Hanan Ali Yahya - Urban Planner

Hanan Ali Yahya - Urban Planner

Hanan Ali Yahya is a first-generation Yemeni-American raised in Detroit. With over 10 years of community advocacy and leadership experience, her work focuses on developing neighborhoods and cities, with a focus on access, equity, and sustainability. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2017 where she studied Urban Studies and Entrepreneurship. She is currently Project Manager of the Joe Louis Greenway, a City of Detroit project. The Joe Louis Greenway is a recreational pathway that aims to unify Detroit’s neighborhoods, people, and parks. For more information on the project, visit joelouisgreenway.com.

Aya Krisht - Designer and printmaker

Aya is a Lebanese designer, printmaker, cinephile, and coffee junkie currently based in Metro Detroit. She graduated from the American University of Beirut with a BFA in Graphic Design. After moving to the US, she worked at the Arab American National Museum for nearly 7 years before leaving recently to pursue a freelance career. She has a deep interest in art and craft traditions and their preservation. She is interested in melding the old with the new, community-based knowledge-sharing, and the idea that art is for everyone. She is a co-founder of Maamoul Press, a multi-disciplinary small press and collective that aims for the creation, curation and dissemination of art by marginalized creators at the intersection of comics, printmaking and book arts, which we’ll dive into a bit more during our conversation.  When not drowning in design deadlines, keeping up with the Maamoul Press festival schedule, and having movie marathons, she’s getting acquainted with her new old 100+ year old platen press and learning letterpress, in hopes of one day retreating from the workforce and becoming a printmaking hermit.

Nihad Dukhun - Calligrapher

Nihad Dukhun, artist, master calligrapher and a professor of mechanical engineering. A native of Gaza, Palestine, his interest in custom Arabic calligraphy began when he was in the 6th grade. His work has been exhibited in major U.S. cities and sold in the U.S, Europe, the Middle East as well as Japan. Dukhun holds a PhD in mechanical engineering and is currently a professor at the University of Detroit - Mercy.

Mike Mosallam - Producer

Mike Mosallam is a producer, director, writer for theatre, film and television.  Through his production company, Mike Mosallam Productions, he and his team produced short films: Breaking Fast and Brothers, both written and directed by Mike, along with the short film "Ubuntu," a co-production with the Muslim Public Affairs Council. His feature film debut, Breaking Fast [https://www.breakingfastfilm.com/] is now available on Hulu and anywhere you can rent movies. He is the creator and Co-Executive-Producer of the 2011 critically-acclaimed TLC series, All-American Muslim - which focused on the Dearborn community. Most recently, Mike was an Executive Creative Consultant on Season 2 of Hulu's Ramy. His second feature film (a film adaptation of Heather Raffo’s Nine Parts of Desire) will premiere on PBS in the spring of 2023. Currently in development are a tv series adaptation of Breaking Fast and a feature film based on CNN Hero, Rahul Dubey. On the theatre side, Mike has produced and directed more than 100 theatrical productions from large-scale musicals, intimate cabaret settings, plays, concerts, and multimedia theatrical events. He made his off-broadway directorial debut with Miller/Tysen’s FUGITIVE SONGS. He is a proud Muslim and Lebanese-American.

Kamelya Youssef - Poet

Kamelya Youssef is a poet, educator and literary worker. She's the author of "A Book With a Hole In It" (2022, Wendy's Subway), she's also the co-writer of the play "Kilo Batra: In Death More Radiant" (2021, A Host of People). Her poems and lyric essays have been published by Mizna, The Academy of American Poets, Michigan Quarterly Review, Poet Love and elsewhere. She currently teaches poetry at The City University of New York and is senior poetry editor of Guernica.