“Spiritual Elevation Towards God During Ramadan” by Shabnam Dewji - 2nd Annual Co-Ed Iftar & Qiyam

In this deeply inspiring and spiritually invigorating talk, Khateebah Shabnam Dewji shares her wisdom on how to achieve closeness to God, and she unfolds a beautiful metaphor on the concept of asking God for forgiveness. Sister Shabnam was the first Shi'i khateebah to speak at The Women's Mosque of America when she gave her khutbah on November 11th, 2015. -- On the evening of July 2nd, 2016, The Women's Mosque of America held its second annual co-ed iftar & qiyam during the holy month of Ramadan, featuring all women speakers and a chance for the greater public to benefit from the spiritual insights of Muslim women leaders.

Bio:
Sister Shabnam Dewji is a Senior Operations Consultant providing strategic and tactical assessments to large and medium size businesses. Until recently, she was the Vice President of Operations for the West Region at Time Warner Cable Media, overseeing the technical and master control operations for ad insertion; IT and software development for all media tools and applications; traffic and inventory management supporting sales; and regional engineering support for product implementation.

Sr. Shabnam has a business management background with a degree from the London School of Accounting and in 2010 completed an Exectuve Leadership Development Program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. She was the recipient of the 2011 LEA (Leadership, Education and Advocacy) Awards where she was honored as Woman of the Year by Women in Cable Telecommunication (WICT). Shabnam was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania and grew up in Dubai. She lives in Orange County, CA with her husband and three children and has been an active member of her Muslim community for the past 28 years, having served as Treasurer and Vice President of SIIJLA, a local Islamic Center in Pico Rivera.

Sr. Shabnam Dewji is currently in her 12th year as the principal of the Huseini Sunday School and has been a teacher for 25 years. In June 2015, she received her certification in Neuropsychology of Learning to ensure that the teaching methods at the schools shift to student centered learning. She is also active in the Social Interfaith group to promote interfaith and intrafaith understanding in the Orange County area and works closely with Chapman University’s Fish Interfaith Center under the leadership of the Dean, Dr. Gail Stearns.