Leadership

Board & Committee Members

Fife O'Connor, President

Fife has been a member of the Muslim Women's Association of Washington, DC for over 50 years. As such she is one of our longest standing members. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Fife immigrated to the United States as a young woman, eventually marrying an American whose father was a member of Congress. Fife has worked with both Jehan Sadat and Suzanne Mubarak. She has also worked at the United Nations. The mother of three daughters, Fife is an inspiration to all members of the Muslim Women's Association of Washington, DC. Her dedication to and leadership of our organization are truly exemplary.

Jihene Ben Moussa, Vice President

Jihene was born in Tunisia and came to the United States with her parents as a young girl. We are especially proud of Jihene because she is one of the students who has benefitted from the Muslim Women’s Association’s scholarship program. We provided partial scholarship assistance for her law school studies. Presently working as an attorney, Jihene loves to travel and still finds time to be a very active member of the Muslim Women’s Association of Washington, DC.

Mona Sadeq, Treasurer

Mona received her B.A. from Lebanese American University in 1980 and her MPA from George Mason University in 2002. She has extensive experience working for private and public sectors in finance and accounting. Mona has been actively involved and supportive of several non-profit organizations. She describes herself as Palestinian, Arab, American Muslim Women. In 2015, she helped co-found the National Arab American Women’s Association—NAAWA as treasurer and then president. In 2020 Mona became the Executive Director of the American Palestinian Women’s Association—APWA., also she is a current board member of the Muslim Women’s Association. and she is a current Virginia Team Leader for Arab America Foundation. In 2022, she received MVP (Most Valuable Person) from Arab America Foundation.

Wardella Doschek, Secretary / Treasurer

Wardella was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds a doctorate in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. Professionally she worked in research administration at the National Science Foundation. She has also done volunteer work for the Montgomery County, MD Public Schools, Yale University (her daughter's alma mater) and The Muslim Women's Association of Washington, D.C. An American of German heritage, Wardella was raised a Christian. She reverted to Islam in 2003. She served as Secretary of the Muslim Women's Association from 2007 until 2011. She resumed that position in 2015. Wardella has written a book about her reversion to Islam and the great effect it has had on her life entitled Straight and Sensible: My Journey to the Straight Path of Islam.

Zeina Alkhalaf, Public Relations

Zeina Alkhalaf is currently a research fellow at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a part of the National Institute of Health (NIH). She completed her Master’s of Public Health (MPH) with a concentration in Community Health Promotion at George Mason University in 2018. Her passion and research interests are women’s reproductive health and the impact of endocrine disruptors on women’s fertility and childhood development. She is currently completing her publication on the effects of vitamin D insufficiency and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) with the NICHD. Zeina just got accepted in to University of Maryland’s Population Health (PhD) program in Maternal and Child Health and will be beginning in the Fall of 2019. She hopes to complete her PhD and begin research work on maternal and child health in the Middle East in the future.