Juliana Taimoorazy builds bridge between Assyrians, non-Assyrians

The Assyrian Journal | March 2018 | Photos contributed | By Joe Snell

Chicago, IL – Juliana Taimoorazy is not bashful when it comes to helping Christians in the Middle East. As the founder and president of Iraqi Christian Relief Council (ICRC), her aggressiveness is part of what makes her such a successful leader.

Today, her non-profit emergency humanitarian relief organization has raised millions of dollars for persecuted Christians in Iraq and neighboring countries. She has appeared on national media outlets including Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and BBC, and has garnered the attention of many Western aid organizations that had previously shut their doors to Assyrian assistance.

“I started ICRC to work with Americans and non-Assyrians because we need friends outside of our own four walls,” Taimoorazy said.

EARLY INTEREST IN HELPING ASSYRIANS

Juliana grew up in Iran. She was smuggled into Switzerland in 1989, where she spent seven days in a monastery in Zurich before being sent into Germany, seeking asylum in the U.S. embassy. In 1990, she immigrated to the U.S. with refugee status and earned her Masters degree from Northeastern Illinois University.

While running a medical spa in Chicago, she came across a story about women in Afghanistan that were lighting themselves on fire to escape forced marriages. Instead of dying from the burns, however, a number of these women were left with severe scarring.

Juliana noticed that one of the devices at her spa had the ability to heal these burn victims. She contacted the company that manufactured the device and requested they donate products, offering to go to Kabul and train nurses and doctors to use them. Through this experience, Juliana learned that she wanted to help more with the Assyrian cause, particularly in the homeland.

ENTERING THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE

Taimoorazy’s rise to the international stage began in a small coffee shop near downtown Chicago, where she sat down to write a letter to God. Taimoorazy remembers the date, July 25, 2007.

That morning, she had met with church leaders from Holy Name Cathedral on Wabash Street. As a member of the large Catholic congregation, she approached a Cardinal after mass and asked blunty, “What is the Catholic church doing to help the Assyrians in Iraq?”

The next day, she received an email asking her to come to the Archdiocese. It was there that she presented a four-point plan for what the Catholic church could do to help Assyrians in Iraq.

“They laughed and let me down easy,” Taimoorazy said. “They said my plan was great but it’s not going to leave these four walls, so why don’t you start a ministry that teaches Americans about who you are and what your needs are.”

Disappointed, she left the meeting and walked into a coffee shop, where she wrote a letter to God and asked for direction.

“I said, ‘Lord, I don’t know what you’re asking me to do, this is so scary,” Taimoorazy said. “I’ve never done this before, but if you’re asking me to do this it means it is for your greater glory. Bring me the right people and I will do this.”

Taimoorazy still has a copy of that letter, and refers to it whenever she needs a reminder of the great people God has brought into her life.

“Whoever I meet is an answer to that one prayer,” Taimoorazy said. She published the letter last year for ICRC’s ten-year anniversary.

Juliana’s letter to God

STARTING THE IRAQI CHRISTIAN RELIEF COUNCIL

ICRC started in 2007, shortly after Taimoorazy wrote her letter to God. She called her close friend, Romel Benjamin, and the two put a small team together to begin providing aid solely in Iraq.

Initially, it was tough for her team to receive support from American organizations.

“The Evangelicals would say, ‘Are you really Christian? Were you baptized as children and have you accepted Jesus with your heart?'” Taimoorazy said. “The Catholics would say, ‘Aren’t you used to this persecution? Why don’t you figure it out, why don’t you just pick up and leave?’ A lot of people were not interested. But in 2014, with the savagery that ISIS put on display, America and the West woke up.”

ICRC has six board members and three advisors from Chicago, Virginia, and Rome. Although the organization began working exclusively in Iraq, now they help Assyrians across the world including in Jordan, the United States, Australia, and France. A majority of the aid goes through the Assyrian Aid society and Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena in Northern Iraq.

Today, Juliana is a UN Delegate to Geneva, an advisor on the advisory council for the Simon Wiesethal in the Midwest, and a senior fellow at The Philos Project, a leadership community that promotes Christian engagement in the Middle East.

Last October, she already received the title of ‘Dame Commander’ with the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (SMOTJ), an international organization incorporated in the United States that promotes Christianity through charity and civic actions.

Juliana believes that Assyrians need a consistent presence in political epicenters like D.C. and also need to start thinking more long term.

“The old way doesn’t work anymore,” she said. “Enough of thinking Assyria was great 5,000 years ago. Yes it was great. But what am I doing to make it great again?”

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Juliana is a speaker at the Assyrian National Policy Conference in D.C. in May.

To learn more about the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, visit iraqichristianrelief.org

Michael Badal paves way for young Assyrian DJs, musical artists

The Assyrian Journal | January 2018 | Photos contributed | By Joe Snell

Los Angeles, CA – Michael Badal pulled up to DJ Club Silk Nightclub in Sacramento with his essential spinning equipment – USB sticks, headphones, and ear plugs. At only seventeen years old, the Assyrian Los Angeles native had just driven nearly six hours to spin at the venue.

This was a routine weekend for Badal. While selling cell phones at Best Buy and attending film classes at CSUN in the daytime, he was hustling at night and on the weekends to produce music, successfully tour with world-renowned DJ’s such as Tiesto, and even start his own music label.

“I saved up everything and started DJing when I was eleven years old,” Badal said, who became interested in DJing in 1998 when he saw his cousin spinning at a party.

After nine years of saving money for equipment and finding events to play, he signed with Baroque Records in early 2007.

“The first record did well and stirred my name in the pot,” he said. “Then my cousin Zya said that we should start our own label and asked why we are giving it out to other people. I thought it was a great idea, but having never ran a label, I had no idea what marketing was or sending out promos.”

And even as one of the most successful Assyrian dance music artists in the world, Badal’s parents had no idea just how popular their son was becoming.

It wasn’t until 2010, when at 23 years old and about to be nominated for his first Grammy, his mother googled him and found out her son was a popular DJ in the EDM (electronic dance music) community.

BADAL’S BIG BREAK

Badal and his cousin Zya opened Jigsaw Recordings in August 2007. Only a month later, his record “Colours” was playing on Tiesto’s Club Life radio station.

“We never actually sent the music out to Tiesto,” Badal said. “I got a call from his people and they said, ‘We want to sign you, we want you to make music with us, we want you to play with Tiesto.”

That call changed Badal’s career almost immediately.

“We weren’t just messing around anymore,” he said.

Soon after, the rising DJ began touring the nation with Tiesto and developing his own label. From 2007 to 2009, he built Jigsaw Recordings to be a major competitor, signing deadmau5, Myon, Shane 54, Matt Cerf, and Maarten Hercules among other big artists. Major music publications were praising the label as “developing rapidly and gaining a reputation not to be underestimated.”

But with so much attention placed on signing new artists, Badal and Zya weren’t finding time to produce their own music.

“I was focusing so much of my attention on other people’s careers and promoting my artists that I didn’t focus on myself,” he said.

The pair decided to put the label on hiatus at the end of 2009.

“It was a blessing in disguise because after the label went on hiatus, I stopped worrying about other people,” Badal said. “I started diving into my own career. It benefitted me.”

Not long after putting the label on hiatus, Badal was invited to join the Recording Academy as a voting member in 2010. That same year, he ended up on the ballet for two of his tracks and was very much starstruck at his first Grammy event, recalling, “I ran into Lady Gaga, I almost knocked her out. And I flat tired Kathy Griffin and she almost fell. I was a klutz.”

After his first nervous display on the red carpet, Badal has since been on the Grammy ballot ten times and has been invited back five of the last seven years.

In 2011, Badal and DJ Zya relaunched their label exclusively to distribute their own music. It was then that he ran into popular Persian singer Andy at a cousin’s wedding.

Badal had always been a big fan of Andy’s music, so it was natural that at his cousin’s wedding, he began talking to Andy about a remix he had done that same year. The artists started following each other on social media and eventually began talking about collaborating.

Their single, “Donya,” is set to release early this year.

In August 2016, Badal realized he was not making the music he wanted to make. Up until that point, he was working almost exclusively on EDM music. A documentary called Daft Punk Unchained encouraged him to pursue music he wanted to make, so he pivoted to pop music, classical film scores and soundtrack music.

His process of creating music also changed, switching from an underground beat programmed around the drums to becoming a songwriter’s composer. Now his most important tool for creating new songs – voice memos he records on his phone.

“I’ve got a million voice memos in my phone of me humming atrociously,” he joked. “Then when I get to my studio, I play it and try to figure out what I was singing in my head. They all have weird titles too, like ‘film score idea’ or ‘deep soundtrack.'”

ASSISTING THE ASSYRIAN COMMUNITY

Badal was initially hesitant to promote his artistic skills within the Assyrian community.

“I didn’t see artistic excellence pushed in our culture here in America,” Badal said. “Our Assyrian culture has such a rich history of art. Some of our artifacts are beautifully carved reliefs, and then we just discarded art as this thing that would never feed you.”

It wasn’t until he started seeing artwork from young Assyrians including KSRA, Dan David, Dennis Joseph, Shamina Khangaldy, and Sargon Saadi that he started connecting his work with the Assyrian community.

“We need to get Assyrian artists out there,” Badal said. “We need more people in the arts. We’ve got to get rid of this stigma that the arts are worthless.”

Within the last five years, Badal has played EDC Las Vegas twice, has songs playing on major radio stations including Sirius XM, had a composition in the running for a Golden Globe ad, and has been on the Grammy ballot 12 times.

After years of hustling on nights and weekends to make a living, Badal now feels content being able to support himself doing what he loves to do.

“One of the major milestones I’ve hit, which has been a blessing, is being able to create music 100% for a living,” he said. “I wake up for work and drive to my studio and make music all day.”

His second full-length album and first classical album “Seasons” will be released on January 26. The album features 12 thematic songs written over the past two years. Look out for a limited edition vinyl pressing of the album, available for pre-order. All proceeds from the pre-order will be donated to the 501c3 organizations F*ck Cancer as well as the Etuti Institute.

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Check out more of Michael’s music at http://www.MichaelBadal.com

 

 

 

Chicago attorney on promoting law education among Assyrian students

The Assyrian Journal | January 2018 | Photos from Assyrian American Bar Association | By Ramsen Shamon

Name: Phillip Rehani
Hometown: Skokie, Ill.
Occupation: Attorney at O’Hagan Meyer, LLC

Phillip Rehani, the 30-year-old secretary of the Assyrian American Bar Association, always knew he wanted to find creative ways to help people solve their problems, especially Assyrians. He transferred that passion into becoming the only Assyrian to graduate from his Chicago-Kent College of Law class in 2012. But Rehani, further compelled to help his community, co-founded the Assyrian American Bar Association in 2017. “I immediately knew this was a special chance to make a difference,” he said. “I have been searching for a way to become more involved within our community and the Assyrian American Bar Association has been the perfect fit.”

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What law school did you attend? What year did you graduate?

Chicago-Kent College of Law; 2012.

How was your law school experience? Did you have any Assyrian classmates?

My experience in law school was positive. The education I received taught me to look at a problem and identify multiple issues in a single fact scenario. This taught me the importance of utilizing a dynamic method to problem solve. Unfortunately, I did not have any Assyrian classmates. One of the main reasons for creating the Assyrian American Bar Association (AABA) was to promote the legal profession as a viable and attainable option for the Assyrian youth. We want to provide our youth with the tools to be successful – whether it be in the classroom, or in their professional endeavors.

What kind of law do you practice? Why did you decide to practice this specific kind of law?

I am an attorney at O’Hagan Meyer, LLC. My practice focuses on a variety of civil matters including labor and employment law and tort litigation. After graduation, I was unsure which area of law held my interest. I just knew that I wanted to be in a court room. I was lucky to have that opportunity and develop interests in many areas of law along the way.

Why did you choose to study law? Was it something you knew you wanted to do since you were young?

I did not know that I wanted to go to law school until I was a Sophomore in college. I knew that I wanted to find creative ways to help people resolve their problems. I had many conversations with family and friends before deciding on this career-path.

Why did you decide to help start the Assyrian-American Bar Association?

When I learned about the opportunity to join a professional organization for lawyers with a focus to help the Assyrian community, I immediately knew this was a special chance to make a difference. I have been searching for a way to become more involved within our community and the Assyrian American Bar Association has been the perfect fit.

What are some of the association’s goals?

We wanted to create a strong network of Assyrian attorneys with a range of expertise to serve as leaders in our community.

Why was the association established?

The main objective is to promote high standards of professionalism and integrity while inspiring our youth to join the legal profession.

How many members currently exist?

We have approximately 50 members. The majority of the ABA membership reside in Illinois. We hope to expand to include members nationwide and we are on the way to achieving this goal. We now have members in Arizona and California.

Will workshops be held?

We have not held any workshops, but we have presented seminars in the areas of immigration law, corporate law and labor/employment law.

What advice do you have for young Assyrians who are thinking to go to law school or are currently in law school?

We want all students that have an interest in pursuing a legal education to know that we are here for your support. My advice for college students thinking about law school is to take advantage of opportunities to make an informed decision on whether law school is right for you. Applying for and attending law school is great financial undertaking so you must do your research. Reach out to your professors and school advisors for guidance. The more first-hand knowledge you can get the better. You can begin your law school search by narrowing where you want to practice law and get information on the schools in the area.

My advice for law students is that building relationships through networking (along with getting good grades) is the key to finding a job after school. You have to be proactive. The job market is competitive and separating yourself from other candidates for positions could be as simple as maintaining a friendship. Also, use the opportunities provided by your career service offices, such as resume building and cover letter workshops. If you have an opportunity to run through a practice interview, do it. More experience with the interview process will build your confidence.

What does justice mean to you?

Justice is an outcome we strive for in society. As a society, [we] have laws that govern behavior to protect rights and punish wrongs. It is the reason why we have police, politicians, lawyers and judges.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

Please search for the Assyrian American Bar Association on Facebook. You can follow us to see what events we have coming up in the near future.

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To learn more about the Assyrian American Bar Association, visit Assyrian American Bar Association

The Assyrian American Bar Association is a nonprofit organization founded to promote high standards of competence, professionalism and integrity with and among …Assyrian attorneys and the Assyrian communities within the State of Illinois. It seeks to cultivate a strong network of Assyrian attorneys with a comprehensive range of legal expertise to serve the Assyrian community and mentor our youth who aspire to join the legal profession.

Read more about the organization at AINA News: New Bar Association to Serve Assyrian-Americans Elects Officers