By day, she’s deep in research at NYU, studying the intricate layers of child development and mental health.

By night, she’s on stage, pouring her heart into music that speaks to identity, struggle, and healing. It’s a balancing act that might remind you of Hannah Montana—but with a South Asian twist and a mission far beyond just living "the best of both worlds." This 25-year-old artist and researcher blends her two passions. They influence each other and shape the stories she tells and the impact she wants to make.

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From Dubai’s Underground to New York’s Stages

Her musical journey began in the unlikeliest of places—Al Quoz, Dubai’s industrial heart, where creativity thrived in hidden corners. “A handful of artists, recognizing the lack of female representation in the Middle East’s music scene, came together to create a rock camp for girls,” she recalls (shouts out Zahra Soar, Carla Saad, Fatiniza, and many more). The five-day program threw young girls into bands, assigned them instruments, and challenged them to write and perform original songs. It was there that she found her voice, and soon after, As Per Casper, one of the camp’s founders, invited her to perform her own song on stage.

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“That kick-started this journey of finding my voice, what I had to say, and my purpose.”

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Between the ages of 13 and 18, she became a fixture in Dubai’s budding art spaces like Alserkal Avenue, Design District, and SIKKA Fest, pulling fellow musicians into bands and filling every opportunity to perform. “Every musician I came by was in danger of being enlisted into a band,” she jokes. But beyond the thrill of performing, music became a way for her to process identity, culture, and social expectations—themes that continue to shape her songwriting today.

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Science, Songwriting, and the Search for Meaning

Despite her passion for music, she never let go of another long-standing purpose: supporting vulnerable youth. “As a child of two immigrants, I’ve always been drawn to child development and mental health,” she explains. Today, she works at NYU’s ARCADIA Lab for Suicide Prevention, researching how an arts-based intervention—a filmmaking contest called Youth Creating Change—impacts young people’s sense of belonging and mental well-being. “It’s a little full-circle moment,” she says, reflecting on how her own experience with music camps inspired her. “I’ve long wondered why rock camp had such an impact on my life and so many others. Now, I get to study arts-based programs that can be transformational for youth.”

She describes herself as “Brown Hannah Montana,” effortlessly switching between academia and music. But unlike the fictional pop star, her double life isn’t about keeping secrets—it’s about merging worlds. “I am a songwriter who draws from my perspective as a researcher—on social and emotional learning, mental health, social inequality—and my lived experience as a South Asian woman and child of immigrants,” she says.

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“Hopefully, that makes for interesting music and a purpose bigger than myself.”

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Music with a Mission: Tackling Disordered Eating

Her next project delves into a deeply personal and widespread issue: disordered eating. Research shows that in Arab countries, between 13.8% and 47.3% of male adolescents and 16.2% to 42.7% of female adolescents struggle with disordered eating—numbers that are comparable, if not higher, than U.S. rates. “As a woman who was once a young girl, I speak to this experience,” she shares. “But it’s important to note that the prevalence of disordered eating does not differ all that much between male and female adolescents.”

Her upcoming song, Validation, explores the tangled web of societal expectations, body image, and mental health. “Implicitly and explicitly, there are expectations placed on young girls to look a certain way and act a certain way,” she explains.

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“As someone who has fallen prey to these expectations, I started writing this song while going through my own cycle of disordered eating, trying to figure out the root of these behaviors.”

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Drawing from Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, she considers disordered eating from multiple levels—social, psychological, and cultural. “At the macro level, idealized bodies on social media and diet culture contribute to body image concerns,” she says. “At the micro level, there are several factors—biological, psychological, and psychosocial—that feed into these behaviors.” But rather than simply diagnosing the problem, Validation recognizes the tension between what’s within our control and what isn’t. “There are certain things beyond our immediate control, like social norms,” she reflects. “But there are also things within our control—how we internalize them.”

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A Message of Growth and Acceptance

At the core of her songwriting is a theme of self-discovery and healing. “I would like to think my message is one of growth and acceptance,” she says.

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“Recognizing and working towards the things you can and want to change, and accepting the things you can’t.”

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Through her music, she hopes to spark conversations about mental health, identity, and self-worth, using her platform to encourage reflection and resilience.

Despite the depth of her work, she acknowledges the challenges of the modern music industry—an industry where success is often reduced to numbers. “The valence of clicks and numbers bothers me,” she admits. “There is beauty in the journey of ‘making it’ as an artist in big cities, but I think authentic music can be diluted when opportunities are based on following counts, ticket sales, and Spotify streams.” She doesn’t have a solution—yet—but it’s something that weighs on her mind. “No hate to venues and A&R folk,” she laughs. “It makes sense in the world we live in. But I just wish there were more ways for raw, meaningful music to be valued outside of metrics.”

Finding Peace in Connection

For all her academic and artistic pursuits, she finds peace in the simplest of things: family, friends, and food.

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“Spending time with my people—my family and friends—keeps me grounded,” she says.

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“They’re scattered around the world, but whenever I get the chance to escape to them, I run.” When travel isn’t an option, she turns to cooking, finding comfort in the process of preparing a meal and sharing it with loved ones. “And of course, a little drinkie helps, too,” she adds with a smile.

In her duality-ridden life—researcher and artist, science and creativity, structure and spontaneity—she embraces it all. Through her work, she proves that music and academia aren’t opposing forces but complementary ones. Whether on stage or in the lab, her mission remains the same: to understand, to heal, and to create something bigger than herself.

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Embracing the Best of Both Worlds

Unlike the Disney character she jokingly compares herself to, her double life isn’t about keeping two identities separate—it’s about letting them inform and strengthen each other. While Hannah Montana had to hide her true self behind a wig, this artist-researcher wears both of her passions proudly, proving that music and academia aren’t opposing forces but two sides of the same coin.

Her journey is a testament to the fact that you don’t have to choose between logic and creativity, intellect and emotion, research and art. Instead, she’s crafting her own definition of success—one that isn’t measured by numbers or social media metrics but by the impact of her work, both in the lab and on stage. “I always knew I wanted my music to contribute to something bigger,” she says, and with every song, she’s doing exactly that.

In the end, her version of “the best of both worlds” isn’t about living two lives—it’s about building one that holds space for every part of who she is. Whether she’s analyzing data on youth mental health or singing about the struggles of self-worth, her purpose remains the same: to make sense of the world and help others do the same. And in that balance, she’s found something even greater than validation—she’s found meaning.

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