US president elect Joe Biden is constituting an economic team to help America steer out of the economic distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
As Biden’s teams continue to be diverse with people of color holding important posts, his latest addition to the National Economic Council is Kashmir-origin Sameera Fazili. She will be the deputy director of the NEC whose focus is manufacturing, innovation and domestic competition.
The Biden team made the announcement on Thursday. Fazili, mother of three, before this worked as Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Director of engagement for the community and economic development.
She has also served as a senior policy adviser at the White House’s National Economic Council where she covered retirement, consumer finance, and community and economic development.
She previously served as a senior adviser at the NEC and at the Treasury Department during Obama administration in the offices of Domestic Finance and International Affair, the Bloomberg reported.
Fazili, a graduate from Harvard College and Yale Law School, started her career as a clinical lecturer at Yale Law School’s community and economic development clinic. She was born to Yusuf and Rafiqa Fazilu in Williamsville, New York. She has worked at the Treasury Department on issues of domestic policy ranging from community development financial institutions to housing finance to small business finance, as a senior adviser to the undersecretary for the international affairs,
Her career includes work on consumer, housing, small business, and microfinance.
Before Fazili, Aishah Shah, another woman of Kashmiri origin, joined the Biden team. She was picked by Biden for a key role for the White House’s Digital Strategy Team.
Shah was named as Partnerships Manager at the White House Office of Digital Strategy, which would be headed by Rob Flaherty, Director of Digital Strategy, according to an announcement by the Biden transition team.
Raised in Louisiana, Shah previously served as digital partnerships manager in the Biden-Harris Campaign. She currently serves as an advancement specialist for the Smithsonian Institution. Prior to this role, Shah worked as an assistant manager on the Corporate Fund of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, supporting the first-ever expansion of a presidential memorial.
