empowerShe AllianceempowerSheALLIANCE

The people behind the work

Meet the team
behind empowerShe.

Our work is grounded in compassion, practical experience, and a belief that every woman and child deserves a safer, more independent future.

Maryam Khalilsarbaz Mukri

Founder & CEO

Maryam Khalilsarbaz Mukri

Maryam Khalilsarbaz Mukri is the Founder and CEO of empowerShe Alliance Society, an international organization committed to empowering women and children facing vulnerability, violence, poverty, and displacement.

With a background in medical studies, nonprofit management, leadership, and senior leadership, she brings a compassionate and strategic approach to community development. She is trained in crisis intervention and has supported women and families affected by domestic violence, homelessness, poverty, housing instability, and crisis.

Maryam’s leadership focuses on education, economic empowerment, protection, and sustainable opportunities. Her vision is to help women move from surviving to thriving—and build a future where every woman and child has the opportunity to flourish.

Ghulam Mustafa Zahid

Director of Philanthropy

Ghulam Mustafa Zahid

Dr. Mustafa Zahid is a collaborative, values-driven people, culture, and operations leader with more than 15 years of experience across community services, nonprofit operations, workforce development, program leadership, stakeholder engagement, research, and service evaluation.

He brings deep experience in employee support, coaching, program development, continuous improvement, compliance, grant writing, and data-informed decision-making. His work has supported newcomers, youth, seniors, Indigenous communities, and vulnerable populations in multicultural settings.

A multilingual communicator, Dr. Mustafa is fluent in English, Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Sindhi, and Saraiki, with conversational Persian and Arabic. He holds a Master in Demography, a Master’s in Sociology, and a PhD in Sociology.

Yasmin Koukab

Advisory Manager of Finance

Yasmin Koukab

Yasmin is a compassionate and multilingual community support and settlement services professional with an MA and ECA. She brings extensive experience in case management, client intake, settlement support, housing assistance, program coordination, and staff supervision.

She has supported newcomers, refugees, women, youth, families, and individuals experiencing homelessness through client-centred, culturally responsive services. Her work includes needs assessments, individualized support plans, referrals, workshops, crisis intervention, documentation, and community partnerships.

Yasmin is committed to empowering individuals and families to achieve stability, independence, and successful community integration.

Ahmet Çankaya

Advisor of Operations

Ahmet Çankaya

Ahmet is an Advisor at empowerShe Alliance Society, supporting strategic planning, program development, partnerships, outreach, social media oversight, and the organization’s operations in Türkiye.

With a background in criminology and experience working with vulnerable and marginalized populations, Ahmet brings a client-centred and trauma-informed approach to supporting people affected by homelessness, mental health challenges, poverty, and barriers to employment.

At empowerShe, he focuses on strengthening pathways for single and widowed women with dependents through employment, education, vocational training, entrepreneurship, and sustainable livelihood opportunities.