Sameera Fazili is an American attorney and public official who served as a Deputy Director of the National Economic Council in the

Biden Administration Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory ...

. A noted community development finance expert, Fazili previously served as Director of Engagement for the

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, (informally referred to as the Atlanta Fed and the Bank), is the sixth district of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States and is headquartered in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Fed covers ...

Early life

Born in

Williamsville, New York Williamsville is a village in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 5,423 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Jonas Williams, an early settler. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical ...

, Fazili is a native of Buffalo. Fazili is the daughter of Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Fazili and Dr. Rafiqa Fazili, who immigrated to the United States from

Kashmir, India Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompass ...

. After attending Elmwood Franklin School, Fazili graduated from the

Nichols School Nichols School is a private, non-denominational, co-educational college- preparatory day school in Buffalo, New York, United States. The average enrollment is 570 students with an average Upper School grade/class size of 98 students. The average ...

in 1996. Fazili earned a bachelor's degree in social sciences from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, graduating with magna cum laude. She later obtained her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

(JD) from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

.Sameera Fazili
Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality, retrieved January 19, 2021.

Career

Fazili started as a clinical lecturer at Yale Law School's community and economic development unit. She expanded the clinic's work to international

microfinance Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...

and helped start a

community development financial institution A community development financial institution (US) or community development finance institution (UK) - abbreviated in both cases to CDFI - is a financial institution that provides credit and financial services to underserved markets and populations, ...

(CDFI) bank. She also worked at a CDFI bank called ShoreBank, said to be the first such bank in the US. Later Fazili worked in the

US Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and th ...

on issues related to CDFIs, housing finance and small business finance. She was also a senior adviser and chief of staff to Treasury's

Under Secretary for International Affairs The Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs is a senior position within the United States Department of the Treasury responsible for advising the Secretary of the Treasury on international economic issues. During the Trump Admin ...

National Economic Council

Fazili served in the

Obama Administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

as a Senior Policy Adviser in the National Economic Council, where she covered retirement, consumer finance and community and economic development issues.White House Senior Staff: Sameera Fazili
Biden-Harris Transition, retrieved January 19, 2021. Afterwards, she worked for the

as the Director of Engagement in its community and economic development department. As a Deputy Director of the National Economic Council in the

, Fazili will be focused on manufacturing, innovation and domestic competition. In this capacity, she has been tasked with advising the White House on

global supply chain A global value chain (GVC) refers to the full range of activities that economic actors engaged in to bring a product to market. The global value chain does not only involve production processes, but preproduction (such as design) and postproduction ...

issues. Fazili left her position at the NEC in December 2022.

Human rights advocacy

Before law school, Fazili worked at ''Karamah'': Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. Her experience in human rights includes working at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

and

United Nations High Commission for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integratio ...

(UNHCR), on missions in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, Kashmir, and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. She is an activist for religious freedom and international human rights. Fazili has supported 'Stand with Kashmir', a

Kashmiri diaspora The Kashmiri diaspora refers to Kashmiris who have migrated out of the Kashmir into other areas and countries, and their descendants. India Punjab Estimated, 1,000-1,200 Kashmiri Hindus live in Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Cities of Doaba reg ...

-led international solidarity movement, and has opposed the Indian government's revocation of the special status of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

Personal life

Fazili is married and has three children. She lives in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and has extended family in

. Fazili is a practicing

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. Her sister, Yousra Fazili is a noted human rights lawyer who testified at the November 2019 US Congressional hearing on the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Fazili's cousin Mubeel Shah was among those detained by the Indian government the

Public Safety Act The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) is a preventive detention law under which a person is taken into custody to prevent them from acting harmfully against "the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order" in the ...

(PSA) during the 2019–2021 lockdown in Jammu & Kashmir.

References

External links

Sameera Fazili: Faces of the Atlanta Fed
''Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta'', 17 August 2017. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fazili, Sameera Harvard College alumni Yale Law School alumni United States Department of the Treasury officials Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Kashmiri people Biden administration personnel American people of Indian descent American people of Kashmiri descent American Muslims People from Buffalo, New York