Trainer Bios

Josephine Dorado is an award-winning developer, designer and educator with a focus on immersive learning and social impact. With a portfolio that has garnered multiple Fulbright awards and a MacArthur Foundation award in Digital Media & Learning, her work concentrates on innovation in virtual reality and extended reality (VR/XR) experiences with a lens toward learning and international cultural exchange. She is currently working with the World Health Organization to create an online learning experience platform and also worked on their Mass Casualty Augmented Reality Experience (MCARE). Previously, she was the founder of Katabi, a platform of ready-made webVR (web-based virtual reality) spaces and also created Kidz Connect, a virtual cultural exchange program that connected youth internationally through creative collaboration and theatrical performance in virtual worlds. In addition, Josephine was a former professor of media studies at The New School, where she taught courses on virtual learning environments. Her speaking engagements include Talks @ Google, TEDxFulbright, SXSW, IgniteNYC and SIGGRAPH. She balances her work in online spaces with her passion for teaching Pilates, combining a technology-infused life with a physical, embodied way of being.

Over the past 12 years, Waleed had immersed in the digital business & marketing world, moving from pharmaceuticals industry into logistics then found his passion in marketing after earning extensive international experience working in both the client and in international advertising agencies realms. Over the years Waleed have developed digital marketing strategies for all kinds of organizations, his primary strengths are in project management and marketing operation optimisation (or, as he prefers to call it, projective marketing!)
At the moment Waleed spends his time in online/social media strategy management & consultation, social media content planning , digital media production for some of the top online news agencies along with other brands in Kuwait and Jordan. Waleed also has a wealth of experience in developing and managing social events in industries related to sports, comedy and corporate social responsibility.
In his spare time, Waleed enjoys exercising with his kids 🙂

Fawaz Alajmi is an assistant professor in the mass communication department at Kuwait University. He finished his Master and PhD studies from the U.S.A. majoring in Journalism and Media Management. He is working as a media consultant at the Youth Public Authority and used to be a Media Consultant in the Ministry of Youth Affairs. He worked as a journalist from 2003 until 2015. He has supervised multiple journalist training academies and has given many workshops and lectures in media-related subjects. Fawaz has published papers about the media system in Kuwait and social media, and participated in multiple academic conferences.

It is no secret how passionate Hind Al-Nahedh, founder of SociaLobby, is about Corporate Communications, social media, integrated marketing, collaboration and blogging. She started her career by attaining her BA in Mass Communication from Kuwait University. After getting experience working in the Telecom industry for firms like Nokia and the Tamdeen Group, Hind became head of Public Relations & Marketing Communications Department at VIVA telecom, launched the Commercial brand of VIVA. While at VIVA, Hind was setting and PR plans, objective and targets, such as campaigns, media policies and relations, programs, promotions, branch launchings, internal and external communication, branding.
In 2010 Hind launched the Social Media Department at Viva. Hind also became President of Kuwait’s chapter of Social Media Club. Utilizing her professional expertise, Hind launched her own business, Socialobby.com. SociaLobby provides social media intelligence, training, digital marketing, campaigning, lobbying, and creates opportunity for online and offline collaboration. SociaLobby’s mission is to educate the customer to build strategic relations and communications.

Mohammad alQaq is a visual artist, with a BA in visual art. He has 6 years of work experience at Rubicon as Art Director. By the end of 2005, he decided to embark on various personal projects. In the same year, he represented Jordan in France’s International Digital Media Meeting. Mohammad uses different platforms to express his ideas: he’s a singer and filmmaker. He’s also a practicing actor, presenter, and photographer. He often serves as a judge panelist for creative graduation projects at several universities. Mohammad is also a trainer/instructor for the dance exercise, Zumba.
His popular blog “Khobbeizeh,” the first video-blog in the arab region, allowed him to venture into the world of media, paving the way for different initiatives such as establishing “sha-shaboneh”, the first Jordanian blogging meeting; writing in Pulp magazine, participating in the Freedom Messengers Network; and joining Hiber as a co-founder, trainer and space director. Mohammad also works mainly as a multimedia trainer and helps people to tell their digital stories visually. Recently he was the creative director of Fikrezyon, the non-profit arabic online TV platform, and the Director of New Think Theater #11. He’s preparing for his new TV show, so stay tuned @moalQaq.

Mohammad “Moe” AlSaeed specializes in music videos, fashion films and short films. Since graduating with a Master’s in Filmmaking from The University of London’s Goldsmiths College, his fashion films ‘Contaminated’ and ‘Scheherazade’ were chosen as an official selection at the Miami Fashion Film Festival in 2014 and 2016 respectively. He won an award by London-based production house Envy Academy and Avid for his video editing skills, Tropfest Dubai awarded a film he edited “The Three Pyjamas” and completed several other projects. These projects include a short film set in 90s Syria titled “Wainkon? – Where are You?”, music videos for Kuwait’s rising Pop Stars Shaymaa, Omar Afuni and Aziz Nasrallah, a documentary filmed in six different countries from the Gulf region titled ‘#WeCanDoIt’ in collaboration with Weoritu, and Kuwait’s viral video of Pharell Williams’ song “Happy” which was chosen by the UN as part of their International Day of Happiness campaign. Mohammad’s next step is to continue entertaining audiences around the globe with captivating stories and visuals through film, music and fashion.

Dr. Fatima Alsalem holds a PhD in mass communication from Indiana University and a Master’s degree from Florida International University in the USA and earned the student of the year award. Dr. Alsalem is currently working as an assistant professor of mass communication at Kuwait University where she is committed to supporting students and trying to boost tolerance and acceptance of others among Kuwaiti youth. An avid researcher, she has published many studies on public opinion and new media effects in Kuwait’s top daily newspaper, Al-Qabas. She has also participated in many local and regional conferences where she represented Kuwait with her outstanding research.
She recently published a chapter at the Social media in the Arab world about Kuwaiti women’s political participation online. Alsalem has worked in various research projects with the Kuwaiti government, Ministry of Information and Ministry of Youths and contributed to the digital media law. Dr. Fatima also participated in the media tech camp by the United States Mission to the United Nations and State Department in New York, 2012 and the International Visiting Leadership Program (IVLP) sponsored by the State Department in the United States “Women Preventing Violent Extremism” in 2015. Lately, Dr. Alsalem has participated in Voices for Reason program about combating terrorism by Hollings Center and the State Department in 2016. In addition, Dr.Fatima has supervised the Kuwait University team for the P2P:countering extremism challenge by Edventure and the State Department. Apart from her academic research, Fatima has worked on several projects for leading Kuwaiti Companies and helped in their strategic communication plans and image building.

Kelsey Bjornsgaard is a Programme Coordinator at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). She focuses on counter-narrative research and development and is responsible for organising ISD’s Innovation Labs. These internationally run events help to build PVE and CVE capacities for civil society activists and organisations to create effective counterspeech. Ms. Bjornsgaard works closely with ISD’s Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI) and Youth Civil Activism Network (YouthCAN) to advise and facilitate the development of civil society-based counter-narrative content and initiatives.

Giselle Lopez is a Senior Specialist in Data and Social Media Analytics at PeaceTech Lab. Giselle’s work focuses on providing support for the Lab’s Open Situation Room Exchange (OSRx), a program designed to make data more accessible to the peacebuilding community. At PeaceTech Lab, she has also organized and served as a trainer for exchanges in India, Myanmar, Turkey, and Egypt to build capacity for peacebuilding organizations to incorporate low-cost, easy-to-use technology solutions to support their efforts.
Giselle is also an adjunct instructor at American University’s School of International Service and teaches a graduate course on “Technology for Peacebuilding”. Previously, Giselle worked for the National Democratic Institute’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) program and Crimson Hexagon, a social media analytics company in Boston, where she managed the Social Impact Program to extend access to the technology for nonprofits.

Jawdat Shammas is an internet and digital marketing professional since 1996; he started working in the Digital Marketing field since 2007, and since then he managed hundreds of digital marketing campaigns for tens of businesses in MENA with advertising budgets in millions of US$. Jawdat is a Certified SEO Professional, Certified in Google Analytics, Certified in Google AdWords and a Certified Internet Webmaster. He started providing professional training since 2000; Jawdat conducted Digital Marketing training in Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Jawdat is also a public speaker and mentor for few startups.

Dana Winner, Msc Cybersecurity Policy, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Knowledge Manager (CKM), is the author of “Hardware, Software; Womenware,” a memoir covering 55 years of commercial computing, The main theme of her memoire is the importance of women in information technology and management. Dana Winner’s multi-disciplinary career spans decades of experience in Knowledge and Information Management for government, commercial and not-for-profit organizations.
She has designed and implemented IT systems in London and for the US Federal Government, United Nations and Middle East governments, such as Kuwait, Dubai and Iraq, as well as for the private sector. She is specialized in implementing eGov, eHealth, eBiz and Security Information systems. She has implemented these systems in US, UK, Europe, and the Middle East. She is currently building the Middle East Knowledge Economy by developing Knowledge Networks. As Education Chair for ISC2 Kuwait Chapter, she is currently introducing cybersecurity education into Kuwait private schools and developing. She is also a member of the Overseas Security Advisory Council which collaborates with the U.S. Embassy Regional Security Office. She married to a Kuwaiti and has lived in the MENA region since 2000.