RIGHT
TO
BE.

I'm a transformational coach whose life and work have been defined by the courage to reinvent myself. I was raised across Pakistan, the U.S., and the Himalayan borderlands. I've lived in more than five countries, which has given me an expansive and borderless perspective on questions of identity, transition, and belonging.

I started my journey as a homeless teenager, earning my G.E.D. to fulfill my dream of going to college. My professional path began as a scientist, and I was a National Science Foundation Fellow before making the decision to leave academia.

From there, I moved into community-based food systems work focused on regeneration and equity. This work was shaped by what I had witnessed growing up, including immense global poverty, and my own experience of food insecurity in my teens and early college years. Later, I stepped away from the nonprofit sector to build an independent consulting practice grounded in systems thinking and values-aligned transformation.

In my 30s, I began an intentional life experiment to build a "glo-cal" life centered on community. I've been working on a long-term project to create what I call my "global pueblo," a way of life rooted in place and alliance building. This has led me to expand into new ways of living and working that challenge institutional norms and prescriptive ways of life.

During this time, I decided to pursue what, growing up, felt like an impossible dream: becoming a musician, despite having no formal musical training. I began arranging jam sessions with professional musicians, which started as a personal experiment and led me into that path. I performed my first live concert this year.

Today, my work brings together systems thinking, lived experience, and embodied transformation to support people through major life transitions. I'm proud to be building this next chapter with my collaborator and friend Marleen, where we focus on expanding people's capacity to courageously create a life they love. I'm passionate about helping people rebuild their lives in ways that are more aligned with their values and soul's longing.

I also hold a Master's degree in Transformational Leadership and Coaching, and our work is grounded in research-informed approaches to social and emotional learning, so people can draw not only on lived wisdom, but also on practices that are supported by evidence and applied learning.

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I did everything right: PhD in chemistry, tech career, all the boxes ticked. But somehow I was not happy. On top of that I lost my mum, and grief made everything unbearably clear: I had been building toward a future while I sacrificed my present. So I let go of basically everything, moved to Barcelona, where the real work began: making space for emotions I'd been too busy to feel, facing my limiting beliefs, and untangling my self-worth from my productivity and my identity from my job title. What I found on the other side was a version of myself that doesn't need to earn her place — one who can trust life, take responsibility, and also flow and enjoy without postponing it. You can create a life that genuinely excites you and feels like yours. It is possible, I walked this path. And that's why I created Creative Courage together with Ma'raj. You don't have to walk alone, we will make this journey together.