Arts and Culture Media Associate, Security and Rights
Firdaus Arastu is the Arts and Culture Media Associate on the Security and Rights team focusing on Muslim artists and cultures. She supports projects within the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts' Building Bridges Program which aims to build a deeper and more multidimensional understanding of Muslims and Muslim communities in the US.
Firdaus comes to ReThink from altMuslimah magazine, where she wrote on issues of gender and Muslim American culture. She also wrote for Winnovating, highlighting the contributions of women innovators from around the world. Before that, Firdaus worked in the Global Health and Development program at the Aspen Institute and conducted public health research for Wells for India.
Firdaus holds a B.S. in Anthropology and Psychology from Syracuse University. She researched and co-authored the chapter, “American Muslim Women and Faith-Inspired Activism,” in Feminism and Religion: How Faiths View Women and Their Rights (2016). She provided research assistance for “American Muslims, American Islam, and the American Constitutional Heritage,” published in Religious Freedom in America (2015). In addition to her writing at altMuslimah, her work has been published in Al Jazeera English, Teen Vogue, The Huffington Post, and The Tribune India. Firdaus enjoys baking, traveling, hiking, cheering on her Syracuse Orange, and racking up Tough Mudder headbands.