ZAGNY and FEZANA’s United Nations Non-Governmental Committee Presents

A Panel Workshop at the Arbab Rustam Guiv Dar-E-Mehr, 106 Pomona Road, Pamona, NY 10901 on Sunday, March 10^th, 2019 at 11:00 AM.

FEZANA has 9 participants representing Zoroastrians at the Commission on the Status of Women Conference in New York from March 11^th to 22^nd, 2019.  They will be attending the panel workshop and presenting the topic, “Educating Girls: An Empowering Tool to Promote Prosperity & Gender Equality.”

Biographies of the speakers:

Adina Mistry is a high school senior. She is a member of her school’s academic honors society; founder and President of the Pratham Club, as well as founding member and President of the Limitless Club at her school; Officer of the Lion’s Heart Class of 2019 Blue Girls Group, a community service organization; and teacher for 9-11-year-olds at the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY) religion class. Adina represents her school’s Speech & Debate Team in extemporaneous speech and original oratory competitions and enjoys playing the violin in her school orchestra. Her commitment to the education and empowerment of girls, coupled with her belief in Good Thoughts, Good Words and Good Deeds, inspires the several volunteer community service efforts she is actively involved in.

Anahita Verahrami has a B.S. from Cornell University where she majored in the Interdisciplinary Studies of Biology, Anthropology, and Ecology and obtained minors in Biology and Anthropology. She is currently working as a research assistant for the Elephant Listening Project(ELP), a conservation NGO at Cornell. Her work with ELP deals largely with conducting acoustic analyses in order to monitor and conserve the forest elephant populations of Central Africa as well as to generate a deeper understanding of how individual elephants communicate with one another. Last year, she spent a wild four months living and working in the Central African rainforest while conducting research on the forest elephants of Dzanga bai in the southern part of the Central African Republic (CAR). Ultimately, she wishes to become a National Geographic Explorer and one day lead her own research group while continuing to focus on applying acoustic monitoring to the conservation of endangered African wildlife. She is an avid photographer, currently shooting mostly wildlife and landscapes. She has also participated in art exhibitions and even executed one of her own exhibitions through which she showcased photographs that functioned to destigmatize mental illness on the Cornell campus and raise awareness about sexual assault. One of these photos was eventually published online by National Geographic. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking with her dog, Oscar, and writing stories about her time in CAR to share through her blog.

Tanya Bharda is from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.  She has completed her undergraduate degree in Women and Gender Studies, Italian and Political Science from the University of Toronto. She is a flight attendant and also works at a women’s shelter as a women’s advocate.  She also worked with different Non-Government Organizations in India to make a difference in the world through education of underprivileged children because she believes that, “Every Child needs Equality, not Charity.”

Nadia Jam recently received her Bachelors in Social Sciences with an Honours Specialization in Political Science in French Immersion from the University of Ottawa.  International affairs has always been part of Nadia Jam’s personal and academic interest.  Her passion for learning languages and community building has benefited her in the national and global engagement opportunities she has seized; from working with political parties and campaigns, attending model UN conferences, working for marginalized women and survivors for an NGO in Nepal, and so on. Nadia’s myriad of experiences has helped her think without borders and further recognize that addressing gender disparities requires meaningful dialogue and collaboration. She hopes that CWS 2019 will be among those spaces of inspiration towards a more gender equal world.

Afreed Mistry has been volunteering for the Zoroastrian Community since the age of 13.  She has been actively involved with the local Toronto community, FEZANA and the Global Zoroastrian community.  Recently, she was one of the Masters of Ceremonies at the 11th World Zoroastrian Congress in Perth, Australia.  Afreed is also FEZANA’s main representative to the United Nations.