Tarek is a sexual and bodily rights activist from Beirut, Lebanon advocating for the rights and protection of LGBT individuals and groups in the MENA region and is the executive director of Helem, the first LGBT rights organization in the Arab World, founded in Beirut in 2001. Tarek is a specialist on teaching adaptive leadership and is working towards starting the first leadership laboratory in the MENA region focused exclusively on youth, civil society, civic engagement, and conflict transformation. He is an Ashoka global changemaker fellow, a Ford Foundation global fellow, an ELI fellow at the Harvard Center for Public Leadership, and was a human rights fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard. Tarek has previously worked as communications manager and director of strategic planning for the MENA region at both the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace MENA offices respectively. He obtained his BA from the American University of Beirut, his MALD in and international relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and his MPA in leadership and advocacy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He currently lives in Beirut with his partner and three cats, all of whom are adorable.
