. Through her organizing, she has often represented the Muslim-American voice in national media like the New York Times and NPR.

After completing her baccalaureate degrees in English and Sociology at UC Irvine, she served as a Project Director at UCLA, working to increase access to higher education in impoverished areas of the city. Seeing the need for communal solutions to the challenges posed by poverty, she completed a six-month residency with the Industrial Areas Foundation. There, Marya studied the works of Saul Alinsky and Marshall Ganz while helping organize a mayoral town hall with a thousand Angelenos and carrying out a series of mobile enrollment clinics for the Affordable Care Act with low-income communities.

Marya was selected for the prestigious Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, where she worked on a national senate campaign, staffed California’s Speaker of the Assembly, and helped develop part of the ten-year strategic plan for the California Community Foundation. Marya graduated as a Dean’s Merit Scholar from the University of Southern California (USC) with her Masters in Public Administration in 2015, specializing in nonprofit management and public policy. In 2017, she was selected by the Ford Foundation as a Public Voices Fellow, which aims to dramatically increase the impact of spokespeople from underrepresented communities.

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Oaktree Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on leadership and organizational development. We aim to improve the performance of Muslim community leaders and nonprofit organizations so that they can make a greater impact on others. Our mission is to develop value-driven, action-focused, and result-oriented leaders.

If you need help with your organization, please email us at [email protected] or schedule a call with us at bitly.com/otimeeting

Links and contact information:

Join our Servant Leaders Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/otiservantleaders

Connect With Oaktree Institute: linktr.ee/oaktreeinstitute or [email protected]

Connect With Rami Kawas: linktr.ee/ramikawas or [email protected]

Connect With Marya Bangee: https://www.silaconsulting.co or [email protected]

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