​WARDAH KHALID

Founder & Board Chair

​Wardah Khalid is Poligon’s Founder and Board Chair. She has worked on Capitol Hill, federal government agencies, and secular and faith-based NGOs in Washington, D.C. She has significant experience advising national policymakers and the public on issues including U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, immigration and refugees, civil and human rights, and Islam in America.

Wardah's writing and commentary has been featured in numerous national outlets, and she regularly speaks at conferences, on television, and radio about foreign affairs, civic and political engagement, and Islam. 

Wardah is a CPA and holds a MA in International Affairs from Columbia University and a BBA and MS in Accounting from Texas A&M University.

Our History

The story of Poligon began in late 2014, when Founder Wardah Khalid was preparing to move to Washington, DC for a fellowship with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby in the public interest. Quakers are a Christian group of less than 75,000 in the U.S., yet they effectively lobby and educate Congress, the administration, and public on a host of foreign and domestic policies. Wardah decided to create a similar institution for America's 3-8 million Muslims.

After learning the ropes, Wardah began training community groups on how to engage with their elected officials through town halls, office visits, and phone calls. (Those trainings would become the material Poligon utilized to train thousands of Muslims and allies across the country). In late 2015, Wardah put together a team of accomplished professionals in D.C. including Tamim Chowdhury, Afif Rahman, and Rahfin Faruk, to help bring her vision to life. Poligon Education Fund launched in January 2017 and has worked since then to amplify Muslim voices in Congress.