Leadership Team

Sr. Umme Kulsoom Huda (Sr. Somi) has been an active member of ILM Academy in various capacities for the past 15 years. Of those, in the first nine years, she was an active member of ILM Academy's Parent-teacher organization (PTO), where she contributed to the school's advancement in multiple areas. In an effort for the school to receive Cognia accreditation, Sr. Somi actively participated in the initial and subsequent accreditation renewals for the school's continued accreditation with Cognia. She conceptualized introducing the Islamic Montessori program, Robotics, and STEAM learning at ILM Academy.

With her academic background in Software engineering, Sr. Somi brought her technological insight into ILM Academy to promote STEAM-based education and introduced new educational technologies to enhance students' learning and increase faculty resources. In 2016, Sr. Somi transitioned into the ILM Academy's administration as an early-childhood administrator, followed by a STEAM coordinator. As a STEAM coordinator, she is dedicated to implementing a STEAM-based curriculum and instruction at the early childhood, elementary, and middle school level through the teachers' training and development. Three years ago, she took on the role of an administrator for ILM Academy's PreK to Fourth Grade. Notably, throughout her time at all positions, she has been working in a full-time non compensated - volunteer capacity at her own will.

Sr. Somi has attended the University of Toronto, majoring in software engineering. She received her certificate for Director Training from Bright from the Start (Georgia’s Early Childhood Program). She is a certified STEM leader through NASA's Endeavor Program and Teachers College, Columbia University. She is working on her Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

To ensure that she continues to support teachers' development, she is also pursuing a professional certification in Talent Development (CPTD) from the Association in Talent Development (ATD). Given her expertise and experiences, Sr. Somi has been named the Director of PreK – Fourth grade programs and Teachers' Training. With her passion for innovation, she is implementing a school-wide initiative on inclusion, equity, and belongingness for students of every level.

Sr. Mina Amir became a part of ILM Academy in 2015 with ten years of teaching experience in Montessori education. She was tasked to upgrade the first Islamic primary Montessori program in Metro Atlanta, as the school board envisioned. She accepted the challenge and successfully transformed it into a well-established and appreciated program within a year.

Her passion for the improvement and development of Montessori Education continued. In 2017, as program director, she brought an expansion plan, introducing two new Montessori programs: Elementary Montessori and Bambinos (Montessori toddlers' program), which were successfully implemented in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Sr. Mina's multi-disciplinary knowledge and leadership skills encompassing administrative, financial, and academic aspects collectively helped in the implementation of these programs. To ensure the Montessori program's sustainability, she introduced a talent development and succession strategy through continuous training, mentoring, and professional development opportunities for new teachers in the field. Under her guidance and supervision, three of her team members have successfully acquired Montessori AMI/AMS-MACTE teaching certifications.

Sr. Mina's academic accomplishments are as notable as her professional achievements. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Kennesaw State, completed her Master's in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia, and now pursuing her Doctorate in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership with the specialization in Instructional System Design Management at the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign. In addition to Montessori teaching certification, she has a professional certificate in organizational behavior from Yale School of Management. She is a member of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists, Society of Human Resource Management, and Association for Talent Development, a few to mention. She has also conducted research studies on 'American Muslim women in the workplace,' 'Building diverse and inclusive practices for organizations,' and 'Change management process for non-profit organizations.'

Sr. Mina has been working on an organizational development plan for the school's continued growth and effectiveness. In light of her contribution and recent work for the school's advancement, along with the Director of Montessori Programs, she is assigned additional responsibilities as the Director of Organizational Development and Change.

Sr. Bushra Alvi joined ILM Academy in 2013 as an administrator with extensive experience in math and science teaching at the upper elementary and middle school level at Al-Iman Academy, Alabama. As a school administrator at ILM Academy, she took several steps to strengthen and improve our program’s effectiveness. She introduced MAP testing to bring standardized assessments across all levels.

In 2016, Sr. Bushra took a brief break from her employment to finish her Master’s in Education Administration from Acacia University. While pursuing her graduate education, she simultaneously completed her Nooraniyah certification from AL-Furqan Institute Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. During that time, she continued to offer her services in a consultative capacity for ILM Academy’s Cognia accreditation, STEAM curriculum development, and planning, development, and execution of ILM Academy's Hifz Program.

In 2019, Sr. Bushra returned to ILM Academy as a middle school administrator, where she worked diligently to advance the program’s effectiveness and outreach. She initiated Project-based learning to incorporate STEM curriculum into middle school instructions. Her strong belief in providing a holistic learning experience to middle school students led her to create multiple youth development programs for their continued endeavors to become strong and aspiring Muslims. To foster resilience among our middle schoolers in these challenging times, Sr. Bushra introduced youth mentoring programs and social emotional learning, providing periodic expert workshops and educational sessions. Occasional bake sale organized by the middle school students was one of her projects that incorporated math and business lessons into building practical life skills early on while providing hands-on learning opportunities for students to sharpen their skills as future leaders.

For ILM Academy’s continued progress, Sr. Bushra has been working on the Mental Health and Mindfulness initiative for teachers and students and the math advancement initiative for the middle school level. She plans to obtain State’s school counseling endorsement once she completes her Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) leadership certification. With her experience in school management and operations, Sr. Bushra is designated as the Director of Middle school and School Operations.

Sr. Samia Siddiqi's association with ILM Academy goes back to the early years of the school's inception. She is one of the founding members of ILM Academy. Her fifteen-year relationship with ILM Academy has been integral to this organization's overall success. She was an essential part of the first Accreditation team that helped ILM Academy receive its first Cognia (AdvancED) Accreditation. Subsequently, she continued her active involvement in the accreditation renewals in the following years.

Along with her many significant achievements, Sr. Samia established ILM Academy’s Parent-teacher organization, actively promoting stakeholders’ engagement and the school’s improvement and fundraising projects. She has been an after school clubs coordinator for many years and has considerable experience in ‘in school’ and ‘out of school’ competitions. Sr. Samia has worked with online learning platforms for the past nine years.

Five years ago, she established the high school program and joined ILM Academy’s workforce as the high school administrator. Primarily an undergrad from the University of California, Berkeley, in Bioengineering, Sr. Samia inspires ILM Academy’s high school students to explore their strengths and abilities including pursuing careers in the STEM fields. She has persistently utilized her knowledge and skills in youth development through career advising and counseling for high school students. She plans to pursue an advanced degree in social work to take on additional responsibilities of a students’ counselor in the future Insha-Allah.

Sr. Samia’s dedication toward ILM Academy is unparalleled as she volunteered to work as a non-compensated full-time employee and has been working as such on her initiative. Considering her extensive experience as a Parent Teacher Organization lead and high school administrator, Sr. Samia is designated as the Director of High School and Parent and Family engagement. Insha-Allah Sr. Samia will propose and implement strategies to enhance stakeholders’ involvement at ILM Academy alongside leading the fifteenth-year celebration of ILM Academy’s founding.

Sr. Nadia Afridi has worked with ILM Academy since 2014 and is responsible for the school's financial assets management. Initially, she started working as an in-charge of the GASSO program and slowly transitioned into managing the school's finances and fundraising initiatives. She currently handles the financial side of ILM Academy under the school's Board supervision.

Having earned a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Long Island University, New York, Sr. Nadia has substantial finance and accounting experience from Fortune 500 companies like Geico and Jackson Hewitt Tax Services. In 2007, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, after being appointed as a Senior Accountant by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where Sr. Nadia created a projected expansion package for outside financial institutions to re-organize their hedge funds and handled $300 million of new debt issuances. Her exemplary financial expertise transpired at ILM Academy as well, as she brought over a decade-long experience in finance to the school.

Over her past eight years of work span at ILM Academy, she successfully collected averaging $350K in GASSO contributions for ILM Academy each year. As part of her community outreach initiative, she regularly conducts informational sessions for the stakeholders about GASSO's importance and benefits for ILM Academy's financial stability. She is also responsible for managing financial grants, such as ICNA Empower and Georgia power, that have significantly increased monetary contributions to the school's resources.

As part of ILM Academy's effort to improve environmental sustainability, Sr. Nadia has been working on reducing the school's carbon footprint by securing a Georgia Power grant to replace old electric light sources with LED lights by next year throughout the school. Sr. Nadia is being named as Manager, Business Office and Community Outreach.

Sr. Saima Siraj joined ILM Academy in 2014. Primarily her career focus was early childhood education, as her initial academic background centered around the field. With her technological proficiency, she transitioned into the field of information technology. During her stay at ILM, Sr. Saima expanded her scope of IT knowledge through on-the-job training from the members of the IT committee and several training courses on multimedia management and other learning platforms. She provided technical support to the administration by maintaining the effective implementation of digital tools for teachers, staff, and students.

She taught computer science to elementary and middle school students for four years, where she developed a computer science curriculum to integrate technology across grade levels. She has provided tech support and managed IT operations, ensuring students' responsible digital behavior and care of school issued devices, including an Information Management system. She supervised all standardized testing for the students and conducted teachers' professional development on technology.

Sr. Saima has been responsible for obtaining Fulton County Schools grants for learning platforms and supporting the school's online presence through social media updates. With her experience managing ILM Academy's IT and assisting the leadership team, she has been assigned as a School and IT administrator. She will continue to provide her expertise to the leadership team in augmenting the technology experience for our teachers and students.