Shaheen Rushd

Shaheen Rushd was born in Chittagong, then Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and came to the United States in 1970 when her father was stationed in Washington, D.C., as a diplomat. When her parents returned to the newly independent Bangladesh, Shaheen remained in the United States to complete high school and went on to attend Kalamazoo College in Michigan (magna cum laude) and New York Law School in Manhattan (summa cum laude). For almost thirty years—twenty years as a partner—Shaheen practiced at Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman and Gross (now Pomerantz LLP), a Manhattan law firm that specializes in securities litigation. Upon retirement, she became involved in local social justice organizations and in the Democratic Party (served as an elected member of the Kings County Democratic County Committee).

She is on the Emeritus Board of Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, a nonprofit which works with survivors of gender-based violence in the South Asian diaspora in NYC. Previously, she served on Sakhi’s Governance Board; Kalamazoo College’s Board of Trustees; New York Appleseed’s Board of Directors; Brooklyn Historical Society’s (now Center for Brooklyn History) Advisory Committee of Muslims in Brooklyn Project; and Human Rights Watch’s New York Advisory Committee. She was a member of the inaugural Spark Prize Committee. Shaheen is bilingual (English and Bangla). Shaheen has lived in Brooklyn since 1981, where she has raised her two sons. She joined Brooklyn Org’s Board of Directors in May 2023.