"Stepping Up" - Khutbah by Edina Lekovic (1/30/15)

Khateebah Edina Lekovic delivers the first khutbah (sermon) for The Women's Mosque of America's inaugural jumma'a prayer service on January 30th, 2015, at the Pico-Union Project in Los Angeles. Her inspiring message is one of empowerment as she challenges women to step up and into the roles that have been opened for them, no matter how difficult the journey may be.

Bio:
Edina Lekovic is MPAC’s Director of Policy and Programming, where she oversees strategic initiatives in government and policy, media and communications, and leadership development. From 2004-2010, Edina served as MPAC’s Communications Director, and has appeared regularly in major media outlets, including CNN. MSNBC, Fox News, CBS Television, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times.

A recent appointee to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Service Cabinet, Edina has been committed to promoting relationships between diverse Angelenos for nearly 15 years. As a co-founder and the current chair of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, Edina is proud to have been part of a impactful program who’s high school dialogue program was named Gov. Jerry Brown’s top interfaith group in 2013.

Edina joined the faculty of Bayan Claremont, part of the Claremont Lincoln University, as an Adjunct Professor in Fall 2013, where she teaches “Religious and Spiritual Leadership in a Muslim Context.” Edina has spoken in hundreds of national and international conferences, community events and interfaith dialogues on a variety of issues related to American Muslims. She has also had the opportunity to participate in a United Nations program on “Confronting Islamophobia” and the International Conference of Muslim Young Leaders, which served as a precursor to the annual conference of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

She is co-founder and graduate of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute and also co-founded Elev8, an arts-based youth leadership development program. She has an M.A. in Communication from Pepperdine University and a B.A. in American Literature & Culture from UCLA, where she also served as the Editor in Chief of the Daily Bruin.