01Resume

Experience & impact

Six years of turning complicated, often heavy human rights work into things people actually engage with — stories that get covered, campaigns that get funded, brands people remember. I came up through communications and fundraising for mission-driven organizations, and I'm now carrying that same instinct for clarity into atrocity-prevention research.

If there's a thread, it's this: I've never been satisfied just understanding something — I want other people to care about it too. What follows is the impact, the roles behind it, and the specific skills I picked up making that happen.

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By the numbers

Because impact is easier to feel than to describe.

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Growth in media citations, Freedom House
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Engagement lift after a brand renewal
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Total funding raised across campaigns & grants
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More fellowship applications, Karel

What I do

The clear-cut version — the skills underneath all of the above. I'm a generalist on purpose: the story decides the tool.

Communications & Strategy

  • Public interest communications strategy
  • Media relations & press outreach
  • Press releases, op-eds & talking points
  • Messaging & narrative development
  • Executive & donor communications
  • Event production & speaker prep

Research & Analysis

  • Genocide & mass atrocity prevention
  • Transitional justice & historical memory
  • Qualitative & comparative research
  • Policy analysis & literature review
  • Grant writing & reporting
  • Academic writing & public speaking

Design & Multimedia

  • Brand identity & visual systems
  • Social media graphics & campaigns
  • Video editing (Adobe Premiere Pro)
  • Data visualization & ArcGIS StoryMaps
  • Photography & photo storytelling

Tools & Platforms

  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • WordPress & web content
  • Email marketing platforms
  • Social media management tools
  • Microsoft Office & Google Workspace
  • Languages: English · Urdu

Experience

Newest first. Read it as one long argument for why substance and storytelling belong in the same room.

Research Fellow
Institute for Genocide & Mass Atrocity Prevention (IGMAP)
Binghamton, NY · Aug 2025 – Present · Auschwitz Institute Fellow

The pivot I'd been building toward: bringing a communicator's instincts to atrocity-prevention scholarship, and refusing to treat rigor and accessibility as a trade-off.

  • Conduct research on transitional justice, historical memory, and the early-warning indicators that precede mass atrocity.
  • Translate dense academic findings into accessible briefs, talks, and public-facing writing.
  • Present scholarship at graduate symposia, including William & Mary and Binghamton's SPEL series.
ResearchTransitional justiceAcademic writingPublic speaking
Media & Events Specialist
Freedom House
Washington, DC · Mar 2023 – Aug 2025 · 2.5 yrs

Owned media relations and events for a leading human rights organization — the job where I learned how to make rigorous, uncomfortable research land squarely in the news cycle.

  • Grew media citations by 60% through proactive pitching, rapid response, and building real relationships with journalists.
  • Drafted and placed press releases, statements, op-eds, and talking points across national and international outlets.
  • Produced events from intimate press briefings to large convenings — owning logistics, messaging, and speaker prep.
  • Kept a complex, multi-team organization on message by running the shared editorial and media calendar.
Media relationsPress writingOp-edsEvent productionMessaging
Communications Consultant
International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD)
Washington, DC · Aug 2024 – May 2025 · 10 mos

Came back to ICRD as a consultant to partner with leadership on fundraising and strategic communications during a pivotal stretch.

  • Secured $30K in new funding within six months through targeted communications and donor-facing materials.
  • Developed campaign messaging, grant narratives, and outreach content that tied mission to measurable need.
Fundraising commsGrant writingCampaign strategy
Communications Manager
International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD)
Washington, DC · Aug 2022 – Mar 2023 · 8 mos

Led the organization's brand and communications, modernizing how a serious, decades-old institution actually showed up to the world.

  • Rebuilt the visual identity and messaging, lifting audience engagement by 80%.
  • Coordinated events drawing 200+ attendees, owning promotion and on-site communications.
  • Managed social media, newsletters, and website content as a single, coherent voice.
Brand strategySocial mediaEmail marketingWeb content
Communications Intern
Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce
Maryland · Jun – Aug 2022

My first real comms role — supporting member communications and digital outreach, and learning early that a "boring" newsletter is usually just an unclear one.

  • Grew email engagement by 40% through sharper segmentation and copy.
  • Produced member-facing content and event promotion across email and social.
Email marketingCopywriting
Grant Recipient
Davis Projects for Peace
2021

Pitched, won, and ran an original community peacebuilding project from concept to delivery — my first taste of owning something end to end.

  • Awarded $10K through a competitive national process to design and execute a grassroots peace project.
  • Managed budget, partners, and on-the-ground logistics solo.
Project designGrant managementPeacebuilding
Program Coordinator
Frank Karel Fellowship in Public Interest Communications
2019 – 2020 · 1 yr

Coordinated recruitment and programming for a national public-interest communications fellowship — and got quietly hooked on the whole field in the process.

  • Redesigned recruitment and outreach, growing applications by 70%.
  • Supported fellows and programming throughout the cohort year.
Program coordinationRecruitmentOutreach
Communications Fellow
Families USA
2019 · where it began

Cut my teeth on advocacy storytelling in national health policy — and learned, once and for all, that a single real voice can move a hearing in a way a stack of statistics can't.

  • Built a story-submission program to surface and elevate real patient voices.
  • Drafted talking points and materials supporting congressional testimony.
Advocacy commsStorytellingPolicy writing

Eight roles, one stubborn idea: the most important work in the world still has to be communicated to matter. That's the throughline — and exactly where I'm taking it next.

Education

MS, Genocide & Mass Atrocity Prevention

Binghamton University · 2025–27

Auschwitz Institute Fellow.

BA, Global Studies & Conflict Resolution

Hood College · 2020–22

Honors · Highest Distinction.

AS

Montgomery College · 2017–20

Honors program.

Numbers and titles only tell half of it. The other half is the work itself.

Next: stuff I've made Work with me