Najia Hamid, Executive Director/Founder: 

Najia Hamid was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and has lived in the US for over 20 years. Her past experiences include working with the UN in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and volunteering with VISTA in Fremont. It was her experiences working with VISTA that exposed her to the difficulties that many seniors in the Bay Area Afghan community were facing. In an effort to help them, she founded the Afghan Elderly Association in 1995 as a grassroots organization. It was run on a volunteer basis for a number of years, until it was given nonprofit status in 1998. Ms. Hamid is now the Executive Director of the AEA which serves as a critical resource for the Afghan community.

Farida Sultany, Program Coordinator:

Farida Sultany received her bachelor’s degree in Politics from Regis University in Denver Colorado, and is currently working on her Masters in International Relations. Her accomplishments include a scholarship with The Washington Center during the 2008 Democratic National Convention and an internship with Voice of America (Dari). Farida’s interaction with minority groups whilst studying abroad at the University of London, as well as her close work with new immigrant students as the founding president of the ‘Leadership Connection Club’ has now prompted her to focus her energies on grassroots activism within the Afghan community.