{DELL-ya} A biracial nonbinary femme residing in unceded Lenape Land (Philadelphia). Amongst other things, they are a survivor of childhood sexual abuse & adult rape, a reluctant social worker, and a transformative justice facilitator. As an educator, creator, and healer – Dalia has a passion for imagining and implementing alternatives to the carceral state. Having worked with survivors and perpetrators of harm for five years, Dalia continues to emphasize harm reduction and survivor autonomy in their processes. Dalia enjoys writing letters, their two gray cats, candles, & sitting in the sun. While staying rooted in an abolitionist practice and theory, as well as Islam and the mercy of the divine - they are committed to always moving towards liberation. With a knack for organization, Community building, and knowledge sharing - Dalia holds the position of Advocacy Director.

Saba Taj is a Queer Pakistani femme-monster born and raised in the South. Through visuals, written word, and expressive hand gestures, they are dedicated to harnessing the power of narrative, beauty, and queerness in service of collective liberation. Taj’s official role is to “make it cute.”

Taj is the 2023 Brightwork Fellow at Anchorlight, 2019-2020 post-MFA Fellow for the Documentary Diversity Project at CDS, and 2017 Southern Constellations Fellow at Elsewhere Museum. They earned their MFA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2016, and their BA in Art Education at North Carolina Central University.

Shenaaz founded Queer Crescent in response to the Muslim & African Travel Ban of 2017, to mitigate the ways LGBTQI+ folks struggle with Muslim community pushout in the face of state violence, anti-Muslim racism and perpetual wars. After years of care work - with youth as a high school mental health counselor, a survivor advocate, therapist and cultural organizer - she materialized a dream of creating a progressive organization centering queer Muslims and healing justice. Queer Crescent has grown from that seedling to a national base-building organization stretching towards liberation.

Shenaaz is deeply shaped by her Shia lineage, placelessness as an Indian Muslim, the ongoing pain of being a survivor, and the unconditional love co-created with her young-wise kiddo. Shenaaz is based in the Bay.

Suraiya began organizing accidentally and through necessity, starting out as a student organizer skipping class to protest abortion bans in Georgia. This early experience solidified her identity as a dedicated Southern organizer, deeply influenced by the mentorship of queer, black, and brown feminist activists in the region. Being a queer Muslim woman and the daughter of Bangladeshi working-class immigrants living in the South has significantly shaped Suraiya's perspective. These experiences have ingrained in her a deep commitment to intersectional feminism and community-centered activism to challenge and dismantle oppressive capitalist structures and narratives. Now, as the Organizing Director of Queer Crescent, she hopes to continue her movement work, focusing on building power and cultivating a political home for queer Muslim communities.

Before joining Queer Crescent, Suraiya worked as the Organizing Director of the Georgia Muslim Voter Project and the Georgia Manager of the National Asian-Pacific American Women’s Forum in Atlanta. There, she demonstrated her skill in mobilizing communities, forging strategic partnerships, and amplifying underrepresented voices. Her work centers both addressing immediate community needs while paving the way for long-term systemic change. Suraiya is currently an MSW candidate at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, where she hopes to explore an anti-oppressive healing justice framework.

Lily is an organizer by training, a cook by love, an internationalist and abolitionist by necessity, and Moroccan/white queer southerner by birth. Lily currently is a collective member of Understory Oakland. Prior to that, they worked as Campaign Director for Critical Resistance (2015 - early 2020) and Director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (2007 - 2012). Lily's political work has included youth education and organizing, anti-zionist and anti-war mobilizing, migrant rights campaigning, mutual aid food distribution, and alliance building. She is excited to support Queer Crescent with organizational development in 2023.

Rafa is the Legal Defense Fund Director at If/When/How. Prior to joining If/When/How, Rafa was a public defender at the Legal Aid Society’s Brooklyn Criminal Defense Practice, Legal Fellow at Court Watch NYC, and Director of Immigrant Justice/ Paul Rappaport Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. Rafa’s work and activism has focused on queer and trans liberation, supporting survivors of intimate partner violence, economic justice, family defense, immigrant justice, and prison abolition.

Watch Rafa slay Full Frontal with Samatha Bee giving us the Muslim leadership we can all get behind.

Yashna Maya Padamsee is a first generation south asian immigrant queer femme raised in and by the US South. Yashna has spent 19+ years supporting social movements through creating innovative infrastructure and sharing liberatory healing practices. She uses organizing, art making, somatics and yoga for healing and transformation at the intersections of immigration, labor, gender + sexuality and bodily autonomy. Yashna enjoys watching good (and not so good) TV shows, eating dumplings or dal with her partner Ang, and taking their sweet dog Monkey on a walk at sunset at the river.

Kieran (they/she) is a Black Queer, non-binary individual, with a passion for Islam, Black Feminist theory and praxis, and community building. They currently work as a program manager for first-year underrepresented college students. They graduated from (The) Ohio State University with degrees in Journalism and Black Studies, and they plan to continue their education to get a PhD and become a professor. They love to write, make jewelry, read, go to concerts and cook. As a Muslim revert (2021), finding Queer Muslim community has proved to be an incredibly valuable and meaningful resource for them. She is looking forward to developing programming to support and give healing offerings to the student Intifada.

bio coming soon

Amal is a transdisciplinary storyteller, artist, and facilitator. They cultivate creative, healing ecosystems through installation, collective performance, and somatic ritual in lush, immersive portals. Their work grows from root systems of their transness, displaced indigeneity, spirituality, and ancestry in South West Asia and North Africa. Their creativity shapeshifts and responds to their environment and communities’ needs, materializing as moving image, textile, painting, dance, installation, production and beyond. They find nourishment in community, rhythm, sunlight, flowers, and shared food.

Jarred is a Black Queer Muslim born and raised in Chicago,Illinois. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Grand Valley State University in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. He is a transplant to Michigan with a passion for poetry and reading He is inspired by the works of Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, and Octavia Butler. He has used their teachings to support his work in assisting victims/survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence. His own praxis of healing focuses on using Black feminist thought and Afro-futurism to transform racialized and gendered harm into healing and liberation.