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Event

IPN Panel Discussion : Sugar Land, TX on Sunday, January 21st 2018 – The Changing Face of Retail

THE CHANGING FACE OF RETAIL

Are you:
Are you concerned about the growing competition in your business?
Are you worried about online retailers taking your business away?
Curious about how electric cars will effect your business?

If so, The Aga Khan Council for the Southwestern United States, Ismaili Professionals Network, and the Indian American Chamber of Commerce is hosting a panel of experts in retail, fuel, electric cars and, E-Commerce. This panel will present and discuss where the future of retail is headed and help you to understand the changing landscape.

We highly encourage anyone who has an investment in the retail industry to attend this incredibly important session.

Panelists include:
– Previous leader of the National Association of Convenience Stores
– Previous Head of Operations for a major convenience store chain
– Expert in the electric car industry
– Entrepreneur with tremendous success in the online retail industry

Come hear a panel of experienced market leaders and experts answer your questions and concerns!

When : Sunday, January 21st from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Location :
Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center
1700 First Colony Blvd
Sugar Land, TX 77479

Seats are limited so please Register Here!

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Event

IPN Roundtable Discussion : Phoenix, AZ on Friday, February 9th 2018 – A Focus on Disruptive Technologies

IPN West Invites You to the Phoenix Roundtable Discussion- A Focus on Disruptive Technologies

IPN West invites you to learn more about IPN’s programs and services. The IPN West team will share insights on the organization’s objectives as well as how you can leverage the network to advance your career, collaborate on new opportunities and contribute to the Ismaili professionals’ community.

As part of the session, IPN will also host a roundtable on emerging trends within technology, including cryptocurrency and blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning and robotics automation. As technology disrupts our lives at a rapid pace, we must embrace change to maintain leadership in our respective fields as well as identify opportunities for economic and professional growth.

Date: Friday, February 9th, 2018 after Jamat Khana ceremonies

Location: Held in Phoenix, AZ Jamat Khana

Host: Akbar Jaffer, IPN West Honorary Secretary. Akbar is a product strategist and a marketing technologist with over 20 years of industry experience. He currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of ZorroSign, Inc., Founding Chairman of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Internet Marketing Association and an author of PointofIntersection.org, a blog about Technology and Humanities.

Food and refreshments will be provided.

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Spotlight

Ali Dhanani

IPN Spotlight: Ali Dhanani (Partner at Baker Botts)

Ali is a Partner at Baker Botts L.L.P, and his specialization is Intellectual Property.
He grew up in Southwest part of Houston; received his Juris Doctor Magna Cum Laude from the University of Houston. Ali designed the procedure of Patent Litigation a course he teaches as an adjunct professor at University of Houston Law Center. He is a sports enthusiast and flag football player.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Making connections and seeking mentors, analytical reasoning, and math.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
Seeking additional opportunities early on, show more eagerness to work.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Attend a conference, sign up for relevant digests, set up google alerts for my client’s companies to stay up to date.

What is next for you in your career?
To help other companies in tech industry significantly scale and grow their business while protecting their IP.

What advice would you offer to others?
Invest in yourself by continuing to update your skills; you never know when your talent comes in handy. I use my computer science degree now in IP – but wish I had taken more hard engineering courses in undergrad. Keep making connections – they will pay off.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Assisting law students with career/law school advice
• Helping young attorneys to become partner
• Guide Ismaili companies in protecting their company assets that are intangible and sometimes more valuable

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Ali Dhanani

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

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Spotlight

Zahida Subramanian

IPN Spotlight: Zahida Subramanian (Partner at J. Walter Thompson Worldwide)

Zahida is a proven change agent and business builder working at some of the top advertising agencies. She brings a 20-year career developing and leading award-winning integrated campaigns in beauty, tourism, healthcare and consumer packaged goods. Zahida’s work has been recognized with numerous awards including Cannes Lions, Effies, Jay Chiat Planning Awards and numerous press mentions.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Passion and Resilience.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
While hard work is important, being visible and networking is as important.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
I have to have a pulse on culture with my job so I try and experience different things so that I can take that to my job and I constantly am reading, watching what other brands are doing.

What is next for you in your career?
Zahida has recently joined JWT as a Partner and is spearheading a new agency group that is tasked with developing a new way to service clients for today’s world.

What advice would you offer to others?
Follow your passion and create a vision for yourself.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Career Advice
• Guidance

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Zahida Subramanian

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Spotlight

Ilhaam “Illy” Jaffer

IPN Spotlight: Ilhaam “Illy” Jaffer (Associate Director, Political & Civic Programs at BP)

Ilham “Illy” is an Associate Director who co-leads political and civic programs at BP. Previously she has held leadership positions such as Advance Associate for The White House; External Affairs Consultant in the City of Houston and Deputy Chief of Staff for US House of Representatives. She is an Alumni of John Hopkins University, where she graduated with a Masters of Arts in Government.
She holds a Bachelors of Science in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Houston. She has extensive experience in government affairs with ten years’ experience in both the public and private sectors. Illy has a proven ability to align business priorities with external stakeholder engagement to meet organizational public and government affairs goals.

What skills have helped you in your career?
Collaboration, strategic thinking, communication, adaptability, and time management are some of the skills that have helped me in my career.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
In retrospect, I wish that I had completed a business degree in either my undergrad or graduate studies.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
I’m constantly working towards learning what others in my industry are working on and I’m taking part in development trainings as well.

What is next for you in your career?
I’d like to continue to grow and build on my skills in both government and public affairs.

What advice would you offer to others?
In a constantly globalizing environment of working remotely, be physically present when able — that is when opportunities emerge.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Networking
• Job placement
• Career planning

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Ilhaam “Illy” Jaffer

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

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Spotlight

Nilofer Bharwani

IPN Spotlight: Nilofer Bharwani (Teacher Trainer, US Peace Corps)

Nilofer is a passionate life mentor and a teacher by profession. Her hobbies include traveling, exploring various culinary cuisines, dance, music and sports. Currently, she is TEFL Volunteer in the United States Peace Corps.

What skills have helped you in your career?
The skills that have been extremely helpful as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador include fluency in Spanish, experience teaching English, adaptability, resilience, humility and good sense of humor.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
I firmly believe that languages open doors therefore I wish that I had studied more languages in my youth.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Teaching is not a financially lucrative career; however, I try to teach in different countries as a means of increasing my social knowledge, which leads to greater cultural capital.

What is next for you in your career?
My next goal is to work at one of the Aga Khan Universities as a way of contributing my knowledge to the AKDN.

What advice would you offer to others?
Set a goal and do not be afraid of failure. Challenge yourself to grow in an aspect of your life every year.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Teaching English abroad
• Working for the US Peace Corps, providing teacher training
• Becoming a Spanish instructor

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Nilofer Bharwani

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Spotlight

Shirin Ahmed

IPN Spotlight: Shirin Ahmed (Senior Project Manager, International Rescue Committee)

Shirin Ahmed is the Senior Project Manager at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) where she works with IRC’s innovation unit to design solutions for people affected by conflicts. In addition to managing the Center’s portfolio, Shirin supports research and implementation of programs to prevent domestic violence in Liberia & Uganda.
Prior to IRC, Shirin was a Program Manager at Yale University’s Global Health Leadership Institute where she worked on a multi-country program focusing on supply chain management in Africa. Their focus was to evaluate best practices from corporations such as Coca-Cola, and provide recommendations to ministries of health to improve access to critical medicines in remote areas of Tanzania, Ghana, and others. Here, Shirin also helped launch a research project/startup called PremieBreathe to develop a low-cost breathing device for newborns in Ethiopia. Shirin grew up in Pakistan & completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science & International Studies from Yale University in 2012.

What skills have helped you in your career?
• Project management
• Qualitative research and analysis
• Field experience in developing countries
• Communications

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
I wish I was more confident in my career choices – I remember spending many hours worrying about not applying to consulting jobs as my peers did and instead choosing to spend a summer in Uganda (which ultimately deepened my interests in the social impact space). I wish I had known at that time that it is okay to experiment and to create our own career path.
At the same time, I wish I had experimented even more with my career – worked on different gigs, startups, done multiple projects at one time. I think those experiences would have given me a broader perspective to bring to my next job and grad school.
Finally, while I took some basic French and Arabic in high school and college, I wish I was proficient in one of those languages. We live in a highly-globalized world so whether working abroad or in the US, knowing another language would have opened many more opportunities for me.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
I am fortunate to be living in NYC where I am constantly exposed and have the opportunity to seek out a variety of educational experiences – documentaries, art shows book tours, cultural festivals that continue to broaden my perspective.

What is next for you in your career?
In the short-term, I will continue to enhance my project management skills within the innovation and design space through my work at the International Rescue Committee. Down the road, I plan to pursue a Master’s degree in health economics and policy that would complement my field experiences.

What advice would you offer to others?
Don’t get too comfortable in any job or profession. As soon as you reach a point of saturation, move on to do something different so you can continue learning from your experiences.
Secondly, don’t worry about becoming an expert in the early years of your career. I speak with a Project manager bias but I do think that companies find it extremely valuable to have people on their team who can work across disciplines. I have been lucky to be in positions where I have communicated with government officials, corporate leaders, tech experts and designers, and all these interactions have allowed me to work effectively across many functions.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Nonprofits placements
• Working in developing contexts
• Research and project management jobs

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Shirin Ahmed

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Resources

Job and Internship, Search Advice and Tips for International Students (Dec. 3, 2017)

 

Job and Internship, Search Advice and Tips for International Students
Webinar was held on Sunday, December 3, 2017

Webinar Overview
Are you an international student in the U.S.? Are you thinking about coming to study then work in the U.S.?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, this webinar is for you. Come hear a panel of international students who recently got jobs/internships talk about their searches and experiences. This webinar will also feature a presentation from an immigration attorney, a compilation of job search best practices, and live Q&A with the panelists.

Notable Points in Webinar to Jump to
Webinar Purpose: 2:27
Presentation by immigration Fauzia Amlani US Employment Options for F-1 Students After Graduation: 5:10
Speaker Panel Discussion: 28:00
Overview of Job Search Tips and IPN Resources: 52:15

Speaker Profiles
Zeba Medhi (View IPN Profile)
I came to USA from India in 2011 to pursue my MBA from Ohio (Kent State University). After I graduated in 2013 , I found it really difficult to find a job as none of the companies were willing to sponsor me since I was not from an IT background. Finding jobs in my field (Business or Finance) became extremely challenging. Then I decided to take some IT courses and got myself certified in Salesforce (CRM application). Today I work as a Business Lead/Product Owner with AT&T handling IT projects aimed at streamlining business models and sales flow processes to increase efficiency and revenue. My responsibilities include understanding client requirements, analyzing and suggesting pathway for success,drafting technical documents for my development team, performing testing to check viability of solution and finally training client agents to get accustomed to the new process.

Riyaz Gilani
Riyaz is currently a 2nd year MBA student at Michigan State University’s Broad college of Business. He has chosen a career in strategy consulting and will be joining Mckinsey & Company after his MBA. Prior to his MBA, Riyaz has 5 years’ experience working for one of India’s largest Oil&Gas company. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is passionate about technology and business.

Fauzia Amlani
Fauzia Amlani is an associate attorney in the Atlanta office of Ogletree Deakins. Fauzia has practiced immigration law exclusively for four years, and currently focuses her practice on employment-based immigration, assisting corporate clients in the process of hiring and employing foreign nationals.

Ashish Merani (View IPN Profile)
Ashish Merani is a Software Development Engineer in Test at Research now, the world’s leading digital data collection company. He graduated with Master of Science degree in Computer Science from California State University Fullerton.

Alisha Sonawalla (View IPN Profile)
Alisha is originally from India, and came to the US for herundergraduate studies. She is currently in her junior year at NYU (New York University) and is pursuing a dual degree program in Computer Science & Data Science. She had the opportunity last summer to work on Natural Language Processing at IBM and hopes to pursue a software engineering role in the future with a focus on AI and NLP.

Ali Maredia (View IPN Profile)
Ali Maredia is a software engineer at Red Hat working on open source cloud storage software. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014, and works in Ann Arbor Michigan. He has been on the IPN Connect team since April 2017, and is the current IPN National Jobs and Careers Lead.


The presenter(s) have granted permission for use of this content for IPN members only.  Please do not share this content outside of IPN without requesting permission from the presenter(s).

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Resources

VIDEO: Fields and Skills of the Future & Discovery, Sharing, & Application of Knowledge in Islam (Dec. 10, 2017)

 

Fields and Skills of the Future & Discovery, Sharing, & Application of Knowledge in Islam – Zain A. Gulamali (View IPN Profile)
Webinar was held on Sunday, December 10, 2017

Program Overview
Join the Ismaili Professionals Network (IPN) for a Spotlight Session on Fields and Skills of the Future and Discovery, Sharing, and Application of Knowledge in Islam. Zain Gulamali, venture capital investor at Amazon’s Alexa Fund, will guide us through Fields of the Future (e.g. computational linguistics, food science and technology, early childhood development); Skills of the Future (e.g. coding and digital literacy, intellectual humility, global orientation, empathy); and their foundational roots in Islam. We will also explore how to incorporate constantly-changing trends into one’s career path planning process.

Speaker Profile
Zain A. Gulamali works in Corporate Development and Ventures at Amazon in Seattle. At Amazon, Zain manages the Amazon Alexa Fund, which is Amazon’s $100 million venture capital fund to invest in consumer and enterprise applications of voice technology, IoT / connected devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and more. Prior to Amazon, he worked in mobile gaming (Pocket Gems), private equity (Warburg Pincus and Monitor Clipper Partners), and investment banking (Goldman Sachs). Zain is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has served as a National Board Member of the Aga Khan Education Board since 2012, and he has served in various national and local leadership roles in Muppies (Muslim Urban Professionals).


The presenter(s) have granted permission for use of this content for IPN members only.  Please do not share this content outside of IPN without requesting permission from the presenter(s).

Categories
Event

IPN Career Panel : Webinar on Sunday, December 10th 2017 – Fields and Skills of the Future & Discovery, Sharing, & Application of Knowledge in Islam

Join the Ismaili Professionals Network (IPN) for a Spotlight Session on Fields and Skills of the Future and Discovery, Sharing, and Application of Knowledge in Islam. Zain Gulamali, venture capital investor at Amazon’s Alexa Fund, will guide us through Fields of the Future (e.g. computational linguistics, food science and technology, early childhood development); Skills of the Future (e.g. coding and digital literacy, intellectual humility, global orientation, empathy); and their foundational roots in Islam.
We will also explore how to incorporate constantly-changing trends into one’s career path planning process.

When: Sun, Dec 10, 2017 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST

For more details and to register click Here!