Shadia was born in Aleppo, Syria to two surgeons, her mother being the first oral surgeon in northern Syria and a staunch feminist in a deeply conservative society. Imparting her values onto Shadia, her only daughter, Shadia's mother encouraged her to attend the University of Aleppo, where she went on to complete her B.S. in architectural engineering as one of the only women in her class and subsequently began teaching at the university.
While teaching at the University of Aleppo, Shadia received a scholarship from the government of Austria to do research at the University of Economics in Vienna. After completing her research, not wanting to return to Syria, which at the time was under brutal dictatorship led by Hafez al-Assad, Shadia immigrated to the United States in 1992, moving to southeast Michigan and living there ever since.
Shadia attended the University of Michigan and received her M.B.A. in 1996. Shadia now owns her own real estate brokerage, construction company, and medical spa, all operating in southeast Michigan, and lives in Bloomfield Township with her family.
Experienced Advocate
At the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, Shadia was forced to make a choice: to be silent like she had been forced to when she lived under dictatorship or to speak up for the victims of tyranny. She chose the latter. Shadia has been a tireless human rights activist and volunteer aiding Syrian refugees fleeing persecution for over a decade.
Shadia has advocacy experience at the state and national level, where she was a leader in the drive to pass national legislation in 2019 that codified accountability against human rights abusers in Syria. She continues to be active in the sphere of human rights advocacy, meeting with and educating legislators on human rights issues in the Middle East.
Shadia hopes to utilize her advocacy experience in Lansing to pass common-sense legislation to give back to the southeastern Michigan community that welcomed her 30 years ago.
