URI Program Associate
Shayda is a recent graduate of the George Washington University, where she studied international affairs and history. She has been involved with interfaith organizing since high school, helping start the GW Interfaith Council and the GW Iranian Student Association during her time at university. Shayda joined URI in 2016 and set out to research how grassroots groups within the URI network can benefit from partnership with the United Nations. A creative and community-oriented Bay Area native, Shayda seeks to be a catalyst for global justice and solidarity through grassroots organizing, Middle East-centered research, interfaith action, and the study of historical narratives. She is passionate about community-based activism and environmental justice.