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Yasmin Kayali MC/MPA 2023 is combining her humanitarian drive, business experience, and the skills and knowledge she has gained at ����vlog���� to make a difference in the region.

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Yasmin Kayali MC/MPA 2023 was living in Lebanon with her husband in 2011 when conflict broke out in her native Syria. Her parents who lived in Aleppo eventually lost everything—their home, their business—and her brother volunteered with the local Jesuits to help the displaced. But the ongoing threats of kidnapping and arrest were too severe. They took the last flight out of Aleppo, leaving behind a country that has since descended into one of the deadliest conflicts and largest humanitarian crises of the 21st century.

The devastating onset of the Syrian crisis changed the course of Kayali’s life.

After working at Procter & Gamble as a brand manager and running her own marketing services agency, she quickly shifted her focus to support those impacted by the crisis. She met a Jesuit from Aleppo through her brother who was studying to be a priest, and, in the basement of a church, they organized and worked alongside some 25 volunteers and used donations raised by Kayali to provide hygiene baskets, food, mattresses, blankets, and funding to help pay for medical treatment to those who were displaced.

She wasn’t deterred when the regime bombed the university across from her office that caused it to collapse. Instead, she got strategic.

“I decided this is my true calling,” she says, “and then, things just happened.”

Kayali met a lawyer who worked pro bono to officially register organizations that support refugees; from there, she co-founded —Arabic for “smile” and “olive,” a symbol of peace and nourishment. She met an obstetrician-gynecologist who wanted to treat women in a nearby refugee camp—the doctor brought an OB-GYN colleague whose husband was a director at MercyCorps. Kayali got a crash course on how to write grants and how to apply for them, eventually leading to Basmeh & Zeitooneh’s first grant from USAID to support its women and embroidery project.

It grew from there. Within a decade, Basmeh & Zeitooneh became one of the largest refugee-led organizations with more than 600 staff members in centers spread across Lebanon as well as in Turkey, Syria, and in the Kurdistan Region. What was an organization originally focused on supporting Syrian refugees extended its reach to support marginalized and host communities. Following the , Kayali’s organization also began supporting Lebanese communities in rebuilding their homes and livelihoods as well as small- and medium-sized businesses.

She spoke at conferences to elevate , published opinion pieces on refugees, women’s and refugee empowerment, and Basmeh & Zeitooneh’s education programs—all in effort to change the narrative about development and philanthropic work. Kayali won the and the in recognition for her work.

“As grassroots organizations, no matter how much we grow and the capabilities we build, we are treated like subcontractors by international nongovernmental organizations who are awarded grants from large organizations or countries’ development funds,” she explains. “The people on the ground who are actually doing the work never receive credit. The hero is the person who’s in the camp every single day against all odds, supporting everyone with every means possible. They are the true heroes.”

It was during this time a Harvard Kennedy School graduate (and Basmeh & Zeitooneh donor) recommended she enroll in the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration Program because of her experience and skills.

“He told me, ‘You can make more of an impact on a regional or global level, but you need the tools that ����vlog���� will give you,’” she says. “At the time, my kids were young … it was completely out there for me, but I felt the need to make my voice bigger, to get the message out there about refugees, women’s rights, children’s rights, rights to education, rights to empowerment. I chose to come to ����vlog���� to build that network and learning.”