Maham (she/they) is a Pakistani-American chef, writer, and artist from Philly who has spent two decades moving at the intersections of food, culture, and justice. Their early connection to Palestine was forged as a student, where their undergraduate thesis examined Israeli cultural appropriation of Palestinian cuisine — an entry point into a lifelong commitment to stories that resist erasure.

After twelve years in kitchens, Maham rooted their work in small-scale farms and grassroots food projects, tending to communities through Food as Medicine programming, labor organizing, and storytelling. They bring a grounding presence to La La Lil Jidar, weaving together community building, logistics, and the art of nourishing cultural experiences. Maham stewards narrative creation, event production, and the collective’s evolving vision.

Sheena is an activist scholar, Philly-based activist, yoga practitioner, and healing justice visionary. As an educator and scholar, Sheena teaches and writes about the phenomenon of “omwashing yoga,” or how the far-right uses yoga to advance ethnonational, colonial, and supremacist agendas. Her work has appeared in Jadaliyya, Race & Yoga Journal, Al Jazeera, and Colorlines.
 In addition to serving on the editorial board of Race & Yoga Journal and writing primarily about the weaponization of yoga, Sheena also dreams into its liberatory potential — both in her writing and in her activism. She is the founder of Yoga Warrior Tales, an educational program that teaches kids yoga and mindfulness through a social justice lens; and a co-founder of Yogis for Palestine – a collective of yoga teachers and students who politicize yoga toward action for Palestinian freedom and liberation. As the Culture and Healing Steward at La La Lil Jidar, Sheena is eager to expand La La Lil Jidar’s vision of art and culture as a tool that can also be used as a medicinal tool for healing.