Maissa Hamed

Maissa Hamed is an Egyptian American and a former staff member of UNICEF with thirteen years' experience in program and policy development, focusing on child labor and education in developing countries. Since 1998, she has been an Education and Research Consultant for Sesame Workshop's International Research Department. She also provided consulting services for Scholastic Games Productions and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and authored a youth strategy paper for the UN Office of the Alliance of Civilizations to bridge the gap between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds. In 2006, she founded Enjoy Islam - an artistically creative educational and spiritual endeavor to bring true knowledge of Islam and the Muslim and Arab culture to American families. Maissa has a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in social sciences from The American University, Cairo. She lives in New York with her husband, architect Mohamed El Wakil, AIA, and their two children. She is a member of the American Society for Muslim Advancement.