Bio

With past lives as the co-founder of a biotech company, award-winning NY Times-published cartoonist, and creative strategist for nonprofits and public companies alike, Mohammad has always focused on producing products and programs that bring people together.

Most recently, Mohammad used the power of food to celebrate the commonalities that exist by making the growing need for faith-based (religious) foods more accessible to individuals and organizations that want to foster inclusive spaces (and dinner tables!).

 

A public health practitioner by training, Mohammad entered the food world by accident when he produced the first-ever 2-in-1 "Interfaith Meat" that is (Zabihah) Halal and (Glatt) Kosher at the same time. The product was made for his "Shabbat Salaam" interfaith dinner, which brought strangers together as a response to the rising wave of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim bigotry after the 2016 US election cycle. More than 2,000 attendees participated in Shabbat Salaam programs, while Interfaith Meat helped early adopters save on time, money, inventory space, and food waste with its 2-in-1 approach. Beyond Interfaith Meat, Mohammad produced other products like "Hummus for All of Us" and "Honey, I Love You" under the Abe's Eats brand.

 

Today, he is applying his experiences from Abe's Eats to build a new food venture to raise awareness for the LGBTQIA+ audience. As a cis-gender straight man, he is focused on being an ally in the same way he has supported the safety and security of his Muslim, Jewish, and AAPI communities. 

Outside of food, Mohammad works with the c-level executives of private and public companies across industries on program and product development, general strategy, and branding. He is a two-time official TED Resident who has spoken at Columbia University, Food Lab, Specialty Foods, and IFC Films, to name a few. He is a mentor and pitch coach to university student entrepreneurs and women founders. 

Mohammad has studied public health as a Bloomberg Scholar and Woodrow Wilson Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins. He was the University's nominee for the Rhodes and Truman Scholarships before being awarded the George J. Mitchell National Scholarship (the "Rhodes of Ireland") and attended Trinity College Dublin on a full scholarship. He is also a proud recipient of the Iranian Scholarship Fund. He continues to teach as he pursues higher education today. 

 

In his spare time, Mohammad loves to work on his 1969 VW Bus and produce new events. His latest program was a Jewish-Muslim comedy show featuring the likes of Sam Morril and Dina Hashem called Cut The Beef. 

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His TED Speaker bio can be found here.

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