mehlaqa samdani

Mehlaqa Samdani is the executive director of Critical Connections, which she founded in 2013. She also serves as a peacebuilding associate at the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding, where she is implementing a project to address sectarian violence in Pakistan.

Previously, Samdani worked as an adjunct fellow with the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a research analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York where she focused on women’s empowerment in the Muslim world. She has researched and worked in various conflict and transitional settings such as Pakistan, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Israel/Palestine. She has also been involved with civil society-based peace initiatives between India and Pakistan.

Samdani’s writings have been published in the New York Times, Huffington Post, Foreign Policy (AfPak Channel), Christian Science Monitor, Daily Times (Pakistan) etc. and she has been invited as a guest on NPR, KCBS and news channels in Pakistan. She is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has an undergraduate degree from the University of Denver. She lives in Longmeadow, MA, with her husband and two children.

AMELIA MCMAHAN

Amelia McMahan was born in Durham but has been raised in the Valley for most of her life. She is a senior at Amherst High School, where she is the President of the school’s Model U.N. team. She hopes now, as a part of the Critical Connections community, she can further her interest in international affairs.

HANNA HARTMAN

Hanna Hartman is a senior at Amherst Regional High School and has lived in Pelham, right across the town line, her whole life. She leads the Student Union and Memory Project, and volunteers as an elementary school tutor. She is interested in studying International Relations and Art History, and is excited for this opportunity to learn more about her community and the world at large.