Dr Farah Adeeb

Dr Farah Adeeb is an expatriate from Lahore. She studied her PhD at the University of Auckland before taking on a position with the Environment Protection Authority in South Australia. She is now a senior air quality manager with the equivalent organisation in Western Australia. She is also the branch president for Clean Air Society for Australia and New Zealand.

Farah is also a freelance writer and these poems are therefore reflective of the thoughts and feelings of many within the immigrant population within Australia.

Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab innovates off classical Pakistani, Sufi & pre-partition South Asian music, creating original compositions honoring ancestral roots,for a sound that is fresh, graceful, and musically complex. Paying homage to classical sufi legends such as Abida Parveen and Reshma; neo-soul and jazz icons such as Sade and Ella Fitzgerald; and contemporary world musicians such as Marisa Monte and Fat Freddy’s Drop, Arooj presents an original, interactive sound embraced by young and old, South Asian and beyond.

Originally from Lahore, Pakistan, Arooj moved to the U.S. in 2005 to study Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music. Having completed her education and now based in New York, Arooj is working as a fulltime performing artist, music composer and sound editor.

Through exposure to diverse musical genres and incredibly talented artists in Boston and in New York City, Arooj is inspired to continuously develop her art and deepen her understanding of the possibilities of music. Layering subtle, intricate, dynamic vocals over acoustic instrumentation, Arooj skillfully re-imagines indigenous soul with signature ‘cool.’

Arooj will soon be releasing her debut album as part of Rebuild Pakistan, an initiative she created to promote a vision of peace and healing for Pakistan, inspiring a global community to rebuild perspective on Pakistan, and urging the people of Pakistan to actively engage in rebuilding their homeland. The album and the initiative harness collective creativity to express solidarity with politically stigmatized, economically marginalized, culturally and spiritually powerful people across the earth.

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Najia Baig

Najia Baig is one of the most popular and well known young actress and host in the world of media in Pakistan. She is a popular personality in Pakistani youth. Najia Baig is a very talented and gorgeous actress. She has done numerous memorable roles on television.

Najia performed in many TV Darmas. Most of her TV Dramas are super hit and her acting is great. Najia’s current projects Haasb-e-Haal and few serials and telfilms have become very popular.

Hasb e Haal, a political comedy program has been introduced some years ago. It is getting popular day by day. It is the first program which is watched by adults, housewives and children. Professional artist can make the things happen for them. Najia in one those who has made difference in their lives. 

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Sonya Rehman

Sonya Rehman is a writer/journalist based in Lahore, Pakistan. She has been writing on subjects ranging from local art, culture, fashion, music, lifestyle, cinema and theater since 2002.

A graduate from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism with an MS in Print Journalism, Sonya was not only awarded the Fulbright Scholarship to pursue her graduate degree at Columbia, but was also one of four students (from the Journalism School’s Class of ’10) to receive the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Fellowship.

Sonya also served as a a music jury member (from Lahore) for the Lux Style Awards (LSA) in 2010 as well as 2011.

With a portfolio of over 200 published articles, some of the local/foreign publications that she has written for are;

TIME, The Wall Street Journal – Scene Asia, Rolling Stone [Middle East & India], BBC [The Strand], Asia Society [the website], The Hindu, The Huffington Post, The Friday Times, DAWN, The News International, Daily Times, and HELLO! Pakistan, among others.

http://sonyarehman.wordpress.com/

Saiyma Haroon

Saiyma Haroon is a Norwegian born Pakistani brought up in Lahore, Pakistan. Her parents moved back to Lahore when she was around 6 years old and then moved back to Norway right after she completed her GCSE from Lahore Grammar school.  She cherished the time she spent in her hometown Pakistan and that was the most memorable time of her life. She completed her IB from Oslo International School and then got married and settled in Oslo. Since then she has been visiting Lahore for holidays.

Haroon is a qualified skin and beauty therapist, and holds a diploma in Business and administration. She is currently working as a financial advisor in a Scandinavian bank in Norway. She had got a few modelling offers during her stay in Lahore a few years back and face modelled for a magazine called “guysngalz” but never pursued it as a career as she was a busy mom! She is a mother of two precious boys: Saif Haroon and Sahil Haroon.

Saiyma Haroon loves to learn new things, meet new people and craves for intellectual growth and opportunities. She has done a lot of volunteer work for an organization in Norway called IHSG along with being a full time banker, mother and wife. She is a passionate person who loves to do everything with passion, strength & ambition and never gives up. Her other interests are yoga, photography, dancing, poetry and music.

Saiyma Haroon, went on to represent Pakistan in the Mrs. Universe 2012 pageant in August 2012 and won “Best Personality Award,” for Pakistan. This was a tremendous win for Pakistan especially for the married women of Pakistan in beauty pageants. Haroon has gone down in history as a strong achiever for Pakistan in the world of beauty pageants. (MrsPakistan.Com)

Saba Qamar

Saba Qamar is of the Pakistan’s emerging fashion models and drama actresses from Lahore, Saba Qamar have got the attractive features. She has also got ideal 5’ 7’’ height and a perfect fashion model figure.

Saba Qamar made her debut in the PTV drama Main Aurat Hoon. She is known for her roles in Dastaan, Pani Jaisa Piyar, Jo Chalay To Jaan Se Guzar Gaye, and Maat. She is also hosting the political satire show Hum Sub Umeed Se Hain.

Saba Qamar won the PTV award for the best TV actress in both public and jury choice categories in the 16th Annual PTV awards on 23 July 2011

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Ali Zafar

Ali Zafar was born on May 18th, 1980 in Lahore, Pakistan to Mohammad Zafarullah, Professor of Fine Arts and Kanwal Ameen, who worked in the Library Sciences department at Punjab University at the time. Lahore is not only the place of birth for Ali, but also where he studied. He began his schooling at C.A.A. until 5th standard and excelled in his studies. He then moved to Beaconhouse School where he topped in his matriculate examinations in 1996. He then joined Government College University, where he completed his F.A. in Arts as the class of 1998. After that, Ali pursued his childhood love for painting and went to the “National College of Arts", from where he graduated with honors in 2002. Hence, completing his education. Ali Zafar hit the music scene in 2003 with his single "Channo" which sold half a million copies in just the first week and ended up selling over 5 million copies of his first album "Huqa Paani". The album went on to become one of the biggest hits the country had ever produced and made him a superstar over night. Prior to this, Ali was seen acting on television and modeling on the ramp. He also spend his evenings painting live portraits in a lobby of a 5 star hotel to help raise some extra money to produce his music.With his reputation of being a successful model,actor and a painter his move of releasing a dance single left the nation in awe. His tracks pumped up the dance floors at various weddings, balls and parties. This set a trend and the fever spread, increasing his fan following to a global scale. Apart from this his unique style became an inspiration to the youth and put him on a pedestal to becoming a national icon. He was awarded the "Youth Icon" award in 2007, by the biggest award ceremony in Pakistan: the Lux Style Awards. From then on there was no looking back.  During his career, Ali has managed to win almost all major awards starting from the “Best Album” in 2003 to the "Best Male Artist" at MTV Awards in 2009. He has been on the covers of various style and music magazines and has been the brand ambassador for the most premier companies in Pakistan. Who can resist Ali Zafar's youthful persona, million-dollar smile and charming looks, assets that give him a solid edge and make him the stand-alone choice for most multinational brands that use his image to sell their products. They couldn’t help signing him up even if in competition with each other. He would perhaps be the only celebrity to have endorsed Pepsi as well as Coke, Sony Ericsson along with LG mobile phones, and Instaphone, Telenor and Mobilink. He was the first male to endorse the biggest brand in soaps, Lux, with his hit single "Dekha" which starred all the big female actresses in Pakistan. He has also endorsed brands such as Head and Shoulders, Close Up, Tapal Tea, Tarang Tea Whitener, Lays Chips, Lu Bakery and many others. As of now, Ali Zafar is heading Mobilink Jazz, the biggest telecommunication brand in the region. Ali is now set to further enhance his career by becoming an international super star and cross all barriers. Recently his track "Dekha" has been picked up by the international block buster "Wall street part 2". He is in process of working on tracks sung by him in English for the international market and is looking for the best means and avenues to execute his plans.(http://www.alizafar.net/)

Junaid Saleem

Junaid Saleem's career in the field of journalism spans more than 2 decades. Mr Saleem did his Master's in Mass Communication from Punjab University and has worked with the renowned media groups in the country. He also has had the honour to work abroad for an Urdu Daily of the Arab News Group. Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Insaaf. He belongs to Okara.

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Annie Khalid

Annie was born in Lahore on 27 March 1987. She came to UK at the age of 6 months. She grew up in East London and later moved to Essex with her parents.

Annie was brought up in a multicultural town. She became a part of the East London Dance Company during her school years.

Her music career started in late 2005, when Annie, sitting bored at home, started humming a melody. She met a music arranger through a friend, who helped her compose the very simple, yet catchy song “Mahiya.”

Annie was encouraged by family and friends to take it a step further. She got in touch with a record company and preparations for an ordinary video were made.

The video was soon released in Pakistan. With her simple rendition and style of singing, along with catchy lyrics, the song became an instant hit. It started getting ripped from the video to be sold separately.

Mahiya became the most accessed Pakistani pop song on the Internet for in 2005 and 2006.

Annie won “The Most Wanted Song 2006” viewers choice award at TMA Pakistan, “The Most Wanted Female” 2006 and 2008, “Pride Of Performance” from the 14th August Committee Oslo, Norway and many more awards as her career progressed.

Bollywood cinema moguls Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt expressed their desire to use Annie's song Mahiya, for their movie “Awarapan,” which consequently gained her more fame and fan following.

After the success of Mahiya, she started working with various charities, raising awareness for education and health. Also within this short span of time, Annie became a household name and endorsed high profile brands, including Pepsi, Telenor and Tony & Guy, becoming the most popular female artist in Pakistan to date.

She has also walked the ramp as a showstopper at the 2010 L'Oreal Karachi fashion week, for BNS couture.

2010 proved to be a lucky year for the star. On 25th November 2010 Annie released her UK Debut single “BE MY BABY” along with the remix of the track done by the UK’s Top DJ Judge Jules.

Along with music her charity work was also recognized when she was appointed to be the Goodwill Ambassador for the International Red Cross on September 23rd, 2010, in Norway, where she raised money with the Red Cross for the flood victims in Pakistan by supporting and contributing in various activities. All the proceeds from her UK debut single "Be My Baby" were donated to the flood victims in Pakistan.

This honour gave her the opportunity to represent Pakistan on an international level.

In June 2011, Annie was the first South Asian celebrity to be featured in LOOK, a high-end fashion and celebrity weekly magazine coming out of The UK.

The same month, she launched her café in Lahore, which is located in one of the most popular areas and was an instant hit among the youngsters. AK Lounge continues to grow with the star herself.

She is the first Pakistani Artist to endorse a Label internationally. In August 2011, she signed a contract with Lebara, a telecommunication company, in Norway, for their current campaign. Besides newspapers and billboards, she can be seen on every bus, tube, train and their stations in Norway.

She is at the moment working on collaboration with the famous British – Norwegian boy band “A1″ for a single “Just 3 words” which they will unveil on a performance this October 31st at the O2 Academy in London.

Umar Saif

Dr. Umar Saif received his academic training from LUMS, Cambridge and MIT. He did his BSc (Hons) from LUMS (1998), PhD from University of Cambridge (2001) and Postdoctorate from MIT (2002), all in Computer Science. Dr. Saif worked and taught at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) as a research scientist for four years, where he was part of the group (O2S) that developed system technologies for project Oxygen -- a US$28 million project sponsored by the US Department of Defense (DARPA) and an industrial Alliance of world-class companies including Nokia, HP, Compaq, NTT DoCommo, Phillips, Acer and Delta.

While at MIT, Dr. Saif also managed the multi-million dollar collaboration on future computing technologies between University of Cambridge and MIT sponsored by the Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI) and a consortium of hightech British companies.

Dr. Saif's research interests broadly span areas of Ubiquitous Computing, Distributed Systems, Mobile Systems, Network Protocols and Architectures and ICT for developing world countries. Dr. Saif has authored several influential publications and is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. Dr. Saif's research has been featured in popular media, including BBC, New Scientist, MIT Technology Review, Distributed Systems Online, and Dawn News. His research has received grants from Microsoft Research (MSR), Oxygen Consortium at MIT, Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI), US State Department/USAID, HEC and PITB.

Dr. Saif was selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum in 2010. Dr. Saif received the MIT Technovator Award in 2008, Mark Weiser Award at IEEE Percom'08, Digital Inclusion Award from Microsoft Research in 2006 and the IDG CIO Technology Pioneer Award in 2008. During his doctorate studies, Dr .Saif was a Trinity College Overseas Scholar and Commonwealth Scholar at University of Cambridge.

Dr. Saif has (co-)founded four technology startups: BumpIn.com (contextual chatting), SeeNreport.com (citizen journalism), ChOpaal.pk (SMS social networking) and TicketMy.com (event tickets). Dr. Saif is the founder of one of the first startup incubators in Lahore, Pakistan, called SCI.