Maryah Converse is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist whose faith heroes include many contemporary Muslim activists. She has a Masters in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from Indiana University. Maryah was a Peace Corps educator in Jordan during the American occupation of Iraq, and a CASA Fellow in Cairo before, during, and after the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. She was the membership and stewardship associate at All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City, where she worked for four years, and was an early member of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Membership Professionals (UUAMP). She teaches Arabic and English as a Second Language in New York City and blogs sporadically at bymaryah.wordpress.com.