Two Indian-American women, Sameera Fazili and Aisha Shah have been placed on the US President-elect Joe Biden’s team so far. Fazili’s parents of Kashmiri origin wanted her to become a doctor, but she did not agree.
Fazili’s plans were completed on Friday when the Biden-Harris Transition nominated him as deputy director of the National Economic Council at the White House. The Council coordinates the economic policy-making process and provides advice to the US President.
Fazili is the second Indian-American of Kashmiri origin who has been appointed to an important position in the upcoming Biden administration. His appointment sparked a wave of happiness for his extended family in Srinagar. His uncle Roof Fazili said, “We are very proud. Everyone in Kashmir should be proud because it is a proud moment for the whole of Kashmir.”
“It is a great honor and honor for every one of us and a great opportunity.” “She was not born here and her parents left the valley in 1970-71, but she has a deep connection with Kashmir,” said Roof Fazili. “The last time he visited the valley was in 2007.”
Roof Fazili did not get the opportunity to talk to her niece because she was too busy with the inauguration of US President-Elect Joe Biden, which would take place on Wednesday. “But, I talked to the rest of the family and, of course, they are very happy!” she added. Another close family member said that Sameera Fazili, whose father is a surgeon and mother a pathologist, was a bright child and was brilliant in her studies. “Her parents wanted her to become a doctor, but she had other plans. She had an inclination towards public service,” the relative said.
Sameera Fazili is a very active person who loves skiing, swimming, tennis and travel, a relative said she was very fond of Kashmiri cuisine. She is currently the economic agency’s lead on the Biden-Harris Transition and was previously stationed at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where she served as Director of Engagement for Community and Economic Development.
In December, another Kashmiri-origin woman, Aisha Shah, was named as participation manager in the White House of Digital Strategy. In the Obama administration, Sameera Fazili served as a senior policy adviser in the National Economic Council of the White House and as a senior adviser in the US Treasury Department in both domestic finance and international affairs.
Prior to this, she was a clinical lecturer of law at Yale Law School. Originally from Buffalo in New York, she now lives in Georgia with her husband and three children. Sameera Fazili is a graduate of Yale Law School and Harvard College.