Alaha Ahrar is a Social Justice and Human Rights expert based in Virginia, USA. She holds a master’s degree in Social Justice and Human Rights from George Mason University, where she completed an outstanding final book focused on survivors of human trafficking and human smuggling.

Ms. Ahrar earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Mary Washington, graduating on time in four years with a triple major in Human Rights, Political Science, and International Affairs, as well as a certificate in Middle Eastern Studies.

She is a multilingual professional fluent in English, Persian (Dari and Farsi), Hindi, Pashto, and Urdu, with working proficiency in Arabic and Spanish. She also possesses advanced computer and research skills.

Ms. Ahrar has collaborated with numerous national and international organizations, leading and initiating impactful projects that have benefited communities in the United States, Afghanistan, Canada, and countries within the European Union.

She currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of International Kindness Sharing (IKS), a 501(c)(3) international nonprofit organization based in Virginia, and as a Gender Consultant working across the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition, she has served on the Board of Directors of International World Poetry (Canada) and the Afghan Women’s Writing Project and is an active member of the Global Goodwill Ambassadors Foundation (GGAF).

Ms. Ahrar is a nationally and internationally multi-award-winning poet, writer, and gender equality and human rights expert. As an accomplished public speaker, she uses her voice extensively to advocate for human rights, social justice, peacebuilding, and global solidarity.

Ryla Students are visiting our club
Help us give a warm welcome to this year’s RYLA students. In February they took part in the RYLA leadership gathering, and this morning they’re joining us to share what they learned and how the experience has shaped them. We’re delighted to have them with us.

Dhardon Sharlin – Where Mind and Media Meet Moral Futures
Dhardon Sharling is an interdisciplinary scholar-activist with more than 20 years of experience in public advocacy communication, democracy promotion, and advancing gender, social and climate justice. She serves as a Lecturer in Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she earned her PhD in Communication and a Graduate Certificate in Feminist Studies. Her research examines how human communication practices – especially those shaped by emerging media – advance social change, with particular attention to gender and climate justice. Drawing on intersections among communication studies, new media, critical feminist theory, cultural anthropology, and lived experience, Dhardon seeks to generate knowledge that challenges and intervenes in systemic structures of power and injustice.

Dhardon’s career spans leadership roles, including Information Secretary of the Central Tibetan Administration and elected Member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile. She has also served as a Non-Resident Scholar at the Milton Eisenhower Foundation, co-leading a book project on democracy in exile. In addition, she has taught at Hampshire College and Syracuse University, contributed extensively to peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and currently serves as an Associate Editor of Anthropology of Consciousness. Dhardon is the founder of TenDrel Initative – Where Mind and Media Meet Moral Futures.

Bart Marcois is a career diplomat with deep and broad experience in highly regulated economic sectors. After the Foreign Service he served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy. During the first Trump Administration he led a team at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to achieve a key White House policy, streamlining the permitting process for very large infrastructure projects.

He has worked in the European defense and energy sectors, opening markets for American products and systems. As an official in the Republican Party of Virginia, he has worked on each of President Trump’s campaigns since 2016.

We are reopening the discussion of the Bylaws, as we experienced technical difficulties during the Club Assembly on March 26th.
Please make sure to join us virtually this morning.

Bita Golshan Lotfi – Attorney, Private Practice
Bita, the daughter of first‑generation Iranian immigrants, has dedicated her career to supporting refugees and immigrants in the Washington, D.C. area. She joined IROC after her daughter Ariana founded the organization in 2019, helping expand its mission and impact.

She holds degrees from Wittenberg University and the University of Dayton School of Law, and is a member of the Illinois and D.C. Bar Associations as well as AILA. Bita spent more than a decade with the immigration law firm Fragomen and now works as a business immigration consultant.

Alison Bostrom
Allison holds an MSc in International Development from the University of Edinburgh and an MS in Astronomy & Astrophysics. She has experience in monitoring & evaluation, specializing in supporting organizations in collecting and using data to understand and improve their programming. Allison oversees most of IROC’s programs while managing the organization’s volunteers and partner relationships.

Cees Roels (LLM Leiden University Netherlands) has spent over four decades working in some of the world’s most challenging places as a diplomat of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His work took him from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Balkans, the Great Lakes region in Africa and Asia (India, Japan, Indonesia), often right into the heart of conflict and transition.

During the surge in Afghanistan in 2010, Cees worked closely with US and UK military leaders on the ground, spending long stretches in frontline areas like Kandahar. He was also in Kabul during its fall in 2021, giving him a rare and very personal view of events as they unfolded. He was dealing with Afghanistan from 2002.

Cees is known for his clear, honest insights and his ability to cut through complexity with real-world experience. After retiring late 2021, he continues to share those insights through his writing and public discussions.

Catherine Kapikian is a site-specific liturgical artist. Her scores of commissions reside in churches of diverse denominations; synagogue; university, seminary, and military chapels; retreat centers; and hotel and convention center lobbies for national ecclesial events. Kapikian is founder and Director Emerita of the Henry Luce Center for the Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary (WTS) in Washington D.C. and currently Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at WTS. She has authored numerous articles, lectured throughout the USA in ecclesial and academic contexts, and authored the authoritative “Art in Service of the Sacred.” Her work can be seen at catherinekapikian.com.

Ahmad Mansoor Ramizy is the Afghanistan Program Director at Ideas Beyond Borders, a New York-based organization working for education, democracy, and enlightenment in the Middle East. Mansoor is also a writer and reporter for the Middle East Uncovered, an independent publication powered by Ideas Beyond Borders. 

Sadiq Amini is an expert in Public Diplomacy and International Security, with over a decade of experience shaping U.S. foreign and security policy in Afghanistan and South Asia. Through his YouTube podcasts, “Afghanistan Impact” and “Herat Talks”, he delivers in-depth analysis of Afghanistan’s challenges, highlighting the consequences of Taliban rule, especially on women, and advocating for the country’s liberation and democratization.

From 2022–2024, Mr. Amini served as a Non-Resident Fellow and Program Manager for Outreach at ORF America, a Washington D.C.-based think tank focused on U.S.-India relations. Prior to that, he spent nearly nine years as a Political Assistant at the U.S. Department of State/U.S. Embassy Kabul, where he performed sensitive roles in policy analysis, outreach, and crisis response, including advising on the U.S.-Afghanistan Bilateral Security Agreement. During Operation Allies Refuge, he played a key role in evacuating American citizens, Green Card holders, and over 3,000 locally employed staff and their families after the Taliban takeover of Kabul. In recognition of his services, the U.S. Department of State presented him with the Heroism Award in June 2022.

Mr. Amini began his career in 2010 with the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan, later joining the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in New York. He has also served as Head of Communications at the UK-funded Comprehensive Agriculture & Rural Development Facility (CARD-F) and lectured part-time on International Relations at the University of Afghanistan in Kabul.

A Fulbright Scholar (2011) with an MA in Diplomacy & International Security from the Patterson School of Diplomacy, University of Kentucky, he also holds a BA in Political Science from Christ College, Bangalore University, and is an alumnus of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (2007).

He serves on the Boards of Advisors for the Immigrant & Refugee Outreach Center (IROC) and Bareen Initiative for Development (BID), and is a member of Rotary International since December 2025. Mr. Amini is fluent in English, Dari/Persian, Pashtu, and Urdu/Hindi.

Our upcoming Club Assembly is a chance for members to come together and review key club business, updates, and plans for the months ahead. This meeting is held exclusively on Zoom, making it easy for everyone to join the discussion, share input, and stay informed about our club’s direction.