MSA Executive Shurah Elections 2025-2026
Executive Candidate Profiles
Mina Bayraktar
Assalamu alaikum everyone,
My name is Mina Bayraktar, and I’m a junior studying Neuroscience. Over the past year, I’ve had the honor of serving as Vice President of MSA, and I’m excited to continue contributing as part of the executive board.
When I first ran for this role last year, I couldn’t have imagined everything we would go through… the challenges, the triumphs, and the impact we would make as a community. Even in difficult moments, serving the Muslim community at UNC has been the highlight of my college experience. I’m incredibly grateful for every second of it, and I would love to have your support once again!
One thing that stood out to me this year is the incredible talent and dedication within our MSA. From the beautiful poems shared at Poetry & Chai to the hard work of our MSA Café volunteers, I’ve seen how much passion and skill our members bring.
Next year, I want to encourage our members to take on tasks and projects even more because while Shurah works hard, we are limited in number, energy, and time. By tapping into our members’ creativity and unique skills, we can take MSA to new heights.
Another goal I have is to strengthen our connection with high school MSAs and smaller Muslim organizations. These groups are the foundation of future Muslim leaders, and their growth directly impacts the future of MSA at UNC. I would love to organize a High School MSA Leadership Workshop, bringing together different MSAs to network, share resources, and build stronger communities.
I am deeply committed to making MSA a space where every Muslim at UNC feels seen, supported, and empowered. Thank you for considering me for this role, and please keep MSA in your duas!
Mariam Matin
Assalamu’Alaikum!
My name is Mariam Matin, I’m a junior majoring in Information Science, and I have had the pleasure to have served as the Event Coordinator for MSA over the past five semesters. At the end of this period, I now have the honor to be running for Exec!
Over my time on Shurah, I’ve partaken in so many diverse events, experienced so much personal growth, and ultimately found my community. However, the more profound experience has been seeing how our MSA community has persevered. No matter the difficulty, our ummah has shown up for each other, especially during challenges that have otherwise been unprecedented. Without this community, there would be no way for our leadership to have any sort of impact, nor could we have made any semblance of our presence known. Thank you to each and every one of you for your time, for always showing out, and for your care!
It has truly been a privilege to be a community member who can take on leadership and represent our Ummah, and this is the reason why I am running for Exec. Making an impact is the undercurrent of all my endeavors and I’ve seen the formations of this on Shurah. Serving as Event Coordinator has really been such an active (rewarding) effort. Through endless hours reserving and managing spaces, planning our big speaker events, having conversations with community members, and witnessing how our efforts become cherished memories for our community, this role has provided me with the confidence that I can leave just as profound an impact as an Exec board member. I have seen how our former Exec boards have run, acting as leaders for our leadership team but also the glue to hold Shurah together—and I believe my dependency and ability to communicate and delegate effectively will allow me to fit well in this role.
I have found myself speaking to administration in Event Services and forming long-term connections with various campus facilities, which is a testament to my commitment to our MSA. I care so much about the longevity of our community on campus, and one of the main efforts I have undertaken has been our prayer room reservation, helping to facilitate overnight exceptions, and becoming best friends with the Carolina Union in the process. I am so passionate about the heart of our community on this campus, and I have hopes that next year, we can solidify that prayer room reservation to some capacity due to the connections we have made with the staff over the past several semesters. I also have further aspirations to expand the programming of our MSA, from having more diversity in events, to more collaborations, to bridging the gap that can exist between Shurah and MSA members through more open-dialogue and transparency of Shurah activities and processes.
For me, every free moment at Carolina has been filled with the BTS of Shurah, figuring out the 25live reservation system (will have dreams of that for years to come), baking desserts and making chai for events, late night discussions with fellow friends in MSA, and heartfelt retellings of shared experiences and hardships. I remember the isolating feeling when I first transitioned to UNC, but even more vividly recall how MSA gave me a community in my freshman year. I aspire to uphold our MSA to that same standard through active engagement within the community, for example, post-Jummah moves and events outside of GBMs to bring together our members across grade levels. I can’t wait to see how we can continue to bring our members together to foster a greater sense of purpose and community to one another :)
To close, I’d like to restate a phrase and commitment I made during my freshman year: No matter what, I will do everything in my power to further the goals of the MSA and to establish our Muslim community on campus. Thank you for your time in reading this and it’s been the greatest pleasure to serve as your Event Coordinator!
Maab Sulieman
Alsalam alaikum! My name is Maab Sulieman and I’m a rising senior studying Nutrition and Hispanic Studies. For the past year, I had the pleasure of serving as your co-faith chair and I’m looking forward to taking on a more active role next year. Last year, we welcomed the class of 2028, fundraised for three campaigns in one month, supported countless bake sales, celebrated the liberation of Syria and grieved for Sudan, Gaza and others suffering here and overseas. Despite all the trials and hardships we’d gone through individually and collectively since my own freshman year, MSA has continued to be a source of support and a hub for friendships to develop.
Despite all the unprecedented times, this past shurah did a phenomenal job strengthening ties with the community through many collaborations for the film screening of “36 seconds”, working with Mi Pueblo for the Convert Panel and the establishment of the Advocacy Committee. I plan to continue what we started by working to strengthen our presence in the local community through the Chapel Hill Masjid and organizations like the Refugee Community Partnership (RCP). Collaborating with more diverse UNC clubs and departments, like The Black Muslim Collective (BMC) will allow us to connect with one another through events and discussions about issues impacting our communities.
Despite all the successes, there’s always room for improvement. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my role is the value of constructive criticism and feedback—from both Shurah and the broader community. It has helped me grow and has only strengthened MSA as a whole. As we continue to evolve, we need to be more intentional with the events we plan, making sure they reflect the needs and wants of our community. Conversations are still one of the biggest inspirations for GBMs, but I plan to introduce a survey at the start of each semester to gauge community feedback on past events and suggestions for future ones. This way, everyone has an equal opportunity to be heard and events like Poetry Night brought up by community members can become more common.
On a personal level, I learned the art of balancing MSA with my most stressful year yet, recovered from a cancelled MSA MET and made a LOT of mistakes (some of them still keep me up at night 😭). Working in a shared role as co-faith chair showed me how important it is to know each team member’s strengths and to lean on one another for support. I learned that good leadership sometimes involves being a good follower, giving others the chance to lead and trusting them. These are skills I’m looking to continue developing with the help of our mentors and advisors, and from the beautiful community we’re building together.
MSA is not what it is because of the efforts of just a few Shurah members; its strength comes from the community and, ultimately, through the help of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. JazakAllah khair for bearing with the long paragraphs. I hope I can get your trust and support for Exec and may Allah protect and preserve our Muslim ummah!
