Raghda Shaheen: Bridging Two Worlds -- America and The Middle East

posted on: Jun 23, 2010

Raghda Shaheen, who works for the Dubai International Finance Centre, recently completed a four-week business and legal fellowship program at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania law school. The program, funded by the U.S. Department of State Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and supported by America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST), teaches management, business and legal skills to women from the Middle East and North Africa. This year, 22 women from 11 countries attended the program. Shaheen will spend the next three months working at the Chicago Chamber of Commerce before returning to the UAE. She spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about her experiences in Gaza City, Canada, the U.S. and the Middle East.

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Knowledge@Wharton: Raghda, thanks for joining us.

Shaheen: Thank you for having me.

Knowledge@Wharton: Can you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself? Where you were born, educated and where you have worked so far?

Shaheen: Sure. I am an Arabic girl, born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. So I am Palestinian. I lived in Kuwait for seven years and then moved to Palestine. I grew up in Gaza City, and moved to Toronto, Canada, in 2001. I received a bachelor’s degree in engineering. I worked there for a couple of years and then moved to Dubai in 2008 and that’s where I live right now.

To continue reading the script, go to http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2265

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