hi! i'm manahil

the day before my nineteenth birthday, I walked into my internship at a nonprofit with a quiet sense of dread. I didn’t want to spend another day doing data entry. I was a ghost in the machine, updating a database from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. I could see the inefficiency of the system, but couldn’t feel the real-world impact.

but something was different that day. the immigration specialist at the desk beside mine had just been assigned a new family, afghan refugees. normally, I wouldn’t have much to contribute. but this time, the family had spent years in pakistani refugee camps. the teen daughters were born and brought up in peshawar.

they spoke urdu.

suddenly, I had something to offer.

translating that morning changed my life. Through that process I understood that if I want my life's work to be fulfilling, it has to be hands-on. I need to see results from my work, which could come in many ways. it could be...

⭐ the gratitude from the family who said I'd really helped that day.
⭐ a sigh of relief from employees when I revamp the case management system.

either way, it's something I carry as I move through life. That moment, where language and empathy became the most important tools in the room, is why I now build other kinds of tools. It’s why I study computer science alongside history: to build systems that see the people within them and to tell the stories that data alone can’t.

today, my work is dedicated to that intersection- using data to illuminate the stories of transitional communities and building technology that serves humanity, one person at a time.