About

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return.”

— Leonardo da Vinci

Salam, Big World! is written and maintained by me. This blog is about travel experiences, life, politics and general thoughts and big-life questions.

A Little About Me

I was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt by a fierce woman I’d like to refer to as Mom! I have recently made a big move on a personal and career level; I decided to move to Warsaw, Poland to start working at TechSoup Global. The blend of technology and social good is what attracted me to this role at TechSoup – here I manage our international partnerships across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Most recently, I was living living in Beirut, Lebanon volunteering at Al Majmoua as a Kiva Fellow.

Before my move to Beirut, I was the Search Quality Manager for the Middle East and North Africa at Google, Inc.  There I focused on pushing the quality of the search experience to serve the local needs of the users by coming up with locally relevant product features, policies and improvements.

Prior to taking on the search quality manager role, I spent four months in Delhi, India growing Google’s online sales team in the Gurgaon office and falling in love with India on the side.

My interest in travel, world cultures, international and social development seems as old as my childhood memories. My passion and interest in the area led me to participate in the Global Philanthropy Forum in 2007 and maintain an active volunteer relationship with Ashoka in the Middle East and Bay Area. I served on the board of the Foundation for Sustainable Development (www.fsdinternational.org). During my free-time, I keep busy with creative projects like completing my first short-film in 2010, “The Invitation”, busting rhythms on my dumbek or busy taking photographs of new places I visit. In 2011, I was honored to be part of the ongoing Youth Revolution of Egypt that started in January 25, 2011.